Tuesday, June 28, 2011

forty!

Larry's 40th Birthday
June 7, 2011. Larry turned 40.

We kicked off the celebration a little early, though - just the two of us. (Which coincidentally was the same day as our 8th anniversary.) My surprise invitation:
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
I picked out this bottle specifically for the picture of the Roogle - a cross between a kangaroo and an eagle! 
(And also because it was a highly acclaimed wine, according to the peeps at Total Wine.)

Larry and I are huge fans of Top Chef, and particularly of Chef Bryan Voltaggio from Season 6. (Or maybe that's just me - Bryan Voltaggio is my celebrity crush. Yes, that's right, I choose chefs over movie stars!) We've both been wanting to eat at his restaurant, VOLT, which is about an hour north of us. A fortieth birthday seemed like the perfect occasion to check it out.


The whole experience was fantastic. We started with drinks at the bar, and as we were waiting, someone said "Excuse me" and walked past us - it was Chef Voltaggio! (I promptly elbowed Larry in the ribs and hissed "that was him!") We also saw the man himself in the dining room - so, it was nice to know that the chef was in the house that night! Despite his celebrity status, the restaurant was elegant and understated and all the diners were polite and respectful.

And the food...oh, the food was so delicious.

What we ate:
Larry - clam chowder, sweetbreads*, lamb, apple cake.
Me - shitake veloute, goat cheese ravioli, halibut, goat cheese cake.

(*Yes, I did try Larry's sweetbreads, despite my aversion to offal. And it was delicious! I still am not sure exactly what I was eating...and it's probably better that way. I had always thought sweetbreads were brains, but evidently, it could be just about any animal part. Hmm.)

In addition to that, there were several types of fresh baked bread (Chef Voltaggio serves as pastry chef, too, so the breads and desserts are also his recipes), an amuse bouche which consisted of foie gras (again with the organ meat!) inside some sort of meringue puff (sounds weird, tasted awesome), a fantastic bottle of wine, a special dessert (pistachio semifreddo) since it was Larry's birthday, homemade chocolate truffles (in case you're counting, that's the fourth dessert we had there!), and a doggie bag of apple coffee cake muffins to take home for breakfast the next day. (We'll definitely be going back, and hope to check out Table 21 - the chef's table next to the kitchen - for the 21-course tasting menu.)
Breakfast muffins from VOLT
I was polite enough to not go all paparazzi on the food (or Chef Voltaggio), but here's a pic of the outside of the restaurant, which is housed in a 19th century mansion in downtown Frederick, Maryland.
Larry's 40th Birthday
During Larry's birthday week, he got a surprise in the mail - 40 birthday cards...
40 cards
...with 40 messages from friends and family.
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
40 cards
On Tuesday, his actual birthday, he woke up to Forty by John Eddie, which includes liberal usage of the
f-bomb along with the lyrics "I guess I'm f*ckin' forty"...



...and treats from me and the dogs.
Larry's 40th BirthdayLarry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Banjo and Gravy got him the wine - Faithful Hound and Mad Dogs & Englishmen: (We drank them later that night.)
Larry's 40th Birthday
Presents!
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Is anyone surprised that this happened?
Larry's 40th Birthday
Then we hit the road for a drive through the country.
virginia
We stopped for lunch at the Market Salamander in Middleburg.
market salamander
market salamander
market salamander
And we took a hike through the blooming mountain laurels in the Shenandoah Mountains.
shenandoah national park
shenandoah national park
shenandoah national park
Then we came home to enjoy the evening on our patio with grilled food, pyrotechnics, a miniature coconut cake, and a bonfire.
Larry's 40th Birthday
The 40 firestarter (an idea I stole from A Subtle Revelry):
Larry's 40th Birthday
I can't hear/type the word firestarter without getting that *#&@^%$ song by Prodigy stuck in my head. I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter...

(Can you believe this song is 15 years old?!)

It didn't really achieve the domino effect of flame that I was hoping for (the matches weren't close enough together), but it still looked cool.
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
Then time for the bonfire! All boys like to play with fire, even when they're forty:
Larry's 40th Birthday
Banjo liked it, too. (I think at this point Gravy had already put himself to bed.)
Larry's 40th Birthday
Time for a confession: I didn't make Larry a cake. It was his 40th birthday and I didn't make him a cake.

I grew up having never eaten a store-bought cake. My mom made everyone's birthday cakes herself, and even took a cake decorating class when I was a child so she could make masterpieces for our birthdays. And I think that's the way it should be - everyone deserves a homemade cake for their birthday. I have always made cakes (or sometimes pies, because that's what he's requested) for Larry's birthday, and I had grand plans for Larry's 40th birthday cake. And then I ran out of time. At midnight before his birthday, I still hadn't started making the cake, and I realized it was foolish to start. I felt terrible and had to confess to Larry that I didn't make him a cake.

Of course, Larry was completely cool about it and had been saying that he didn't want a cake anyway because then the two of us are stuck eating an entire cake ourselves (what's the problem with that again?). So on the way back from Shenandoah, we stopped at Wegmans to pick up some meat and veggies to throw on the grill for dinner. As we walked through the impressive bakery section (if you've never been to a Wegmans, it's not your ordinary grocery store), Larry was drawn like a moth to a flame to a miniature coconut cake. "This is my birthday cake!" he proclaimed, and tossed it in our cart buggy. (Larry calls shopping carts "buggies". Isn't that cute?)

So not only was Larry's cake store-bought (and not even from a bakery, but from a grocery store), but he picked it out himself. Complete fail on my part.

But here's the thing: That cake was freaking delicious. The two of us devoured the whole thing, raved that it tasted homemade, and said that we never need to bake our own cakes again. (Of course I will, but I'm telling you, those Wegman's cakes are really delicious. I kind of have a craving for one right now.)
Larry's 40th Birthday
Larry's 40th Birthday
We finished off the evening with the wine I mentioned earlier and a toast to my boy...
Larry's 40th Birthday
Forty cheers for forty years!

I love you, babe. (And I'm still sorry I didn't make you a cake!)

5 comments:

kathleen said...

This is lovely :)

Abby said...

You did such an excellent job, Rachel! Larry's lucky to have you! I love the pictures of him opening the cards. So sweet. What image did they make once they were all together? Also, we have a Wegman's about 15 minutes from here and it's amazing. I'll have to look for that cake.

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Thanks, Abby! I'm planning a whole separate post about the 40 cards (clearly, I'm a little behind since I'm just now posting about his birthday - three weeks late!)

Wegmans had the little cakes in different flavors, too - and while I bet they were intended to serve four, we had no problem crushing the whole thing between the two of us!

Funnelcloud Rachel said...

Testing.

Larry said...

Thanks babe. It was a great day. You take good care of this old guy. Love you.