It is really important to me to make Lisa’s birthday special every year. It is hard because her birthday falls within two days of our oldest son Danny. Also, the last two years it has been right around the Wineglass Marathon – last year on Lisa’s birthday and in 2011 on Danny’s. One bit of good news is that Wineglass is on the 6th this year!
I love cooking, so I started off with some Maple Oat Scones. Rather than use our standard recipes, I tried this one form FoodNetwork.com. They were pretty good (better than most commercial ones, sorry if that sounds immodest!) … but not as good as they could have been. If you follow the recipe, don’t use the mixer – too much work into the dough makes them cakey and a bit dry.
For dinner, we didn’t buy veal due to pricing, but I made chicken marsala with oven-roasted potatoes and broiled balsamic asparagus. This got rave reviews – everything was awesome.
The cake I made was a strawberry with white buttercream. For the center I made it similar to strawberry shortcake. Lisa gave me a rough time about leakage from the juices, but everyone agreed the taste was amazing!
The food was great, as was the overall day. We all got to drink coffee while Lisa opened gifts in the morning, then when I got home with Chris from the doctor Lisa and I went for a walk before I started cooking.
As for presents, the boys got her a great teapot, and I got her a gold seahorse Pandora charm.
Great day!
Running Around the Bend 
Wow, I am super hungry now…. Sounds like is was a great bday! 🙂
Thanks Sarah! I do my best – love cooking in general, and it is even better for special things like this!
Love your blog!