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| Lemon ricotta spongecake made by my auntie over break |
Birthdays are a very interesting gastronomical and gastropolitical event for at least in my family and amongst my friends, the event is almost always surrounding or surrounded by food. This year was an especially exciting and intricate event because not only have I reached the "American milestone" by turning 21, but I was also able to celebrate for an entire week as my mom came to the east coast from California for october break. Here is a picture of one celebration: lemon ricotta spongecake with lit candles.
Before my mom arrived and the family visiting/break/celebrations commenced, I celebrated this "milestone" with a group of my close friends from Wheaton at Nortons' local Italian Restaurant, "Sabatino's Trattoria". While the company was superb, the restaurant was not. We waited 40 minutes with a reservation until they seated us, then waited nearly 2 hours for our food to arrive and to make matters worse, my friend and I received cold pizza while my other friend received hers completely burnt. The overall consensus of the celebration was that if it were not for the terrible planning of the kitchen, the birthday dinner would have been ideal. Luckily, the group of friends I have were extremely easy going and gracious, and although disappointed with such ill-reception, we were able to laugh off the whole event and made it clear that we would not be returning to this local "gem".
**photos of food not available from sabatino's because empty plates were what we received. When food did come we were too hungry to take pictures**
For my actual birthday (October 5th,) I did something I have never done before for a birthday, I went to a 50's styled diner with my best friend and her parents. The food was described as "classic american" and "comfort food" which made me think because none of the food on the menu was what I think of when I imagine comfort food, although I could clearly see how the dishes were considered as such, as well as could clearly see how they were considered "American dishes." For my birthday, I decided to try something outside of my comfort zone, and went for a traditional chicken potpie. I have only ever had this dish once when I was 7 years old after watching the movie "chicken run" (which is ironic because the animated film is against chicken potpie,) but at this true gem of a diner in Middleboro, Massachusetts, the potpie with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce was absolutely delicious and a very unexpected birthday treat surprise!!
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| Chicken Potpie from Dave's Diner in Middleboro, MA |
For the final celebrations, my mom and I traveled to New York City and Pennsylvania to visit all of our family (paternal and maternal) over october break. As my mom, my cousin, my auntie, and I are all born under the libra sign (born in october,) we had a conjoint celebration in Pennsylvania that was filled with our mutual favourite pies, Lemon Meringue (sweet) and Tomato Pie (savory), both made by my paternal auntie, Gail. Both of these meals are birthday traditions for me and somehow make me feel like I actually celebrated properly and wholly. Tomato pie is a savory tart filled with tomatoes, parmesan cheese, herbs, caramelized onions, and encapsulated by means of a butter crust. Lemon meringue on the other hand, is the perfect balance of a sweet and tart pie that has a thick custard filling and is topped with perfectly baked meringue. Every year since the start of college until this one, my auntie has come to Wheaton with these pies and we have celebrated by eating them both together. This year, my mom and I were able to go to Pennsylvania and we all officiated our birthday celebration and recognition with these two home cooked delicacies.
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| Homemade Tomato Pie (Savory) |
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| My favourite pie in the world: Lemon Meringue (left) and Lemon ricotta spongecake (right) |
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| Earl Grey Cupcakes with almond butter and chocolate ganache |
I love this posting, as someone who's birthday is quickly approaching, I have been receiving gift after gift, not physical trinkets, but food. As a college student it seems my family expects me to be underfed, or at least not have access to the foods I would have at home so they are sending me comfort foods weekly in preparation for my birthday. Its funny that your birthday not only presents an opportunity to try new things, like going to a new fancy restaurant in celebration (getting away from the everyday foods), but it also requires that you eat foods that are familiar and, especially if you are not home, personal favorites. There is this double standard that your birthday should be celebrated with fancy new foods, because, of course, it is a special occasion. However, the foods you eat are almost always tailored to the daily personal favorites of the birthday boy or girl. Whats even more interesting, in the United States at least, the most traditional way of celebrating a birthday would be to cover some sort of sweet with colorful images, sprinkles or sugar figures, of things traditionally inedible. There is an expected extravagant aspect to the cake. There must be sugar on top of sugar, flour, chocolates, decadent sweets all in the name of a birthday. For example the lemon ricotta cheese cake, having eaten one over the summer, to me it just exemplifies the word decadent. Its richness and flavor alone create a gastronomical experience to reckoned with. Birthdays are interesting gastronomical experience. Instead of focusing on the health of the individual it is a day to pick all your favorite things, and devour them in bulk. You eat as if you have never eaten before.
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