Jan 4, 2018 MICHIGAN Kalamazoo - A Very Big Birthday

This will probably turn away a lot of my younger reading fans, but I just celebrated my 70th birthday. This was a tough one for some reason. And, after a little time has passed, I'm still not comfortable in this decade.

Here I am in my BD tiara (hard to see). Friend Alanta encouraged me to buy it for our guitar-ioki nights where all the girls just had to wear a tiara. Mine was "rusting" in the drawer, but I decided it was an appropriate night to wear it. Everyone got a big laugh on this one.

I'm holding a Raspberry Vodka version of a martini. It was oh so good and bro-in-law Jim made sure I did not run out.

The last tough birthday for me was 31. Remember the mantra “don’t trust anyone over 30?” Well, on that BD I was officially "over 30," thinking no one will “trust me" after that, whatever that meant. Pretty silly, but oh well.

This time its "old age must start at least by 70.” I know that roadblock is a state of mind, but bugging me anyway. People say I look younger and my emotional brain agrees, but the physical bod is rebelling here and there.

We generally like to spend birthdays and our anniversary on out of town trips, even if they are just 30 miles away on the Lake Michigan shore. Mike spent his 70th at Lake Como, Italy. Originally we planned to go to Iceland for this one, but decided to do that in March instead.

So in order to avoid any possible surprise parties, we planned a trip down the block to the Radisson hotel. Zazios there is our favorite Italian restaurant in town and they hold chef's table events. Autumn was the Radisson rep that worked with me on details to have a perfect evening. She even made name cards for each place. What a sweetheart!

The kitchen area is to left and there are three rows of "stadium" seating (one behind the banquette). There are 36 seats total and we filled 22 with the BD group. My mom, two brothers, Mike's and my sisters, their spouses, two nephews, and a number of special friends were able to attend. No "outsiders" wanted to dine there that night, so it was all about us.

This was the menu for the month, but chef is quite flexible in substituting for allergies, eating lifestyle (such as me being allergic to mango and a pescatarian), and just plain food preferences. We had two allergic to shellfish, one allergic to onions, two non-alcohol drinkers, one no tomatoes, and a vegetarian. Everyone was accommodated without condemnation or embarrassment. 

The price is $49 for four courses and you can add a wine pairing for an extra $20. Even though portions are small-ish, they do fill you up, but no leftovers. The pairings tonight were wonderful.

We had two chefs manning the kitchen. Alexander was the lead and Justin his sous chef. Ingredients are fresh and cooked on the spot, including the substitutions. There is a large monitor so you can clearly see what is happening on the stove and counter. Chef invited people to come up and help, but no one volunteered this night.

As he cooked Chef talked about various aspects of the food and cooking methods--types of steaks, quality of olive oils, oil burning points, etc.

He brought out a white truffle ($5,000+ per pound) (we knew about these from our Alba, Italy trip where they hold the white truffle festival) and a black truffle (starting at only $575 per pound), and explained the difference. Then Justin walked around so we could compare the two visually and even sniff the diff. My taste buds were swooning.

Near the end of the evening, I cruised around to offer each person in my adorable "fan club" a personal toast.

After the meal, we invited everyone to our home for birthday brownies and to share a bottle of very special wine that we had been saving for a few years. It was from our favorite Italian winery La Spinetta. We ending up splitting it eight ways, so everyone got a mighty nice taste. The perfect way to end a perfect evening.

Thanks to all for sharing this very special evening and easing me over the 69 hump. And thanks for all the Facebook and snail mail greetings and gifties I received. Special thanks to Carla for taking all the photos.

PS - I specifically forbid any personal gifts (just don't need a thing), but said folks could donate a new or gently used book for my Little Free Library if they just had to bring something. We got six new books donated from Ina and Lois, some with kids of diversity and some for toddler age. Just wonderful! Thank you-thank you.