Steak au Poivre, oolala! Oh and Carrot Cake

That's right! Yum, yum. We finished off the M&B Bertolami birthday box tonight. The fillet mignon were amazingly delicious. I wish I could say I created this recipe but I didn't. This recipe definitely has a little spot in by heart. Way back when I was like 10 or something we went to Jamaica or it may have been Antigua (I can't remember) with the entire Feshenfeld side of the family. I know I had just had my hair braided into corn rows and I sure thought I was pretty spiffy. Each night of the vacation I had chicken au Poive. Yeah, I didn't like steak back then. My brother and I just had to sit down at the table and the waiter already knew what we would have, me the chicken and Matt the steak. I'm pretty sure I had a virgin pina colada as well! Pretty disgusting if you think about it, now that I know what's is in the sauce. Butter and heavy cream. Well tonight we tried to slim it down a bit by adding less butter and a mix of half & half and milk. We used more peppercorns that it called for because we really like the spicy bite it adds. Needless to say I didn't have a blender drink but stuck with a big glass of H2O! I don't think I will post the recipe but you can find it in The Gourmet Cookbook (the big yellow book, page 426). We rounded out the meal with some red potatoes and sauteed spinach.

Oh, that's right I also mentioned something about carrot cake. Everyone knows that this is my all time favorite cake. Dave made me the best cake last year for my birthday and this year I was lucky enough to have a wonderful friend Susan make me her famous recipe. It is so good! I think I was seven when I requested carrot cake for my birthday cake. After playing some crazy and creative game my mom created to wow my friends we came inside our old house in Boxboro and sat down to cake. At seven it was either "We're going on a lion hunt or the crazy spider maze game in the front yard. Every kid can't wait until the cake portion on a birthday party. I really couldn't wait because I knew what waited, boy were my little friends surprised when they saw orange shreds in the slice cake sitting on their plate. No one touched it, they all expected chocolatey goodness not somewhat healthy carrots. Oh well, more for me!

It's a BOY!

That's right! The Allen's are having a boy! After being told "for certain" that it was a girl yesterday morning, we were told it was a boy later that night. The envelope didn't stay sealed that long. How could you not find out what was in there! Here's to a Thor not a Pammy! Congratulations Berit!

Not only is Berit wondring what the heck birthday cake is but what a baby brother is as well!

Peace, Love and Lobsters!

That was the description on our bibs tonight. Yes, bibs. Its 11pm and we just finished dinner. Actually Dave is still working on the last course. In honor of Grandma he is eating Moose Tracks. Actually Mint Moose Tracks. I don't know how he fits all this food. If I had even an ounce of room I would be eating Moose Tracks as well but I just can't. I can't even think about topping the dinner we just had. When we arrive home from work today we were greeted by a big old Styrofoam box. What the heck could this be? Come to find out it was filled with two live Maine lobsters, two fillet Mignon, a couple of crackers, little forks, butter, a lemon, our bibs and some wet naps. My wonderful, amazing and very thoughtful brother and sister-in-law were the master mines behind this amazing night. Oh they were SO good!

We figured that the last time we had lobster was right before Matt and Rebekah's wedding with my parents. Before that it was on our honeymoon in Bar Harbor. I think in three days Dave consumed 6-8 lobsters whether it be whole or tucked into a bun. Talk about a shiny chin. He may as well have been bathing in clarified butter. Gosh after seeing him eat and suck the meat out of those little legs I wasn't sure if I had made the most educated decision! I'm just kidding!

Well, this dinner was amazing and being land locked in the Rocky Mountains lobsters really made my night and for sure the start to my birthday weekend. Thank you M&B!