Another Birthday And Plenty To Be Thankful For - PLUS Moules Frites And Cake On The Equinox

Each and every year when my birthday rolls around I am reminded how little I actually celebrate this day since I feel that I spend so much time celebrating every other day. I instead use this day to reflect and to feel the gratitude that I am here and it is because of my parents that I am. 

When I feel that I have adequately reflected, usually by dinner time, then I get ready to chow down on what ever my favorite thing is at this point. For many years my chosen birthday dinner was sushi, other times its surf and turf so you can easily see a trend - seafood.

Today my choice, after cruising around the fish markets in Chinatown this morning, is mussels and shrimp or Moules Frites, as its more popularly known. I went ahead and added 3 pounds of large Lousiana shrimp because I can. I made some crispy fried potatoes and some hunks of fresh seeded Italian bread to sop up all the delicious, buttery, wine infused juices. If today is also your birthday I wish you a happy one. If today is not then I wish you a happy Equinox.

Squash Blossoms

Having access to a garden is opening up a plethora of delights, and one of those delights is fried squash blossoms filled with ricota and parmesean cheese and coarse ground black pepper. Hard to explain the subtle squash flavor but mix that with fried and cheese and words alone will never be enough.




They are good just like this or excellent with a nice fresh marinara sauce and a crispy cold Pinot Grigio regardless of what wine snobs say.