My Birth Week

I know that the evidence suggests otherwise, but I haven’t forgotten that I am a blogger. And contrary to the narcissistic voices in my head, I am aware that celebrating one’s birth is typically a one day event, but somehow mine went on most of the past week. Sure. Why not? Next year, I’ll shoot for a month-long celebration. Ha!

This is a huge catch-up post, so I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

On my actual birthday, Dustin and I went to New Jersey like I said in my last post. We did everything we planned except see the Muppet movie. It was getting to be later in the afternoon, so I opted to go straight to Trader Joe’s after we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

We get so much love from fellow Ron Paul supporters when they see the magnets on our car! At first it took a while to get used to people honking at us, but we quickly realized why when we see people in the neighboring car waving enthusiastically or passing by blowing their horn in solidarity. It’s fantastic. Go, Ron, Go!

Being Trader Joe’s is 80 miles from home, we always bring coolers + ice packs to keep the frozen and refrigerated items cold until we get home. It works out well.

Ignore the dirty trunk.

I got a good amount of loot, mainly my favorites: no salt added tuna + salmon, frozen wild salmon fillets, blueberries, frozen bell pepper strips, artichoke hearts, raw milk cheese, etc. All great stuff, as usual.

Our last stop in Jersey: Joe’s Crab Shack!!

Tough decisions.

Serious business.

I went with the classic steampot which consisted of: dungeness crab, snow crab legs, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, shrimp, and sausage that I didn’t eat.

Delicious, but I think the crab was better in Florida. Still one of our favorite places. <3

Being it was my first birthday of the week, we ordered the S’mores for dessert.

I have to recreate this at home. It’s so yummy!

We did a lot of Christmas shopping last week, which also included shopping for a new purse for my birthday. I bought one and ended up taking it back after the clasp came undone way too easily when I put it on my shoulder, resulting in it falling to the floor. It was far too expensive for that kind of flaw. I think it’s a security risk if it falls; someone can quickly snatch it, not to mention super annoying. We also ordered my birthday cake at the Pastry Garden in Poughkeepsie while we were out and about.

Thursday, we went to NYC with Tricia and Pito to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. I’ve been there several times over the years and each time it’s a different experience. This year, the tree seemed to be smaller than previous years. In person, the lights looked more lackluster to me than in the pictures. I think the lights in previous years were more festive.

Tricia + Pito

We went to the Blue Ribbon on Sullivan St. for dinner because Dustin has regretted not trying their famous fried chicken when we were there a few years ago. He never forgets about a fried chicken that he wants to try. He forgets how old he is, our phone number, and the year he graduated high school, but he never, ever, ever forgets his fried chicken.

The restaurant was crowded, just like the last time. Elbow-to-elbow, like most popular NYC restaurants. Pictures were limited due to the horrible low-lighting conditions and me not wanting to make a scene with the obnoxious flash on my camera.

Undesirable bread. Dry and hard through and through.

Fried oysters for a starter. They were quite good.

Dustin’s highly coveted yet anti-climatic fried chicken.

He said the fried chicken at the 50s Prime Time Café in Disney’s Hollywood Studios was much better than this. I had one bite without the breading; it seemed bland, not the most tender chicken I’ve ever had.

I ordered the Paella Basquez and was surprised by the generous portion. It took up most of our tiny table. They have Paella Royale which serves 5 people—The Basquez could, too!

I hated leaving at least 80% of it there but I wasn’t about to carry paella around Manahattan, LOL. Cupcakes, however…

We stopped by the Magnolia Bakery so I could finally taste what all the hype was about all around the blogosphere.

Tricia and I ordered two cupcakes to take home; chocolate with Tiffany blue vanilla icing and sprinkles:

So pretty!

Sorry to say, but it tasted like… a cupcake. Nothing special from the few bites I had. I was anticipating sweet fireworks in my mouth, but it was just a cupcake, no more, no less. Maybe I was expecting too much? lol

Subway back to our car parked in Queens.

Friday, we had a small party at home with mom’s lasagna and cake. This was a week of intense eats!

The hand-drawn Hello Kitty was great. The cake itself… meh. It was very light, almost like Angel Food cake. The two fillings were chocolate custard and peanut mousse, both were tasty. I didn’t care for the buttercream frosting that the girl taking my order talked me into instead of fresh whipped cream. Another woman completed my order and she was anything but accommodating. I didn’t care for her attitude at all. She was quite uppity for someone whom I suspect was the manager?! Not sure, but she wasn’t very friendly, and very unwilling to fulfill my basic requests. Requests that Deising’s Bakery in Kingston always satisfied without any hesitation. Requests like a round cake, not a rectangular sheet cake. This will probably be my last order from The Pastry Garden. The service was a major turn-off.

Truthfully, no one in my household likes cake all that much but we love the fillings and frosting, so we usually just leave the cake and eat the fillings + frosting, lol.

This frosting we left most of, though. It was… weird. Kind of funky. Definitely not as good as fresh whipped cream! I’ll never be swayed again.

My Hello Kitty cakes from Deising’s in years past were superior to this one…

2008

2009

2010

Saturday, we had an appointment with our real estate agent and an inspector for a house we’re more than a little interested in buying. Yeah, in between perpetually celebrating my birthday and Christmas shopping and tree-gawking, we’re also house-buying and making the money that pays for houses and tree-gawking and cupcakes. December is always a crazy and busy month for us, this year is crazier and busier than ever!

After our appointment with the house, we stopped by Union Square Restaurant for lunch and cell phone picture-taking.

I had the chicken gyro combo that came with salad AND fries. Left the fries, ate half of the salad, and fell in love with the gyro. It was SO GOOD! Messy but good.

Dustin had a cheese pizza, his favorite Union Square menu selection.

Did you see Ron Paul on Jay Leno the other night?! OMG, it was so, so, so FANTASTIC! Check it out, if you haven’t seen it:

If you’re wondering where to buy the car magnets, you can buy them on his official web site: http://www.ronpaul2012.com – The proceeds go to his presidential campaign.

This is the age of Ron Paul.

Tagged as: birthdays, cake, Christmas, New Jersey, New York City, restaurants, Ron Paul, shopping, trader joe's, travel