A Very Special Birthday
Whew! This past week was something else. Between cramming every second of my non-bloggable life with work as I sprinted to the finish line before my two week vacation, hosting and entertaining my sister and my niece for the week, and celebrating my niece’s birthday, there was not one moment of down time. Parents, don’t know how you do it. Yesterday was my first day of vacation and I did not move off the couch for hours. Hours.
Back to the special birthday. We took our niece on a dinner cruise aboard the Odyssey. She wore her heels (age-appropriate low wedges, friends!) and dressed up in a skirt. I could tell she liked being treated as a grown-up, which, frankly, the Mr. and I do anyway. Mostly because we forget she’s not an adult. We did clean up our act, though — only one slippage in language each the entire week!
Here are a few scenes from our evening …
We had a great corner table at the front of the boat so we all could look out the window!
My niece’s Shirley Temple.
We started with the mojito shrimp cocktail — shrimp marinated with lime, mint, and cilantro and served with salmon mousse and chipotle marinara sauce.
The Mr. ordered the caramelized duck en croute — duck confit, forest mushrooms, sage and monterey jack cheese baked in puff pastry and served over spaghetti squash with dried currants, cranberries, and candied pecans, drizzled with marsala wine demi-glace.
The rest of us ordered the lobster bisque — lobster simmered in sweet cream butter and blended with sherry and creme fraiche.
Two of us had the mushroom braised short ribs marinated in a shallot and wild mushroom gravy and served with garlic mashed potatoes and crispy onion straws.
The other two of us (including me!) had the seafood ravioli gratinee — jumbo ravioli filled with Italian cheeses and topped with Gulf shrimp, bay scallops, and a rustic pomodoro sauce.
We also had several desserts but the wonderful light had disappeared by that time and the photos are not worth posting. The trip back was beautiful as we passed Boston Light and turned towards Boston as the sun set.
We all had a wonderful time! As we walked down the dock, my niece said to me, “I was the only kid on there.” I asked her if that was weird for her and she said, “No. I liked it!” My, oh my, she’s growing up.
