Monday, October 04, 2010

Mellow Yellow Monday - A Great Birthday - October 4, 2010


Mellow Yellow Monday - A Great Birthday - October 4, 2010

There were only subtle bits of yellow for my birthday yesterday, slices of lemon at  a
meal, fans in the decor at Esperpento Restaurant, or other bits of yellow here and
there but I'm going to put my post in Mellow Yellow anyway.

It was a great day from start to finish.  I began it at the Hyatt Regency in Burlingame,
CA, listening to the fabulous Margie Baker sing jazz, blues, and music from the Great
American Songbook.  I didn't get a picture of her this time ( she hates having her picture
taken ) but the other musicians obliged!  Keithe was terrific on keyboard and Ken did
his usual great job on bass.  Royal delights on drums and he is so sweet!

I love this banner at the Sweetwater Cafe where the Hyatt  has their jazz brunch every
Sunday and where Margie Baker performs.  There is a hint of yellow in the leaves.

Keith at keyboards and Ken on bass


Royal on drums

Keith

For dinner, my family took me to San Francisco's Mission district to eat at a wonderful
Spanish restaurant, Esperpento.  The only one missing was my middle son, Alex, who
stayed in West Sacramento to study for a big calculus test tomorrow!  His wife, Laura,
who had run in a half marathon in the morning in San Jose, stayed in the area, to join
us for dinner which was so nice, even though she was bone weary and was suffering
from a bum knee ( no matter what, she is always beautiful! ). 

The food was fabulous at Esperpento and we had such a wonderful time in thiscrowded,
noisy Mission restaurant.


Wall decorations

We had to wait for Shawn and his friend, Dawn,  to arrive from Fairfield since he had
Air Force Reserves this weekend.  Of course, we put the time to good use with
appetizers. They were yummy - fried calamari, wonderful spicy potatoes, and
grilled artichokes.


Patatas Bravas

Grilled Artichokes


Fried calamari

Once Dawn and Shawn arrived, we ordered three of their grilled specialities, a seafood
platter, a vegetable platter, and their grilled meats - fabulous, all of them.


Me with my oldest son, Shawn, who will be 40 in December


Shawn with his lovely friend, Dawn

Time for a food shot - here's the grilled seafood!

Me with our family's only girl, my lovely daugher-in-law, Laura
( she looks like this after running a half marathon! )


My son, Jeremy, and his lovely girlfriend, Katie
( don't my sons choose beautiful girls! )

Jeremy will be 26 November 2nd and he HATES having
blog photos taken


Shawn's girlfriend, Dawn, who is a 911 dispatcher


Grilled meat platter

Grilled vegetables



This cake was such a wonderful surprise.  Those of you who know me well are aware of
my addiction to marzipan.  Katie went home to San Diego last week and brought this
cake back from there.  How she managed it on the flight - and got it home and to the
restaurant without my knowledge is beyond m!  I was so surprised when it came out
after the meal.  It was so delicious and was the most wonderful finale to a wonderful
birthday.  If you have to be sixty-six and you can't be in Rome, sharing a birthday with
the best sons and their lovely ladies and a marzipan cake is definitely the way to go!

Thank you, children, for this day - and for my plane ticket to my 45 year
nursing school reunion in New Orleans and for my Droid 2 phone ( I am
definitely keep up with the hip grannies - except I'm not a grannie yet ).

I am participating  in Mellow Yellow Monday - join us!!

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:17 AM

    What a wonderful birthday and great present :) WOOT!!! Thanks for sharing. What a wonderful family you have my friend. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a super birthday, Carmen. Gorgeous cake! Am I right in guessing the icing was marzipan and not the whole cake?
    Your sons are very handsome -- Shawn has your smile.

    Kay, Alberta

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely, lovely party. It's nice to know that you like patatas bravas, and marzipan, of course :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. You have a super birthday celebration.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a wonderful celebration- that green marzipan is pretty amazing! You look so happy!

    ReplyDelete
  6. glad to know you had a wonderful blast in your birthday Carmen, hard for me to imagine a cake would still look good after enduring a flight :) and those dishes make me so hungry, can I have some seafoods? :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Carmen, It looks like you had a fantastic birthday. The seafood grill looks amazing and the wonderful cake is perfect for you. Best of all, you were surrounded by loved ones. That's perfection!
    Cheers, jj

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Birthday Carmen. You look fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, what a feast Carmen and that cake looks delicious especially after a flight :) Dawn is beautiful and they make a cute couple. Love the expression on Jeremy's face, it's adorable. What a great time.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thom -
    I am still full from Sunday night and my friend, Jo, took me out for lunch today. Thanks, I do have a great family.


    Kay L. Davies -
    I wish that cake would have been through and through marzipan! How decadent that would have been! I think my boys are pretty nice looking young men...all three of them - though Alex was missing from our dinner gathering.


    fullet -
    I like MOST tapas - with that great Spanish olive oil. The patatas bravas at Esperpento are so good...nice and spicy.


    Kim,USA -
    Thank you for the birthday greetings!


    rainfield61 -
    It was a joyous birthday, from start to finish!


    Sharkbytes(TM) -
    I was elated the whole ( and stuffed to the gills )! It was such fun.


    betchai -
    When you decide to head to San Francisco, we'll have to eat at Esperpento. That seafood platter is wonderful and would easily feed three.


    Joanna Jenkins -
    I was so overjoyed the whole day...and I still have a little cake left ( I think ). I have been upstairs this evening to check but I may go up now ( it's 4AM ) because writing about it has made me crave it!!


    Poetic Shutterbug -
    Jeremy's expression of pained tolerance?? He is too funny, usually. I do think Dawn is pretty and she and Shawn are nice together. I like her.
    a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Happy Birthday!! That food all sounds/looks amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  12. All parents should have birthday party like that some time, with those wonderful children, and their "others". It shows what good kids you have, and reflects directly on their mother--Carmen--who brought them up, and sent them out to make the world a better place.

    Congratulations...a FUN blog to read, and great photos, too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. And here is the BD celebration! The seafood plate is to die for. Smiles. Glad your family were there for your 66th celebration. You looked very happy.

    ReplyDelete