Happy Birthay, Muffin Dearest

Yesterday was my Muffin's birthday, the number of which shall not be mentioned out of respect for the elderly. He is now as old as I am, however. And we had a fun weekend with the Rowdy Girls, their parents, and the Fabulous Aunt Kaki, our youngest daughter. Work was done on Nannie's house. Food was cooked. Lots of food. Oven fried chicken coated in hatch chile chips and covered in Absolutely Picante sauce. Black beans and Himalayan red rice with Mexican cheese, cilantro, garlic and onion. Oatmeal chocolate chip brownies. Deaux hashbrown quiche. Grilled hamburgers with grilled hatch chiles. Macaroni and cheese with ham. Mac and cheese alone. Fresh green beans. Fresh cantaloupe. Fresh raspberries. Barbecue brisket, smoky flavor. Mashed potatoes. Nannie bread (whole wheat and bran bread of the softest order). And, drum roll please......Two layer chocolate velvet cake filled and covered in chocolate ganache.
The above mentioned cake was the birthday boy's request. He says it is better left over and chilled.

He spent much of the weekend twin wrangling while I cooked, did laundry, and played for a wedding. That's one of the things I love most about him--the way he plays with children. Our girls loved playing with him when they were little and their children are big Grandpa fans as well. He erected a tent and tunnel inside the house because the mosquitoes were pretty bad outside and this is what happened.




One day he went outside with the RG's and wrote words on the sidewalk in chalk. Roo enjoyed shouting out the words and Em enjoyed writing her own words in her own language.

Chalk: $1.00 a bucket. Photos: priceless.