We started off my birthday weekend with an excellent dinner at F1rst Restaurant in Hawthorne, NJ. Today is my actual birthday 
We enjoyed Crispy brie with Grilled asparagus, prosciutto, fig-golden raisin chutney, balsamic reduction; duck with sweet potato puree, Brussels sprouts, and a cherry sauce; halibut with morel mushrooms, quinoa, and a truffle butter; gnocchi primavera with Asparagus, peas, spinach, pignoli nuts, arugula pesto, shaved parmigiana; grilled octopus with Crispy potatoes, roasted red peppers, capers, kalamata olives, romesco sauce; and ‘mounds bar’ for dessert with Coconut brittle ice cream, toasted coconut, bittersweet chocolate shell. It all went great with a couple of excellent cabernets.
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Happy Birthday - hope you have a great weekend of celebrating!
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Thank you
Happy birthday! Like like you did it right
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Found a container of salsa verde that I’d made last year in the freezer and turned it into chilaquiles. Breakfast for dinner, I don’t do that nearly often enough!
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Enchiladas with flour tortillas and rotisserie chicken. I used pepperjack cheese canned enchilada sauce. Barely passible.
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Thank you very much
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Mediocre Columbian take-out from a new joint in Toronto. I got an egg arepa, chicken empanada ($4) , cheese & guava pastry, and Picasa ($10).
The selection in the little dish is a personal-sized Picada with chopped chorizo, fried pork belly, yellow potato, cassava and pieces of corn arepa ($10).
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Damn, that looks good! What’s the white stuff on the butter chicken?
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There’s a gözleme stand at the Saturday market in our hood where there’s always a huge line (Berliners love to stand on line for food, it seems). We finally tried it once, and were decidedly underwhelmed.
Yours look better, TBH.
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Looks like a worthy celebration of your special day. Happy birthday & many returns!
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Happy birthday!
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Looking forward to seeing John’s pizza creation, tonight.
This is the highlight of my Saturday.
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Thanks! It’s Mexican crema mixed with some half and half. Normally it would be heavy cream but I didn’t have any on hand.
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Breakfast for dinner.
Leftover ribeye and eggs, grilled mushrooms, peppers and onions, crispy hash brown and toasted baguette. 
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To my enormous surprise there were beautiful shad roe at the fishmonger’s today. It had been many years since I last had them. Bought a pair and made them as I always have and found they are just too rich for me now, despite a lot of lemon juice. Very tasty, just too rich. Asparagus and crusty bread not pictured.
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Finally dragged out the deck chairs and deck garden containers. Repotted all the flowers, herbs, tomato and pepper plants.
Dinner was easy: a Frankenchicken breast marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, s/p, minced fresh oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Roasted at 375° until done, basting occasionally. A tomato, cucumber & feta salad alongside.
My first vodka and lemonade of the season. OK, two of them…with muddled blackberries.
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