Celebrating Survival!

Once again, I was able to celebrate another birthday… Number 77 came and went and I’m still here! 

I was just thinking:

·       In 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt was President of the USA.

·       World War II was underway and the USA was in the midst of full mobilization.  Rationing was underway.  At this point, the war was not going well for Allied Forces…

·       The big movies that year were “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and “The Pride of the Yankees” featuring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan and Babe Ruth.

·       The biggest hit song was “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby. (From the movie, “Holiday Inn”) 

·       In no particular order some of the famous people born in 1942 include: Stephen Hawking; Muhammad Ali; Aretha Franklin; Harrison Ford; Martin Scorsese; Jimi Hendrix; Paul McCartney; Mich McConnell; Bob Ross; Joe Biden; Roger Staubach; Jerry Garcia; Tammy Wynette; Carole King; Barbara Streisand; Sandra Dee; Annette Funicello; Wayne Newton and Brian Wilson.

·       Then there are those that were born in 1942 who were infamous for various reasons: Larry Flynt; Muammar Gaddafi; Ted Kaczynski, and; John Wayne Gacy.

For my birthday, Laurie decided that she’d make one of my favorite dinners and we eat at home.  It was all about comfort food!  This photo shows a beef pot (chuck) roast with carrots and potatoes ready for the oven…and slow cooking…

We had a salad so we could say we had something healthy for dinner.  This was Laurie’s salad…heirloom tomato slice, cucumber slices from friends Norm and Linda, vinaigrette dressing and crumbled blue cheese.

This was the finished roast and accompaniments…ready for my enjoyment!  I love all 3 items…roasted carrots, the potatoes with butter and gravy and the roast with gravy too.  Even better, I got several lunches out of the leftovers…with the potatoes fried up for a breakfast!  Happy!

Sherry, our next door neighbor baked this sheet cake for my birthday celebration… I managed to blow out all of the candles except one.  The cake was enjoyed by all…Sherry and her grandson Jake, her husband Mike, Dawn Marie, Laurie, and of course, yours truly.  Very thoughtful Sherry…thanks!

Our son David II, his wife Amy and our two grandsons David III and Emmett Lee live in Omaha so they called and sang to me on my birthday!  They were actually harmonious too…

In any case, how better to make Papa (me) happy than to send me a gift of food!!  This package of goodies came from the famous Katz’s Delicatessen in New York City. (Remember the restaurant scene between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally”?  That was at Katz’s)

Included were packets of juicy sliced pastrami, jars with whole pickles, Russian dressing and sauerkraut plus Swiss cheese, deli Rye bread and a loaf of Cinnamon Babka.

So Laurie decided to go for a hot pastrami sandwich…pastrami heaped on rye bread with some spicy mustard instead of Russian dressing.  The pastrami was wet and she dipped the sandwich in the juice which kicked it up another notch.  Sided with one of the big pickles, it was a complete meal!

For my sandwich, I spread spicy mustard on the deli rye bread, laid down a slab of that great Swiss cheese, piled on some pastrami and added some tasty sauerkraut to top it off.  I dipped my sandwich in that pastrami au jus too!  Excellent!  

Even better...given the size of the gift, we'll be able to duplicate this meal in the near future!

Then there was the cinnamon babka.  Babka is defined as “a loaf-shaped coffee cake made with sweet yeast dough to which raisins, chocolate or nuts may be added.  The Jewish version of babka is a doubled and twisted length of yeast dough that contains cinnamon and/or chocolate and it’s usually topped with streusel.

This photo is actually of the last slice of my cinnamon babka.  We liked it so much that I forgot to take a picture until it was almost too late!  It’s decadent to begin with but I slathered it with Amish butter and heated it in the microwave…and it was indecently good!  Sadly all gone…

And so went another birthday… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave