Celebration!

We had a very nice gathering for Caitlin last night, with her friend, boyfriend,Nicole and Pierre.Mom and Dad were there too, but we managed to stay out of the pictures.
This is Caitlin's Chocolate cake. It is a two day affair in the making. The frosting starts out as a custard that needs to be cooled, then you add melted milk chocolate and melted unsweetened dark chocolate,and of course butter and all the other goodies that go with making a frosting. I love chocolate cake,and it has to be moist and dark. This is by far my favorite recipe. I think you can find it under epicurious.com. It is from Gourmet magazine and was originally published in 2004. The name is " Chocolate layer cake with milk chocolate frosting." The cake is very dark and moist; I used Valrohna cocoa for the cake and the melted chocolate part of it, I used Ghiraidelli. The key is to use top quality chocolate and you can't go wrong.
I forgot to take a picture of the peanut butter ice cream. It turned out very,very good. Almost a gelato consistency. I would make it again,and I'm not even a big ice cream lover.
From left, Vanessa,birthday girl, Cyrous, Pierre,and Nicole. Dave just got up to put music on,so he escaped the shot. I made a Halibut with a sherry vinaigrette dressing, along with purple roasted potatoes and asparagus.


A little bit of fun opening gifts
I love how they are all immersed in looking at Caitlin's loot!
Nicole and Pierre, got this cute gift of a vintage 1950's dress and the other goodies you see.
Every year I take a picture of family members blowing out the candles....I decided not to include the picture, because Caitlin didn't like how she looked, so I spared her the giant cheek blowing out the candle picture.
It was a nice evening, and I think everyone had a good time.