Happy Birthday Dinner!

    We had a birthday here recently! We're not so much about the present-giving on birthdays anymore in my family, and more about the good food and company. While I personally do love presents, I can do without if family is involved :) It was pretty casual, with 4 (out of 8) of us there, but it was nice.

    I did the meal planning this time around. I went with something fairly simple due to picky eaters around here. Here's the pictures!

apples, watercress, ginger, lemon juice, raisins

    I made it into a psuedo 3-course meal (mostly just to sound fancy). The first course was an apple dealio. I totally stole this idea from a flickr photo I saw, but I don't know who did it. Either way, it was so tasty! I'd add honey next time, since it was a bit tart. I cut both stacks down the center and served it like a salad.

    The second and main course was just sandwiches, with a nice presentation. Sadly I only took pictures of the fixings...

 Tri-tip steak sandwiches with swiss cheese melted in the broiler. 

There was also lemon-cucumber water with the meal. Sooo good.

 Haha! I tried a new bread recipe... 
Tasted good, but didn't hold up at all. I'll keep looking.

...and the horrendous aftermath, so you'll just have to take my word on it that it actually was nice before!

Bad pictures, but just trust me! It tasted great.

    The dessert course was flan. The recipe was easy (I'll post it up later!) but I didn't use the correct size dish to bake it in and thus had some problems. Mainly, I had to cook this thing for FOREVER and it was still slightly runny in the center while being a bit overcooked on the outside. It was extremely rich and creamy and delicious, though!

    Overall, it was a success. I highly recommend that lemon-cucumber water, too. It's the perfect drink for summer!