food is the reward for another year lived.....

The bride fixed my birthday dinner a day early this year. The girls had babysitting and church pool party gigs, so we had a family dinner Tuesday night. Fried chicken, green beans, whipped potatoes and fresh corn. And for dessert, homemade strawberry shortcake. Full isn't an adequate word to describe how I felt. It was great.


Yesterday my staff had tons of food set up to celebrate. The centerpiece was a cake by one of my employees. She and her husband make cakes as a hobby, and they're very creative. We talked about a "Food Network Challenge" show a couple of weeks ago where an 8-year-old boy chose from 5 different cakes designed for his birthday. I told Tara that I'd told the bride that my dream cake would be Neyland Stadium on a beach, not thinking that anything would come of it. But that's what she made me.

Since we'd had a family dinner already and the girls were gone, the bride and I went to Mellow Mushroom in downtown Franklin for dinner last night. We sat out on the patio and had a really nice time.


Here are some pictures of the cake.....