Frank And Tony And A Birthday Party

I love family.
When I was little my Dad met Harriet, who is by far the most gracious woman I have ever known. She is truly beautiful inside and out. She is the heart and the strength of our family. And she gave me sisters.

This is Harriet the birthday girl in red and my sisters and I. I have amazing sisters, beautiful, smart, talented and loving, and I dearly cherish each of them.

My sisters and I had been planning a surprise birthday for her. It was sort of a Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, martini party theme, in black, white and red. We worked. Daddy paid.

This is my Dad. He loves to have his picture taken. He is 6' 5" tall and his name is Chico, it sort of makes you wonder if they switched babies at the hospital.

Just a little 'to do'.
This blog has been testing ground zero for some of the food. But there was much more. A cocktail party and sit down dinner for 32 people. Martinis, cosmopolitans, lemon drops and mojitos, stuffed mushrooms & linguica off this blog and also gravlax and pears with mascarpone and proscuitto for the cocktail hour and a half. Halibut, red potatoes, heirloom tomato salad and pesto bread sticks for dinner.

This is John, one of my wonderful brother in laws. He caught both the halibut and the salmon in Alaska and very generously cooked it for the party.

Lemon mousse, blog stuff again (which didn't freeze right) for dessert and champagne.
It is always fun to entertain and this turned out as perfect as we had hoped.

Lots of lovely young ladies, there are more, our family is filled with women. 13 girls, 3 boys in the niece and nephew department alone. Drop me a note if you have a son who is a doctor, we have a lot of girls to marry off one day.
Happy Birthday Harriet!