Ria's Birthday Extravaganza

I love to entertain and haven't been able to all winter, as I shut off the front of my house to hibernate in the back rooms. Sometimes I'll have a couple of the girls over but the only place to sit is the bed and it usually deteriorates into a modified slumber party setup, including trying on and modeling clothes down an imaginary catwalk and nibbling on cheese in between our turn to sashay. Anyway, this is fun, of course, but not the same as my visions of garden parties with frothy cocktails and marvelous appetizers beneath the stars.

So, as the beautiful weather is finally here, I decided to throw a little fete for my friend Maria. This was also an excuse to finally open up the house for the season. I planned a soul food/southern style meal, with some pulled pork, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese and greens. As it turns out, on the day of the party WE HIT A HIGH OF 87 DEGREES HERE IN THE 'LO. Crazy. While I am not complaining, it wasn't exactly the kind of day I felt like spending in the kitchen, shredding pork, boiling macaroni and roasting sweet potatoes. But it all got done and I even got to spend some time outside cleaning up the outdoor area and furniture.

Let me tell you a little something about macaroni and cheese. I saw Bobby Flay challenge a world-reknowned macaroni and cheese maker to a throwdown. I thought I'd look at both of their recipes for inspiration; Bobby, as usual, likes to riff on tradition and the person he challenges tends to stick with old classics. So I looked at these recipes, Jesus Christ, now wonder we're an obese nation! 2 sticks of butter, a dozen eggs, 6 cups of half and half and 17 cups of cheese! Althought I defintitely didn't follow that recipe, I still managed to spend almost $20 on an absurd amount of cheese. This is certainly a once-in-a-while kind of meal.

The crowning glory of the night came when my friend Meg, otherwise known as Dessert Goddess, arrived with her homemade cake. It was a peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate sauce and peanut butter cups decorating the top. I'm not even that into cakes but this one really captured my heart. I'm ashamed to admit how much of it I ate but, in my defense, I didn't eat sweets nor one single french fry all last week!