A celebration, a cup of coffee, and a colossal disappointment

This past weekend my immediate and extended family gathered together to celebrate my parent's birthdays. It was my mom's actual birthday, and my dad's birthday is in two weeks (when several of us are going to be out of town), so we decided to combine their birthday celebrations, as well as their birthday gifts.

(Here is a photo of some of the kiddos goofing off at the table with the birthday boy and girl.)


My sister-in-law (SIL) and I both decided we would try some new recipes for the big event. Who better to taste-test food experiments than your family?! Our recipes were both taken from two noted food bloggers. My SIL's bread pudding (from this recipe at aartipaarti.com) was delish--there was just a little bit left and I stole some to take home for breakfast the next day! (Side note: Aarti from aartipaarti.com was recently crowned winner of the The Next Food Network Star--I don't have cable and didn't see the show, but I've recently started reading her blog and love her!)

My recipe was for eggs florentine casserole, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman site. The only ingredients I had on-hand were salt and pepper (this should have been a sign). I also thought I could substitute a cheese grater for the fancy potato-shredder tool (big mistake and my arm is still tired today). In addition, I completely underestimated the amount of time it takes to 1) make "hash browns" from scratch (this step took a ton of time, and turned out totally gross), 2) brown the sausage (I decided to forgo the fancy type the recipe called for--it sounded super expensive--and just used Jimmy Dean sausage--which also seemed expensive!), 3) chop onions and peppers (I added these to the recipe based on another blog that had adapted the recipe from the PW site). I started early, and was glad I had. Here's a picture of the casseroles going into the oven--they look good here, but the taste (especially with the weird hash brown base stuff) was just so-so.

Overall, I was disappointed with the result in terms of the time, effort, money that went into the creation. The alcohol I consumed in the afternoon, combined with the mimosas we had with dinner and the kind comments of family members, helped soften the colossal disappointment of my recipe attempt.

The party was soon salvaged by the cupcakes and fruit pizza we enjoyed for dessert. Along with the unveiling of the grand gift (a Keurig coffee machine).

Here's a photo of my parents blowing out their candles.


And other photo of the joy on their faces knowing they're just minutes away from enjoying fruit pizza (actually, I have no idea what they're laughing at). Note the white towels in the background that are "hiding" the birthday gift.


And here's the coffee-corner that we set up with their new Keurig machine, mugs with fall M&Ms, Dunkin' Donuts coffee (mom's favorite), and travel mugs created on snapfish with a collage of family photographs. I should have taken some close-up photos, but at this point I was pretty much just ready for dessert (and I think this photo is actually courtesy of my brother, who had my camera).


Despite my personal disappointment in my cooking endeavor, the evening was a success and much fun was had by all.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dad!!!