Birthday Celebrations

To celebrate the big 2-5 Mom took me, HBL, Jean, Mike and Zig out to dinner at Shells and Sauce, one of our favorite neighborhood haunts. It’s always crazy busy on a Friday night, so we had to squeeze in to a table in the corner. This turned out to be a REALLY good thing as we were removed from the craze of the restaurant, where people were literally jammed arm to arm at the bar.

 Once we pushed our way through the crowd and sat at our table (thank god for reservations!) we were regaled with lots of bread and the signature Shells and Sauce balsamic dressing. Zig LOVED it!

 No Italian dinner would be complete, of course, without wine. However, I’ve become an old woman these days and am very settled in my ways, so instead of getting something Italian I got my tried and true favorite Malbec.

 My mother is a famous storyteller (in our family, that is) and entertained not only Ziggy, but all of us, with stories of little boys behaving badly at Italian restaurants.

While the wait for our food was rather long (our fault because it took ages for the six of us to decide what we were having!) it was worth it!

 By the time we were done, I think it is safe to say we were ALL ready for some dessert. (Don’t worry, only HBL finished his entire dish, the rest of us safely packed half our meals home in anticipation of my birthday cakes. HBL does look really proud of himself for being the only finisher.)

 My mom got those candles that light again after blowing them out, so Zig had to help me with them. Even with the two of us, it took a good five minutes to blow the candles out!

We all got to pick a cupcake to enjoy in honor of my birthday, courtesy of the Shoppe. (No one in my family bakes!) I got the salted caramel cupcake and everyone else went for an Orange Creamsicle- I guess I’m the only chocolate eater! Their loss.

What kind of cupcake would you pick on your birthday?