this year i was dead determined to redeem my birthday from last year. why? you may ask. perhaps because i spent 5 hours in an emergency room with a kidney stone.  i can officially declare that birthday the worst ever!  so for this year my friend alaina and i made a whole day of activities.  we started off with a champagne brunch at my place of work.  chocolate chunk bread pudding french toast, salmon plate with homemade caper-dill cream cheese and a frog in a ditch  (a frog in a ditch is where you put a hole in a slice of bread cook the egg in the middle, then it is topped with cotswold cheese and a sausage patty) with hashbrown casserole.  which was brought out by the entire staff singing happy birthday! my favorite part of that was we no longer had any birthday candles at work so they constructed one out of a toothpick and hand drawn flames.

chocolate chunk bread pudding french toast

and then because we didn’t have enough food to stuff our selves with, the chef created a dish just for me.  a broiche egg sandwich with bacon, avocado, tomatoes and a pesto sauce with a few of our homemade parmesan potato chips.  it melted in your mouth like butter.

my special dish

after brunch we head off to asheville, nc.  i’ve been in love with asheville every since my uncle lived there for a few years.  my love for asheville as well as john denver and the tv show the waltons, is totally what led me to living in the smokies. i’m convinced of it.  shopping galore is the activity we did all day.  hippie shops, urban outfitters, art galleries, and bake it pretty bake shop.  she specializes in baking needs particularly those related to cupcakes, as well as serves cupcakes.  each day the cupcake names have a theme first 3 to guess the theme wins a cupcake.  oh yes alaina and i won free cupcakes! the theme for the day….the musical grease.

free cupcakes!

one was an Ambroise pineapple cupcake the other was a cinnamon cream cheese cupcake.  and they were delicious.

my birthday dinner which we shared was a flat iron steak and a twice baked potato with a dinner salad that had feta, roasted pecans, strawberries, blueberries and a cucumber-watermelon vinaigrette.

but the night didn’t end there.  last fall stephanie discovered a book store/champagne bar in asheville when we were there on a road trip.  battery park champagne bar is the coolest place i’ve ever been to.  it is what it says it is first and for most a bookstore, where there is a full service bar that specializes in champagne.  if you know me you know i love champagne it is happiness in a glass. i would have been satisfied with a champagne cocktail or 2 but when the bartender found out it was my birthday he  gave us a whole bottle for free, yes for free.  i must say this was one of the best birthdays ever!