Crockpot Tri Tip

My brother, Gabe, knows how to create a good, heartwarming meal. We invited him and his girlfriend over for dinner last week and it seemed fitting to celebrate his birthday as it was only a few days before.

I asked him what he wanted to eat and he unhesitatingly requested tri-tip. And, of course, a little bacon jalapeno mac and cheese and sesame green beans on the side, finished off with a pumpkin pie. (You can't get more comfort food-esque than this, folks!)

I'm no pro on the BBQ but we wouldn't let that stop of us from enjoying a juicy piece of red meat.

Crockpot to the rescue! We had such great success that we may never place one on the grill again. It melted apart.

So easy to do, it is definitely a necessity for your autumn dinner repertoire.

Crockpot Tri Tip

2-3 lb. tri tip sirloin

2 c. beef broth

2 T. Worcestershire sauce

a few dashes of Tabasco

about 2 t. steak seasoning (enough to thoroughly cover the top of the roast)

Fill the crockpot with the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco. Place sirloin into crockpot. Sprinkle steak seasoning liberally over the top. Cook on low for 8 hours (or 4 on high).

Palm Tree Birthday Cake

One of my highlights last week was the joint effort of producing a palm tree cake with Ryan. His grandmother's fascination with the fir of the tropics lead Ryan to his ingenious birthday cake idea. He is steadily infusing a familial tradition of homemade birthday cakes, constructed in shapes most pleasing to the honoree of the day.

This latest construction was made using one boxed white cake, one boxed chocolate cake, and a large orb of fondant. I am completely clueless when it comes to the fondant department, but Ryan swears by fondant made with powdered sugar, shortening and marshmallows. He colored and rolled out large sheets for covering the cake, carefully slicing out layers to adorn the cake pieces I was carving out from the cake sheets. My favorite part of the cake was the 'coconuts' -- probably the largest on the planet(!). It was the best I could do with the cake pieces...cut them too small and they'd fall apart! Our final touch was a sandy beach at the bottom of the palm tree, achieved by spreading a bit of frosting on the white cake and sprinkling brown sugar on top.

I can almost hear the waves against the shore....

Vanishing Birthday Cake

Seagulls are vicious creatures. If you don't believe, simply carry along a picnic to the beach and see what kind of attention you attract. (Better yet, leave a box of In 'N Out French fries on the top of your car in the middle of a seagull swarm. You'll be lucky if your car survives without large dents in the side of it....but that's a story for another time.)


Ryan surprised me with this beautiful strawberry cake on a coastal adventure he took me on for my birthday. He unveiled the cake after we ate our sandwiches, but we decided to go for a walk before slicing into its delectable layers.

Bad mistake.

As we were feasting on our sandwiches, a large group of seagulls were casing our picnic space. We thoroughly covered up all of our comestible goods with blankets and towels before embarking on our walk, but to no avail. These seagulls were hungry, by golly, and they were going to do everything in their power to get to the food.


When we came back an hour later this is all that was left of the cake.

Including the aluminum foil that covered the cake. Dumb birds. They deserve what they get for their greed if they die of aluminum poisoning.

寿司 -- SUSHI

Dining on sushi for birthday celebrations is swiftly becoming a tradition at our house; it has certainly been the most requested over the past year. Although it can't be just any sushi....we only eat the best: MIKUNIS!

For my last birthday, I went there with a group of eight friends and we ordered a boat. That's right: they literally placed a boatload of sushi on the table for us to devour.

She looks a little intimidated, yes?
...well, we ate it all. :-)

I wish I could learn how to make these beautiful rolls! Although, I am told that women cannot become sushi chefs because our hands are too cold. What if we wore gloves...?

It took me a while to warm up to the idea of eating sushi at first. Both the fact it was fish and the fact it was raw turned me off. I eventually got over my fear, and now I can't get enough of the delectable, cylindrical morsels! I always end up leaving the table stuffed!


We went a little more low-key tonight. Dad brought it home in take-out containers. We were not greeted in Japanese by sushi chefs upon entering the dining area, nor were there warm bowls of Miso soup waiting at the table to whet our appetites, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

Here's the line-up of sushi we sampled in honor of Jonathan's birthday tonight.

Roll call, please!!

Peter Pan

Marilyn Monroe

Kaiser



Happy Birthday, Jonathan!