Birthday Meals

The fact that me and my mom's birthdays are within 5 days of each other is basically just an excuse for my family to eat at lots of good restaurants in a really short period of time.

Birthday meal numero uno was eaten at Fleming's on Wednesday night, and I've had two more birthday meals since then.

Last night, my grandparents came up and we all went to dinner at Bellini's.

Just a warning: dim restaurant lighting + the camera on my Blackberry = terrible picture quality.

I started out with the classic Italian salad, and it came in a cool fancy bowl! It was so good, except for when I accidentally bit into an olive, which was a huge mistake. I abhor olives, and I try to avoid them at all costs.

I chose the ahi tuna for my main course-I've had it on my mind ever since my brother ordered it at Fleming's the other night. I asked for it medium rare, but it was a little overcooked, in my opinion. It was still really good though!

I especially loved the risotto that the tuna was served over and the pesto sauce that was drizzled on top. Risotto is one of my favorite carbs (although, I haven't met too many I don't like). It was a lot of food, and I ate up until about the point where the lemon slice was, which prevented me from being overly full.

I got a new camera for my birthday! The screen on my old camera got messed up at the beginning of the summer, and it's been a sad life without one. This means lots of picture-taking starting now!

But I think my favorite meal of them all was tonight's dinner at Hot and Hot Fish Club. Everything was out of this world good!

WIth the sidewalk café feel and cab in the background, it doesn't even really look like it's in Alabama.

The bar looks really cool!

Even though we had 7:30 reservations, we still had to wait a little while for a table. My mom was in this picture too, but she made me crop her out.

I started out with a glass of a French red wine (I can't remember the name of this, but I got it the last time I was here and fell in love) and the famous Hot and Hot Tomato Salad. It comes with field peas, sweet corn, fried okra, and bacon and can only be ordered during the summer months. Seasonal vegetables make a huge difference. It was delicious, and I loved the plate presentation!

I ordered the Hot and Hot Vegetable Plate for my main meal. This was by far the best vegetable plate I've ever eaten-it was beautiful!

First dish: avocado, tomato, and grilled vidalia onions
Second dish: wheatberry salad
Third dish: sautéed carrots, squash, sunchokes, and snap peas
Fourth dish: sautéed rapini 
Fifth dish: corn + porcini mushrooms.

The most delicious way to get in your 5 servings of veggies!

And finally, dessert! I went with the salty chocolate cake with caramel glaze, salted caramel ice cream and sweet cumin chips. Ummm, yum!!! The cake was more fudgy than spongy (this is good in my book) and was topped with some sort of airy chocolate mousse that gave it a really nice texture. I was planning to share this with my dad but after a bite, I didn't really want to share anymore. I'll just count this as my birthday cake!

 I'm not even the world's biggest fan of super chocolatey desserts, but this was AMAZING! Caramel is the perfect balance to chocolate.

My pictures actually looked pretty tonight thanks to my new camera!

Hope you all had a great Friday night!