Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Birthday Dinner

So the traditional birthday dinner was great, as always. We got a couple of steaks from the butcher in Saint-Aignan. He specializes in Limousin beef, and it was as beautiful as it was tasty.

The steaks, covered with black pepper, before cooking.

As is the custom, we covered it with cracked pepper and let it sit for two hours before cooking. Then it went into a hot pan just to sear the sides. Next, we put it into a warm oven to rest while the French fries cooked.

A little apéritif of sparkling Vouvray. The glass is from when we lived in Sunnyvale, CA, fifteen years ago.

The sauce was made with brandy and cream, some white wine and some mustard. Then we served it with a 2006 Bordeaux that friends of ours had given us last summer. It was all very tasty. After the main course, we ate a green salad followed by some cheese.

Dinner is served!

For dessert, I made a pumpkin bread. Ken made a sour cream glaze and it was amazingly good. Yum! Another birthday success!

Birthday cake!

17 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Love those little champagne bottle candles :))
    It all looks soooo good, and I always enjoy photos that include views of your table and LR :)

    Last 2 finals today, then I'm off for 10 days or so!

    Judy

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  3. meat looks great

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  4. Beautiful presentation! The candles are chouette.

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  5. Our 1994 20th Annual Sunnyvale Art and Wine Festival glasses say "clink" to yours!

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  6. A belated happy birthday, Walt. May you enjoy your steak au poivre for many years to come. By the way, any chance of getting the recipe for that brandy cream sauce. My mouth was watering.

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  7. Sorry I'm late.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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  8. Happy Birthday!!!! Looks like it was delicious!

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  9. Looks and sounds wonderful. Love the mini champagne bottle candles!!

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  10. I don't suppose you'd like to trade lives? Happy Belated Birthday Walt!!! xxoo

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  11. Happy Birthday to our pal, Walt!

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  12. I add my wishes. Those pepper steaks look delicious.

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  13. judy, I've forgotten where those little candles came from - may have been a gift. The memory's the first thing to go! Enjoy your time off!

    nadege, melinda, evelyn, starman, mark, mark in DE, harriett, victor, Thanks!

    janice, thanks, and as tempting as being in SoCal right now sounds, no thanks! ;)

    candy & john, did we go to the festival at the same time, or is this one of those funny coincidences? Thanks!

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  14. gabby, I'll ask Ken to tell you how he did it. It was a new version for us this year.

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  15. Happy belated Birthday! That dinner looks wonderful!

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  16. 2ou3choses, merci! It was great. As usual. :)

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