my love's birthday dinner

First, we made a culinary stop-off in India for some chicken tikka masala, spiced pulao (rice), potato and pea vadi (vegetable patties), cucumber raita, and naan bread.
My love does not enjoy Indian desserts as I do, so we made a quick detour to France for a crepe cake - 20 crepes layered with vanilla pastry cream and fresh raspberry sauce.

raw apple cake

My grandma made this cake for my birthday last month, and it' s been on my mind ever since. I absolutely love apple season and am always looking for new ways to use up apples. This is perfect. I made a few *tweaks* to the recipe, but other than that, it's the original.

Raw Apple Cake
1 handful sliced almonds **
2 cups grated apple
1 cup grated coconut
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon **
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Sprinkle half of the sliced almonds in the bottom of the pie dish (put the other half aside)
2. Mix remaining ingredients together until well-blended
3. Pour batter into dish
4. Sprinkle top of batter with other half of sliced almonds
5. Bake at 350 for 45 mins

The result? A deliciously moist cake with the perfect level of sweetness.

tapas party

For my madre's birthday, we had a tapas party at our house.



Here's what was on the menu:
(from furthest dishes to closest)

• roasted vegetables with caramelized Vermont Butter & Cheese Company's chevre
• thinly sliced chorizo wrapped in puff pastry
• zesty chunky tomato-based gazpacho
• bites of tortilla (Spanish potato omelette)
• mushroom caps stuffed with Willow Hill Farm's Blue Moon blue cheese
• patatas bravas (bites of potato with spicy tomato dipping sauce)
• dishes of chorizo and olives
• roasted citrus & garlic shrimp with romesco sauce (roasted red pepper sauce)
  
• romaine & radicchio salad with thinly-sliced bosc pears, Green Mountain Blue Cheese's Boucher Blue, and a light lemon vinaigrette