Happy birthday Jude!

Thank god the weather held up. For most of Friday, Saturday, and early Sunday, I was convinced that it was going to literally rain on Jude’s parade, or in this case, his birthday/ baby shower. Yes, baby shower. I don’t think it’s fair that the moms always get fussed over pre-baby and the dad’s just relegated to a supporting role; I mean, we’re both having the baby and he deserves just as much attention. And so I thought it would be a good idea to throw Jude a birthday party/ baby shower to just celebrate him, his last baby-less birthday, and impending fatherhood :) And I think it was pretty successful, with people bring gifts like books on surviving fatherhood, a handbook for caring for babies, a survival kit for first-time dads, and even an REI gift card so that Jude can be the kind of dad that will buy baby Keens and/or teach our daughter to love camping! :) Of course, there were also many generous gifts from our baby registry- thank you everyone!

And let’s not forget the ton of food that was thrown on the grill and that are still chilling in our fridge AND freezer. On the menu last night:
- Spinach-artichoke dip
- Sesame radish salad (made with our farmshare radishes)
- Baguette with homemade olive tapenade (thanks to Eric, Amy and Finn for bringing it- soooo delicious!)
- Ginger-soy marinated chicken wings (marinated for two days so the flavor really came through)
- Havarti cheese stuffed burgers (it was the first time we tried making these and they actually turned out much better than we had expected…)
- Sauteed onions and fennel, and bacon as burger toppings
- Bratwursts (we brought these back from an amazing meat merchant when we were up north over Memorial weekend)
- Lime-lemongrass marinated shrimp and scallop skewers (we bought surprisingly good frozen shrimp and scallops from Costco and marinated these ourselves)
- Grilled asparagus
- Peppers-onions-cremini mushrooms skewers
- Romesco sauce for the grilled veggies (nutty and fruity at the same time, I made this on Saturday with roasted tomatoes and garlic.)

Plus a SPECTACULAR birthday cake that we just had to buy the moment we saw it in the display case at Whole Foods. Eric said it best when I brought it out, “Is that even possible??!!” Ladies and gentlemen, behold the awesomeness of the Burger Birthday Cake!

It has actual layers made of yellow and chocolate cakes, cheese made from fondant, and piped buttercream for mayo, lettuce (ice-berg clearly, from that pale green…), mustard, and ketchup. Pure stupendousness! Considering how much of a novelty cake it was, it was actually surprisingly moist and tasty. See cross-section for full impact. Instead of just taking a picture of the cake, I should have taken one of everyone whipping out their cameras to take photos of the cake... ;)

And to make things all the more special, our friend, Felicia is here to visit from Singapore. The last time she was here was 4 years ago, and it's so wonderful that she's here now with us to hold our hands through all the pre-baby jitters, questions, and to just bless us with her company :)

See rest of photos here.