A Delicious Birthday Weekend

Thanks to everyone who send birthday wishes this year. It was a fantastic weekend — my first White Birthday in ages! — and so much fun. I ate my body weight in desserts and now have a freezerful of cake, so that’s always good, too.

The weekend started off with a Restaurant Week dinner at Ezme. The dinner was delicious, including the best scallops I’ve ever eaten, but the real highlight was, of course, dessert: profiteroles. It really set the tone for the rest of the decadent weekend.

I was so excited to wake up to snow Saturday morning. En route to a morning volunteer shift at the Capital Area Food Bank, I loved walking through the peaceful, snow-blanketed city streets.

The next big birthday celebration: afternoon tea with my grandmother at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City. The tea service was beautiful but not as nice as other Ritz-Carlton teas — it’s definitely a fun, fancy way to celebrate a birthday, bridal or baby shower, or special occasion for a group of girls (or guys, whatever, everyone likes tea).

From the Ritz to Citronelle, it was quite the fancy day. Citronelle itself may be $$$, but the upstairs lounge area offers a modified menu so you can enjoy the same great food but at a much lower price. My college best friends and I chose Citronelle as a spot to celebrate with desserts, drinks and plenty of gossiping.

Picture via Simone

Dessert heaven.

The service was impeccable, the desserts incredible (the kind of dessert where you want to shout ‘hallelujah!’ after every bite) and they put a sparkler on the plate and let it shoot off in the restaurant. What more do you need?!

On my actual birthday, my mom took me to Lincoln Restaurant for a post-church birthday brunch.

I’d been intrigued by this local-food spot since it offered a special Peanut Butter Lovers’ Month menu in the fall. While there was no peanut butter on my plate this time, a bellini with fresh crushed raspberry hit the spot.

To eat, we split a freshly-made gingerbread waffle (as awesome as it sounds) and a customized spinach+peppers+mushroom+broccoli omelet.

Add Lincoln Restaurant to your DC brunch rotation, at least for the gingerbread waffle. So good.

My birthday feasting finished off at my dad’s house with a Greek dinner: falafel, salad and veggies, plus a sister-made Funfetti-and-mocha cake. Aren’t birthdays delicious?!

I’m en route to New York for this morning, where I’m sure the gluttony will continue for a few days, but I’m never one to turn down a delicious meal. What’s your birthday cake request?