One of the birthday gifts in our house is being able to choose the menu for your celebration dinner. For me, as cook, this is one of my favorite ways to show my love for the birthday person in my life. Having a love for preparing food makes it a win-win for me.
This year, Ken requested pulled pork so to begin, I salt and pepper the pork and cook it low and slow in my magical red pot (a classic Dutch oven).
Hours of cooking later, the meat is allowed to cool before it is pulled with 2 forks on the cutting board. My preference is to simply eat the meat dry mixed in with some well seasoned rice.
However, the birthday request is for sandwiches and so the pork is slowly simmered in a mixture of his favorite sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's) with a few splashes of chicken broth to loosen things up a bit.
In addition to a tossed salad, a huge pot of sweet corn on the cob is served.
Though many stories were told and shared, I may always remember learning that when my brother-in-law was growing up he used his mother's cruet set to play Priest. So original and unexpected!
After dinner my sons played catch outside for a little while with their young cousins while the kitchen was cleaned up and the birthday brownies were prepared (cut up) for serving and a few candles were strategically placed in Ken's. An original rendition of Happy Birthday was sung, complete with musical instrument impersonations, and once the wish was made and flames blown out, the brownies were served with a choice of mint chocolate chip or vanilla ice cream.
Which do you think the birthday guy chose?
Fed Well, he seemed to have a more than 24 reasons to be happy and celebrate.
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