My Nonna's Birthday Cake

This weekend was a blur because I spent it back and forth on NJ Transit. I was severely overdue for things like a hair cut and my yearly physical and a dentist appointment, so I figured I would just schedule them all at once to get them over with. Hence the trains. 

I took a half day on Friday and met my mother in Summit, NJ where we had a quick lunch and then went strait to my first appointment. When I visit my parents I like to also visit all my old haunts as well, but my all time favorite has to be Time to Eat Diner at the Somerville Circle. I had a hefty brunch there with my grandparents in between the dentist and the salon. Soooooo gooooood!!! :-)

The only meals I didn't eat on the go this weekend happened to be dinner. Friday night my mother and I tried out a Thai style sauce similar to Pad See Ew with chicken, mushrooms and peppers. Dad approved - and he doesn't like Thai - so I'll call that a success. 

Saturday was sort of an impromptu early birthday dinner for my Nonna. We had her and my grandfather over for dinner and my uncle and his girlfriend joined us. My mother made a simple chunky tomato sauce with penne and Chicken Marsala for dinner but the real conversation starter of the night was my tiramisu. 

I've been making tiramisu for a few years now. I've worked hard to perfect my recipe. I'm proud of my recipe. What did my Nonna think of my recipe?!     

Wrong.

She saw me putting the finishing touches on it as she arrived and had a list of reasons ready to tell me why it wouldn't come out right. I probably didn't beat the eggs properly, and did I use the right cheese? Just the fact that I didn't prepare it a day ahead was apparently a no no. 

Well. We served it as her birthday cake - what was I to do, it's the only thing we had prepared - and what do you know!? She actually liked it. She was impressed and actually told me that maybe she had been wrong to judge so quickly. 

I can appreciate that she has decades of experience on my few years preparing Italian food, but it was still nice to hear that she liked what I had made her. :-)