Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything offers pages of suggested menus, including:
Birthday Party - 10 Years Old
Grape-Lime Rickey and other Sparkling Fruit Drinks
Basic Meatballs
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Fried Onion Rings
Chocolate Layer Cake
Butterscotch Ice Cream
Birthday Party - 20 Years Old
Sangria
Beef-Filled Samosas
Chicken and Garlic Stew
Basic Polenta (any version)
Collards or Kale: Brazilian-Style
Baked Spanish Onions
Coconut Layer Cake
Birthday Party - 30 Years Old
Vodka Martinis
Pakoras
Grilled or Broiled Cornish Hens with Vinegar
Brown Rice with Lentils and Apricots
Braised Cabbage with Wine and Nutmeg
Basic Simmered, Steamed or Microwaved Broccoli or Broccoli Raab (sic)
Angel Food Cake
Birthday Party - 40 Years Old
Whiskey Sours
Phyllo Triangles with Cheese
Roast Cod with Potatoes, Onions and Olive Oil
Rice with Fresh Herbs
White Beans, Tuscan-Style
Sauteed Eggplant
Pears Sauteed in Butter
Birthday Party - Stopped Counting (sorry 50-year olds! -ed)
Old-Fashioned
Simplest Cheese Straws
Risotto with Vegetables
Flageolets, French-Style
Cardoons and Onions Cooked in Cream
Braised Endive, Escarole, or Radicchio with Prosciutto
Winter Food Compote
While I like that he gave the oldsters soft foods, old-fashioneds and "straws," and saved the hard-to-pronounce words for them, I'm pretty underwhelmed by the choice for the 30-year-olds. Microwaved broccoli? Cabbage? I like to cook cornish game hens, but I don't like eating them at all, not because they're cute but because I'm lazy. And I like to think of Bittman (the New York Times's The Minimalist) as open-mindedly old guard, not capitulating to the vodka martini. Though I can't say I'll be having a 30th birthday party. Not for a few years anyway...**
I like how he hedged alcohol for the 20-year olds, and I wonder whether referring to olive oil as an ingredient is a conceit more often held in one's 30's.
There's a narrative here, friends. I know it.
*my new trick: question mark = compelling post title!
**Is it cheap of me to make facetious "I'm old" jokes?
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Collards or kale for 20-year-olds? Hm... I don't think I'd even *heard* of either when I was 20. Which may be an embarrassing commentary on me, I don't know.
irbnddpz (n, pl.): embezzlement by city officials (colloquially, "urban dips")
I hope you don't mind that I'm jumping into the hallowed ground of word verification. Feel free to issue a cease-and-desist post if desired.
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