Tomorrow is my birthday! Although I’m not particularly sentimental when it comes to my birthday, I do like to squeeze in as much celebration (in other words, eating) as possible. Why not, right? Robert refers to this as my birthday “week” and it officially kicked off last Wednesday when his gift to me arrived via UPS.

On Friday, my friend took me out for lunch at Tulio. We were given fresh foccacia bread and olive oil to snack on while we perused the menu. I had the springtime risotto which was made with fresh peas and baby carrots and topped with pea vines and saffron cream. It was buttery and delicious and I can’t believe I managed to eat the whole thing. My friend had the asparagus soup and the spicy orrechiette with sausage, rapini and tomato sauce. Then, because I apparently needed more to eat, we split the pistachio semifreddo for dessert! Semifreddo is a partially frozen cream. It was really, really good. I was pretty much useless at work after that.

Last night was the celebration with the family. I selected El Greco for the event. Robert and I love their brunch but had never been there for dinner. We started off with a bunch of appetizers: complimentary olives and bread, baked idiazabal cheese with crostini, pears and serrano ham (delicious!), grilled asparagus with a sauce that I didn’t catch (also delicious), grilled baby octopus (chewy but not horrible) and sweet potato fries (crisp and sweet!). They also gave us a free serving of that evening’s appetizer special which was a puff pastry with cheese and spiced strawberries. It seemed more like a dessert than an appetizer but it was tasty and I’ll eat anything with strawberries. I won’t describe each of the entrees but here is a quick rundown of what was ordered: my mom had the clam linguine, my dad had the daily risotto (which had meat but, since they make it to order, you can order it vegetarian or even ask for other vegetables - good to know for the future), my brother had the salmon special, my brother-in-law had the duck, Robert had the Greek lamb burger and my sister and I split the bread salad and the crispy penne. The crispy penne is comprised of penne that has been cooked and then fried until, well, crispy. It is topped with a spicy tomato sauce with eggplant, capers, olives and tons of garlic. A good helping of ricotta salata garnished the dish. It was a big hit. It’s no wonder the website calls the crispy penne a local favorite. After all that great food and a couple of glasses of pinot grigio, I was a happy camper!