It's my birthday! It's my birthday!

Friday, August 10
[shaking my booty]

Woohooo Dirrty 30! I'm really excited and looking forward to this weekend. First thing in the morning D wishes me 'Happy Birthday!' That's the great thing about being married and waking up next to D. heehee.

It's going to be a great and short workday. CWs got me the cutest card ever. It's got Teddy look alike on the front and a JCrew gc. Yay! More reasons to go shopping. The boss took us all out to Julienne's for lunch. It was a nice treat and they sang me happy birthday to an orange tart topped w/ a candle. So sweet.

I took the half day off to run last minute errands for the party. After reading Wan's blog about Candy Warehouse, it sounded like a great place to pick up candy for the buffet. The receptionist was really cool who took me to the back and showed me the stacks and stacks of candy goodness. I ended up getting 10% off my total purchase and a free bag of chocolate candy.

Candy Warehouse
5314 Third Street
Irwindale, CA 91706


Later in the afternoon, Kgo arrived from Sacramento to help celebrate and take boudoir photos w/ Crissy. She booked the Maison 140 in Beverly Hills. I'm super excited for her and can't wait to see her photos.

We had dinner reservations at Craft, Tom Colicchio from Top Cheft has a new restaurant in West Coast. We picked up Kgo and headed over. Our tummies rumbling in hunger as we waited at the bar for our table to be set.

We were seated right in the middle of the room facing the extravagant wine collection. With the waitress' suggestion, we ordered Pork Belly & Madras Curry to start with. It was big chunks of bacon deep fried to perfection. So. Dam. Good. But. So. Bad. For. You.

I can't recall what amuse bouche came next but I remember liking it. Next came our main dishes.

Hawaiian Blue Prawns - grilled shrimp
Alaskan Halibut & Salsa Verde - seared halibut
Beef Short Rib & Root Vegetables - braised chunks of beef
Sweet Corn - soaked in butter
Assorted Mushrooms - assorted mushrooms

Everything was so good. The one dish that stood out the most was the corn. It was sitting in a bed of butter and cream. What a great combo. I could just sit there and make a meal out of that w/ some mashed potatoes. The grilled shrimp were giant prawns grilled and was cooked just right. I wasn't too crazy about the halibut. There wasn't anything exciting about it other than it being seared. The beef short ribs just fell apart when you ate it. The flavor was amazing like it's been marinating for days.

Next came another amuse bouche consisting of melon soup with cucumber sorbet. The sorbet really cleansed my palate which readied my taste buds for dessert. The waiter brought out my Lemon-Thyme Glazed Donuts with Blueberry Compote, Vanilla Cream & Chocolate Pudding on a plate wishing me Happy Bday in chocolate. What a great way to end the meal. Kgo ordered the Caramel Parfait which had chunks of toffee that crunched when you bit into the creamy caramel dessert.


The waiter told me that Tom wasn't in this week and that he'll be back in 2 weeks. Awww sadness but I'm not sure I can come back in two weeks. I might be trying another new restaurant that's popping up in L.A. Overall the service was slow but the nice waiter made up for it. Our server wasn't so friendly but she did what she had to do.

Some pictures for your viewing pleasure.