Julia's Birthday Feast: Part XXIII

Last Thursday was Julia's 23rd Birthday, and as has been our tradition the past three years, Philippe planned and cooked a special birthday dinner. Although he may have been a little ambitious with the number of recipes he tackled, things turned out amazing! 

To kick off the night, we had champagne cocktails that had a peach rosemary puree and were garnished with strawberries and blueberries. Since it had been over 95 degrees in New York that day, these were a very welcome refreshment!

Then it was time for the first course...a crab salad made with tomatoes, fresh corn, red onion, and basil. This was a great summer salad.

Next up was the main course, which was actually made up of three different small-bite appetizers. The first were French bread slices topped with a blue cheese sauce, grilled steak, and cherry tomatoes.

Next were sour dough toasts spread with goat cheese and topped with arugula tossed with olive oil and vinegar and slices of vine tomatoes.

Finally, the third toast was topped with melted brie cheese, ham, grainy dijon mustard, and grated granny smith apple.

Although we kept trying to choose our favorite, we just couldn't do it! Any of these would be great appetizers on their own, but they also made a (rather large) but unique meal.

Finally, it was time for Julia's favorite course, dessert! And for dessert was one of her absolute favorites, Carvel ice cream cake. As it says on the package "this is what happiness tastes like." We couldn't agree more.

Stay posted to see Philippe's birthday dinner that will be coming up very soon! Hopefully Julia will be able to top this birthday feast extravaganza!!