JT’s Bday

Celebrations commenced with chocolate and churros on Saturday.  As much as we all love chocolate, eating that for breakfast and chocolate mousse cake for dessert was too much to stomach in 1 day. Recognize that I am speaking only for myself, as the rest of the chocoholics in the family would have undoubtedly managed it without complaint.  There were a couple of restaurants in contention based on teacher reviews. We ultimately chose a nearby restaurant favored by the locals.  We chose well. The children were served a heaping plate of steaming churros, a cup of thick chocolate each for dunking and a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Tom and I shared a toasted baguette slathered with butter with coffees of course. The tab for this feast was under $15.  Even better, the setting was beautiful, with stucco art deco vines painted along the columns and a beautiful mural.

The festivities continued into the big day.  While Zoe was having a manicure (one of her b-day gifts), I picked up the cake. JT and Dad had ordered a “truffa” or truffle cake. Strangely, they sell cakes by weight and they managed to order the 2 kilo (just under 5 lbs) version with Happy B-day JT in English of course. In addition to roses, they put adorable gumdrop animals atop the cake. Carrying a 5lb cake through town was a bit stressful. JT’s new favorite dinner is gambas pil pil, which is an olive oil-based version of shrimp scampi.  I haven’t peeled shrimp in these quantities in while. As Zoe and I were up to our elbows in shrimp guts I was reminded of exactly why. Ultimately, the results were worth it.  To finish the day, Zoe had Tom pick up the 2^nd Harry Potter movie as a gift, so we watched that. It’s practically a marathon in itself at a weighty 2 hours and 20 minutes. All in all it was a fun day.