Happy day!

It is Birthday Cake day for my oldest son.  We actually celebrated Sonny's 29th birthday on Sunday but today is his actual birthday - so Happy Birthday today!  Family tradition dictates that you get to choose your meal and dessert for that day.  It can be something prepared at home or it can be anywhere you might want to go out to eat.  I am not sure how that got started.  I think it might have come about because I wanted to make sure whoevers birthday we were celebrating got exactly what they wanted and I have difficulty making proper decisions.  Or at least I question them to no end and then decide they aren't good enough or it might not be what that person might have really wanted anyway.
He let me know home-made pizza would be a good thing.  Crust, great toppings, although maybe not your local pizzeria type fare because we use more fresh and quality ingredients than they are able to use.  The food turned out really, really good even after I fought a battle with the new type of yeast I had picked up since I couldn't find my tried and true variety at the store.  I have to say the carmelized onion pizza was off the charts.  It could make a great starter for any rustic meal and had a great balance of savory taste to the natural sweetness of the slow cooked onions.  That splash of white wine Sonny threw into the pan just at the end of the cooking time really topped off the flavors and earmarked it as a recipe to repeat.  I could go for another slice of it right about now.
The meal was topped off with the chocolate cake Sonny ordered.  He had mentioned chocolate cake with strawberries or chocolate mousse.  I ended up making a dark fudge cake and used chocolate mousse to frost the cake.  The strawberries at the store looked a little frost-bitten so I picked up raspberries instead.  I cooked some down with a simple syrup and kept some berries whole.

It is birthday cake day! Happy, happy day!!!
TT