Happy Birthday, Andrew!

I did not end up making my husband (then fiancé) a birthday cake last year, so I made up for it this year with a two-layer banana cake with chocolate butter cream, decorated like a monkey (featured on Smitten Kitchen). I don't think I've made and decorated a layer cake since my second year of college, when I made a Ms. Pacman cake for a friend.

The monkey cake was a success, served at the birthday party alongside those wonderful enchiladas sencillas and cabbage slaw that I've made before--the two pans of enchiladas disappeared in an instant. We're still working our way through the cake.

There is much less than this much cake left.

The party happened after Andrew's actually birthday. On the day itself I made lasagna, with San Marzano tomatoes, Harley Farms goat ricotta, mild Italian sausage, and half a package of frozen spinach that's been hanging around for awhile. The recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook, and I remember my mom making it when I was a kid; the original recipe was vegetarian (my favorite part is the dash of nutmeg in the ricotta-spinach filling), but I was pleased with this compromise: the spinach I wanted and the meat the birthday boy wanted.

For dessert a surprise: rice pudding! To make it extra surprising, I added shaved dark chocolate and some garam masala. The flavors were perfect, but the chocolate made the pudding a little thick, and it basically solidified in the fridge. Next time, I'll use cocoa instead of chocolate.

Happy birthday, Andrew! I hope it was a good one.