Happy Birthday Michael!
// June 30th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Grub
Sunday was my husband’s birthday and he is now a whopping 28 years-old! Woo hoo!
In honor of the birthday boy, I planned a couple of nice treats for him over the weekend. Saturday night, we ventured out to Tribeca to have dinner at Ninja New York. Michael had heard about this place months ago from a co-worker and requested we go because, among other things, the waiters dress as Ninjas. Well the waiters were indeed dressed as ninjas and the whole restaurant was built to resemble an ancient ninja village. The dark and mysterious design of the place was perfect for the few over zealous waiters who thought it would be funny to jump out of the darkness at us as we made our way to our table. The parlor tricks kept on coming with the appetizers when Michael had to pull a sword out of an orange that must have contained dry-ice because it started smoking and my clam bombshell was actually set on fire so that it would explode open. We decided to try one of the four tasting menus offered, as well as one of the two sake tastings. Neither of us know a thing about sake, but we do know that Hattori Hanzo was the guy in Kill Bill: Vol 2 that made Uma’s sword so when we saw the Hanzo Sake tasting, we went for it. The tasting menu consisted of the entertaining appetizers, a small round of sushi rolls, a gigantic crab cake/ball, a t-bone steak, and finally desert. The crab cake and sushi were my favorite, but I think Michael enjoyed his desert probably because it came with another smoking component. After our plates were cleared, we were engaged my one of the restaurant’s magicians who gave us a very short, but delightful magic show. In the end we both agreed Ninja New York was more of an attraction than a true restaurant, but worth the visit.
At Michael’s request, my Around the World on a Dinner Plate series featured German food this month. First, I made him an German Apple Cake with Buttercream Frosting and lit it up with 28 candles (see Michael’s happy picture below). This was my first time to make frosting and actually ice a cake. I was pleasantly surprised with the frosting, but my technique with cake decorating could use some work. The cake was surprisingly good too. As you can see from the recipe, there’s not too many ingredients and I was a little scared it wouldn’t be sweet enough for a birthday cake. Luckily, I was wrong!
Keeping with the German theme, I made beef rouladen and red cabbage. I love rouladen and often get it when we visit our local German restaurant. Here’s another recipe I was afraid of because I was worried the beef wouldn’t be tender. All of the restaurant-style rouladen I’ve had has been tender enough to cut with a fork. I had nothing to fear with this recipe though. The beef was so tender and the flavors of the beef, mustard, pickles, bacon were amazing! Seriously, for those of you who haven’t been exposed to German food, a beef roll stuffed with all those goodies may sound daunting, but trust me it is worth it! This was a really easy recipe and the only thing I would change for the next time is to have a thinner cut of steak. Mine was a little thick and I think if it were slightly thinner, it would have been even more tender. The cabbage was great as well and talk about easy! You just throw everything in the pot and wait an hour and half. Amazing!
Michael agreed that he had a great birthday and a full tummy!
