Happy Birthday Dear Da-a-a-a-ad...

Whew! What. A. Day. I'm bushed.

Foolishly, I thought it would take me about an hour or so to put 90 plants in the ground. Nobody is that good. There exists no trowel that would enable that. I got about 3/5ths of the way there. It's the annuals border that runs along the front of the porch. Since I should have something in flower in the perennial bed I put in that's in the middle of the yard, I decided that showy annuals in the border wouldn't work. So for the annuals, it's all about foliage. I'm planting coleus, sweet potatoes, and dusty miller. Mounds of chartreuse and celedon and deep purple. Should be could, and will enhance the effect of the perenials.

But that was buggy work. And, I had a splitting headache for most of the time. I worked away at it until 5 p.m. when I had to call it a day, do the watering, and get busy with the birthday dinner for my father. I showered, then headed to the supermarket. While there, I called my brother and told him to plan on coming at 7:30 rather than 7, to give me some more time to get everything together.

And what would everything consist of?

Welll... My father's favorite dish is shrimp. As in, boiled. So that was easy enough. I made cocktail sauce (ketchup and horseradish), lime juice and drawn butter, and curried mayonnaise for dipping sauces. But, my sister-in-law is a vegan. So I had to have other things on the table. I made a nice simple pasta with olive oil, garlic, fresh basil, and more lime juice. And then there was the salad. A knockout salad. It was baby redleaf, red peppers, and sugar snaps. For the dressing, I combined the following:

• Rice vinegar
  
• peanut oil
  
• lime juice
  
• sliced cherry tomatoes
  
• crushed mango
  
• honey
  
• a few shakes of Tabasco
  
• fresh basil
  
• fresh mint
  
• fresh cilantro
  

It really worked. Sort of southeast asian in inspiration, it was a complex assortment of simple flavors, sweet and sour and hot and cool. The balance was there, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

My brother and his wife showed up on time, we sat down to dinner, and they loved it. Even my father. Who is quite the picky eater.

Then came the birthday cake. My brother asked, 'scratch cake?" "It is," I replied. His wife said, "I knew it would be."

Thanks for that.

I wish it had been a little more moist, but it wasn't too bad.

Overall, I did good.

And that's great. I love cooking for people. I don't get to do it enough.

Alas, tomorrow starts another work week. But then, next weekend my Sir is in NYC. That would make anything survivable.

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