petaluma's (lyn)

15 days after my birthday and we are still celebrating.  Tonight, Valerie, Abbey, Adam, Jason, Jason’s girlfriend Amanda, Alexander and I go out to dinner.  Jason was able to find a great corner table for seven at Petaluma’s, hard to find in New York City (the table for seven, not the restaurant).  Six is easy.  I hadn’t expected another family celebration after Valerie had pulled together such a memorable surprise on my actual birthday.

As “a little something,” Valerie hands Alexander a big pizza box stamped, “custom made pizza.”  He opens it, and sees a pretzel pizza with chocolate bars for Wash U, Cornell, and Vandy.  We joke that Valerie must have eaten the ones for Penn and Duke on the ride over.

This is a family that likes to sample many different dishes.  We all order salads.  The house chef salad with chopped lettuce, hearts of palm, roasted peppers, celery, avocado and tomatoes is great.  Since seeing the calorie count for Caesar, it’s been easy to avoid ordering it.

Then the boys take over and order one pizza margherita for the table, followed by two orders of pasta (one with rabbit ragout and the other with meatballs).  Most people would be done by then, but we have entrees.  I get a roasted veal dish with mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts.  Three desserts for the table, and coffee follow.  

But the best part of the night, as always, are the many laughs and shared stories that are sandwiched between courses.  I think we order so much just to prolong the evening.