Friday, January 23, 2009

Birthday Wishes for Marble Man



Today is Marble Man's birthday. We generally don't do birthday gifts, just make a spectacular meal that will render us comatose by the end of the evening. 26 years-worth of tradition here - we're not letting a little thing like a diet get in the way!

Tonight's menu:



Fillet Mignon
roasted sweet potatoes
celery root and apple puree
velvet cupcakes

The cupcake recipe is actually for RED velvet cupcakes, which I've made in the past. Marble Man would snarf them up as fast as I could frost them. Then he saw the recipe and goggled. He got a bit freaked out by the tablespoon-and-a-half of red food coloring. In his mind, we're only supposed to use a few drops at a time, so this recipe is gonna kill us.



To appease him, I'm leaving out the food coloring. Since the recipe calls for cocoa powder, I thought I'd replace the food coloring with espresso, and make them mocha velvet cupcakes. They should come out ok, since I'm keeping the liquid proportions the same as the original recipe.



The celery root puree recipe is one I tried at Thanksgiving, but I cut waaaaay back on the butter and cream. I think there's a direct correlation between the size of Ina Garten (of the Food Network's Barefoot Contessa) and the amount of these two ingredients found throughout her recipes! So, I used just enough to create moisture, and some flavor. The results were phenomenal. Who could imagine a vegetable this ugly could make something that delicious?

These days, it seems like the only real creative time I've gotten has been in the kitchen. I don't mind. I love to cook, and I am paying closer attention to portions and substituting healthier ingredients for the old favorites of butter, cream, and sugar. Today is no different - I'll be spending the better part of the afternoon mixing up this feast for my guy.

Make a wish and take a deep breath, Sweetheart. Time to blow out all those candles.

11 comments:

T.Allen said...

Happy Birthday Marble Man! That's quite a menu. I gotta admit the amount of food coloring in red velvet cake is a bit disturbing, but it's so good it's almost worth whatever theorized ailment it supposes.

Cecile/DreamCreateRepeat said...

Actually, I think the celery root in that photo looks alittle like the traditional heart & flame in Catholic imagery (one of my faves) so maybe its good for what ails thee.

Happy birthday, Marble Man!

3rdEyeMuse said...

happy, happy birthday to Marble Man!

... and feel free to send the doggy bag my way. :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for all the well wishes, but there's no way there's going to be any doggies bags left from this meal. man, that was deliisssh!

--MM

lori vliegen said...

hi marble man! i'd sing "happy birthday to you", but i'm afraid that once you heard my singing voice, you wouldn't want kate to hang around with me anymore. i'm glad that you enjoyed your feast...i'm just sorry that there's no celery root left...i LOVE it (even without all of the ina butter in it - kate, you are so funny)!! :)

Terri Pezzullo - Handmade said...

♬ ♩ ♫ ♬ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♬ this is me singing happy birthday to marble man!!

Kate Tracton said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Yummy yummy yummmmmmy!! WE are eating at your house for Marble Man's birthday for sure!!! I want red velevt, I will chance the red food coloring. Will you make those for me? tee heee xoxo

femminismo said...

Sounds like a yummy birthday dinner. Don't know who Marble Max is but this is my first visit, via 3rd eye muse. I love the Susan Cooper books too! jeanne in oregon

Fete et Fleur said...

Happy Birthday to Marble Man!! Congratulations to so many wonderful years together.

Nancy

EADotCom said...

Keep up the cooking and sharing of recipes. You are being a real blessing there too :) Happy Belated Birthday Marble Man