My Birthday Dinner 2011

For my birthday, there was only one thing I knew I wanted to eat: SEAFOOD! :) More than anything else I miss from Cebu, I think I've started to miss fish and seafood the most. And I was determined to go shopping to get me some. After all, it is my special day, right? :) 

Everything on the menu was bought at the grocery store and ready to be eaten, except for these. For our hot dish, I made Shrimp Lumpia - Shrimp and Veggies rolled in Rice Wrapper. I actually made these at a lunch gathering my sister had a couple of weeks ago, and these were a success. My Brother-in-Law asked me to make some more today. I decided to bake them rather than deep fry them and they turned out excellent despite not having all that extra oil.

Seeing that we are living in a region of France that is not near a body of water, we have limited choices of fish and seafood. But I managed to buy shrimps, crab claws, and bulots (whelk). These were already cooked as most seafood found in supermarkets in this region are. 

More shrimps, this time headless.

And a dozen of fresh oysters which were cleaned and opened by my brother-in-law one by one. These were excellent raw and with a little touch of shallots vinegar. Not in photos was also the Smoked Salmon and Crabsticks. We truly feasted on seafood tonight.

And to top it all of, we had special bread and champagne! Oh-la-la!

For dessert, I almost got what I wanted. My favorite French dessert is Le Fraisier (a delicious strawberry with cream cake), but when I went to the shop, they told it wasn't available right now, but what they could do was make a buche-form Raspberry Mousse cake charlotte-like. I took it and I have no regrets. It was creamy and delicious. I just love these kind of fruits!

This birthday was way different than any birthdays I've ever had in my life. Not being able to celebrate it with my husband, daughter, and dad was tough. And I've always been used to celebrating birthdays in big ways. There was always a party at home or at a restaurant, briefly it was never just a simple dinner at home. As simple as it was, I enjoyed my birthday and I'm thankful for all the wonderful blessings God has given me.