I fwee years old!

My Monster is now Three.
Three.
I'd like to say that I am okay with this but then I'd be lying to you.
We are having a full on party at the rehearsal dinner in Indiana but wanted to celebrate with friends in Texas. Also, I wanted an excuse to cook and bake.
Happy Birthday to my Monster...

I started with...
Lobster bites.
and have provided the recipe just for Ms. Elsa...



I followed the recipe pretty much to the t. except that I added a ton of cheese.
Two large handfuls of fontina to be exact (ish).
I am guessing that is around 1 1/2 c.
For those of you out there that don't cook with fontina you are totally missing out.
It melts wonderfully but still maintains a wonderful cheese flavor.
What I mean is that it doesn't take on a processed cheese after taste but it melts in the manner that processed cheese does.
It is a very mild cheese so adds that gooey, delicious cheese that we all want when we bite into a fried ball of lobster meat.

The other thing I did differently was that I bought the lobster already shelled (thank you Central Market for always having this on hand). They sell it at a discount price because it's the leftovers from the soups and stocks they sell in the deli. As in the pieces too small or pulled out of the tail etc before they use the shells for stock.
I know, to some, that sounds odd but it is always fresh and you have to specially ask for it.
They love me there.
I am known as the truffle cheese/fois gras girl.
My dad is going to read this and die a little bit.
What happened to his attempt at raising a meat and potato girl?
She eats...truffles and pate??? AH!

So, here it is.
They turned out really well. Although the first batch was super greasy (the oil wasn't hot enough).

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon onion salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 lobster tails, shelled (or canned if you live in Southern Indiana or from the awesome guy in the seafood section at Central Market in Austin).
  

So, I was in a hurry (as you can imagine from the food spread/cupcake baking/house decorating situation)...
This is how it went.

Combine the lobster and all the spices in a bowl.
Please don't over mix unless you want tough lobster.
Lobster is gentle so be kind.
After that pour in half the flour, the cheese, the eggs, and cornstarch.
Mix gently.
Add the rest of the flour as needed.
(I personally wanted them more gooey so didn't use a full 3 cups)

Roll them into balls ( I used a melon baller) and put them into the freezer for about 15 minutes or longer if you have the time.

Heat up the oil.
Watch to make sure the Monster doesn't try to "tanks for helping mommy".
Fry them in about 1/2" of oil then allow them to drain.

I didn't do this.
I baked them.
They were just as perfect.
So perfect, in fact, that I didn't get to try one.

I also made an old favorite of mine in honor of Bailey who is studying abroad in France this semester. It was a super fabby appetizer...
AND I used homemade jam inside with chopped almonds.
Mmmm....



My almost sister in-law ate about 45834968 lbs of hummus while she was pregnant and her monster is nearly a year old so I had roasted garlic hummus in their honor.

I also made sweet potato fries.
To go with the fries I whipped up some garlic mayo.
D seemed to like the "opcorn" that I made for the kiddos dipped in the garlic mayo.
Super healthy.

Baby Jack on board!

Little O's gifts were plentiful indeed.
The winner of the evening was a dart gun from Brin and Skyler.
As you can see from the look of pure joy on the Monster's face...

"IIIII LUB IT"!

Next up we sang Happy Bwirthday!
And licked the icing off of all the "oliver (olive) upcakes"
And yes, I am so cheesy that I made little icing olives on top of the cupcakes and yes, it took me light-years to make icing the color of an olive.
I am that corny.

Notice that he has yet to let go of the dart gun...

D took the kiddos outside to play in the sandbox and generally run around like mad madders (thank you icing) so us adults ( I use the term loosely) watched the Colts almost win.
(Most of us are from Indiana).