Happy Birthday!

My youngest sister's 21st birthday is this week, so we got together to throw her an early birthday party.

I started preparing two days before the party by making a red velvet cake. My other sister and our ten year old cousin had a field day decorating it with chocolate mint balls and crazy candles. Check out my mom's gorgeous Venetian glass. She's jokingly said that each daughter and son-in-law will get one goblet upon marriage (there are indeed six) and she'll keep the decanter, but I plan to steal the entire thing. Muahahaha...

The night before, I braised some short ribs in red wine and port.

I had planned on mussels for appetizers, but 99 Ranch was out! Ever clever, J suggested we get a $31 case of Pacific oysters. We arrived home with a giant box filled with six dozen giant oysters, ready to get down to business.

Isn't that oyster frightening in its sheer enormity? J was the hero of the day, shucking dozens of enormous oysters with no oyster shucker. The best we could find for him was a flat head screwdriver!

Meanwhile, I chopped up some spinach, onions, and parsley and sauteed them in plenty of Plugra butter to make oysters Rockefeller.

I was so glad I brought the cake and ribs prepared. All I had to do was cook up a pot of polenta, blanch some vegetables, and bake up the oysters. I'm definitely a fan of doing a lot in advance so I can enjoy the party. Plus, my mom and I have very different cooking styles so she often doesn't have the ingredients and tools I always have on hand. It's easier to transport a pot of ribe than to bring over all the boxes and bottles of ingedients that go into it!