Happy Birthday Mami, I LOVE YOU!!!

My mom's birthday is the 13th of Feb. Yesterday we celebrated a lovely day with her, and some close family. 
I was going to make dinner, and have them over at my house, but Dino D decided to get sick over the weekend, and she said just come over to my house, I'll make everything. 


Well OK, if you insist Mami :)


As usual we had like a 10 course meal, and it was DELICIOUS!!
Enjoy a little tour of my mom's dinner table. 


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMI, we LOVE YOU!!!

 

Remember these hearts that ALLIE @ WHAT ALLIE'S MAKING NOW, was giving away at her blog? Well I won them, he he, and my mom was thrilled with them. The kids took them out of the bag, like almost the minute we got there, she didn't even get to open it herself. Go figure, BUT, I got a great picture in before everyone ran off, lol. 

I have no idea what to call these in English, in Romanian they are called Saratele, but I can tell you that they are a very yummy snack food in Romania, and they are often enjoyed with beer. They are like a rich flaky dough, you can see the layers, and thanks to some nice fatty fried bacon (not the store kind, the we just cut our own pig, and made our own bacon kind) that she grinded up in the finest pieces, these little treats were DELICIOUS. 

This is called Visinta (veshenatuh). It's a homemade sour cherry liquor, that I swear we've been drinking for the past 30 years, lol. Kind of. You see the sour cherries, are left to flavor the liquor, obviously, and we just pour more and more alcohol on top of those cherries. I don't think, even after adding more cherries, that there aren't some originals in there, if you know what I mean. 

This is the HUGE bottle, that we've been using for decades.

My mom showing us just how big it is. 

Pouring some more for us to enjoy, lol. It is SOOOO good!!!

Chicken salad, from the chicken, and veggies from the soup.
SALATE DE BEF.  

The chicken soup we make. 

The table layout. 

Always make sure to add pepper to the soup :)

The kids table, what a beautiful day, they got to eat outside. 

Mashed potatoes, and chicken tenders, mostly for the kiddos!! 

Chicken with a sour cream sauce. 

Beef and Spinach, with a sour cream sauce.

Cucumber salad. 

The flan kinda fell apart, when pouring it. It wasn't completely cooled off yet. So my mom made a bad situation still look good, REALLY good. Dang we love FLAN, especially Romanian style, and yes it does taste way better. 

MMMM,,, I so devoured this. 

My sweet MAMI. 

Mother and daughter! 

Grape juice people, GRAPE JUICE..... 

Sick kid, eating ice cream, ONLY at GRANDMAS!!! 

Round two of desserts. Strawberry filled rolls, with fresh fruit on top.

YUP, EAT YOUR HEARTS OUT, it was GOOD.
My mom is AMAZING, she has taught me PRACTICALLY everything I know, in the kitchen. Even though my style of cooking is so different, I would never have this love of cooking, and baking had it not been for the ENDLESS hours I spent helping my mom. 


Thank goodness she is THE BEST cook, and baker I know, I grew up spoiled, eating only the finest home cooked meals. I continue to spoil my own family with home cooked meals, and goodies. 


NOTHING beats eating at home, with the people you love.
Next time you have the urge to eat out, I URGE you to spend some time in the kitchen, get your kids to help, and create special memories, that will last a lifetime, and the ones created around a dinner table are definitely THE BEST ones. 


HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!


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