Graham Turned 30!

Poor Graham. I guess since I didn't write him a Happy Birthday Letter, his birthday blog post got way delayed...by only about 2 months. It was sort of an epic birthday though so it deserves some space on the internet. Turning 30 is kind of a big deal amongst our group of friends so I had the bar set pretty high in planning something for Graham. His only clear wish was that he wanted to be on a boat. Being that we don't have a boat, I had to get creative and in the end planned a surprise weekend away to Lake Entiat with 3 other couples and their kids. One of the couples' parents have a "cabin" on the lake with a boat so it was a no brainer! I think Graham had been envisioning a small yacht or a vessel we could dine upon but the budget didn't allow so instead I went with a nautical-themed table and arranged the weekend as sort of a "cruise around the world" at meal times, visiting a new country at each meal.

I stole Graham away from his studies on Thursday afternoon. I'm not quite sure how I pulled it off but I managed to sneak around all week, packing and hiding bags of clothing and various kitchen items in different closets around the house. On the day of, I even loaded the car with him sitting feet away but he was engrossed in his studies and didn't notice. I was trying to act casual (but we needed to hit the road and I needed to load the ice chest!) so finally around 3:30 PM I asked if he was going to be able to take a break from his studying at any point. He said he still needed 3 more hours but could take a break. I told him I had an idea but I needed 30 minutes so could he please take the girls on a walk and I'd pick him up in a half hour? He agreed and 30 minutes later, the rest of the car was loaded and I picked him up and we were off on our adventure (with the laptop and car charger for portable studying!) He had no idea where we were going and neither did the girls!

We arrived late Thursday night, as did the Leverkuhns so our two families spent the daytime Friday making use of the ski boat.

 

Jon and Britta took us to this delicious Italian restaurant in Chelan for lunch with gorgeous views of the wine countryside. They had an awesome fish pond that kept the girls entertained.

That afternoon, I began the set up for our cruise departure (and the arrival of our other guests which Graham didn't know about). We set sail in France, each with our own personalized boarding pass and napkin rings tied with life saver life preservers. You crafty folks would be so proud! I joined Pinterest specifically to get ideas for this party. So far it hasn't taken over my life either! 

For the centerpieces, I made little sail boats out of wine corks with interchangeable flags to represent the various countries we visited throughout the weekend (thanks Pinterest!) 

We started off with an appetizer of white beans with lemon on a baguette followed by our favorite Parisian salad - mixed greens with haricot verts, cherry tomatoes and hard boiled egg, tossed in a homemade dijon vinaigrette and topped with warm goat cheese wrapped in puff pastry.

I served Seared Duck Breast with Cherry Port Sauce for the main course, along with Potato and Celery Root Puree. This was Graham's request for his birthday dinner (little did he know we'd be making it for 8!) 

Dessert that night was Graham's very favorite: Rhubarb Custard Pie, not very French but his must-have birthday dessert! For breakfast the next day, we docked in Belgium where we dined on Ham and White Cheddar Waffles, fresh peaches and eggs.

We spent the weekend lounging and enjoying the boat and sun. 

For dinner on Saturday night, we visited Argentina: marinated grilled provolone (who knew you could put cheese on the grill!?) with toasts, beef empanadas, and chorizo sausages were served as appetizers. The non-pregnant folk washed them down with Graham's favorite drink: a classic Manhattan.

I might have gone a bit overboard (ha! an unintentional nautical pun!) on the appetizers because we all then had to really work up an appetite for dinner: salad with hearts of palm and avocado, grilled flank with chimichurri, and crispy roasted yukons. For dessert (like we needed it!), I served flourless chocolate torte a la mode.

For breakfast the next morning, we popped back over to America for some cornmeal pancakes with sausage and orange honey butter. And then for dinner that night we were back in Europe (Italy!) I guess by this time I quit taking pictures...I served a salami and cheese board with bread and olives as an appetizer, a beet salad with pine nuts in a lemon vinaigrette, our favorite panzanella recipe, Pasta All’Amatriciana followed by a fun kitchen experiment recreating Cantinetta's nutella zepolle. Needless to say, we ate a LOT over the weekend!

The girls loved riding on the boat and Emma, who was having a hard time napping on land, slept on the boat, seated upright in the chair (as pictured above).

Even I got to go tubing (I was promised we'd go SLOW so as not to throw me off and endanger the baby) and we trolled along at a nice leisurely pace. Emma was a little too nervous to try it out but Isla loved it and created her own number system for requesting her speed preference.

The Welch fam also took a go at tubing. Their experience did not end well but the picture I captured here makes it look like they had a blast! We'll just stick to that story...

There's a small chance the boat stalled in the middle of the lake...but we took it in stride and eventually it started again and the crew made it home. 

A very Happy 30th Birthday to Graham! The end.