Happy Birthday, Ben

I might not get through this post because my space bar is sticking. Sadly, I cannot blame my beautiful children. No, this time it's all my fault (I don't mind the blame, 'tis true). See, I deemed myself the Hostess today to Ben's side of the fam + Freddy for dinner after a day of fasting (not for me because I'd fall over with the shakes and not Britanny because she's less than 5 weeks away of giving birth to no. 2... oh, and not the kids because their bodies are too young). Usually these get togethers mean we all chip in and bring a dish but I'm kinda anti-that (not sure what you'd call it). Some people like the help (my MIL said she does), but for me I'd rather take care of it all myself. Call me crazy (k, I'll wait for you to say it). So in the midst of scattering things together for the birthday boys' dinner, I checked online to see if I could fine the cream cheese measurement for the cheesecake, seeing that that is THE most important part of the dessert. While I was clicking around, I sucked on my Henry Weinhard's Root Beer (draught style head) and sat it in between my arms RIGHT NEXT TO THE KEYBOARD. Go ahead and say it... "crazy." I gasped when it happened, Piper heard and worriedly (made up word) asked what happened!? I just made a mess. Uh-oh! Yeah, don't tell daddy ;o) Anyway... dinner. We're watching America's Test Kitchen the other day on pork chops then low-fat cheesecake. Really? Is there REALLY such thing as LOW-FAT cheesecake? They took the almost 600 calorie slice down to 300 something but is that REALLY low-FAT?! Anywho, that's not my point. The point is that Ben asked for those two items as his birthday dinner and by golly I was going to deliver (I guessed on the cream cheese amount - couldn't find it anywhere for that specific recipe). I scored the silver skin on 10 fat pork chops, sauteed and sauced them (my MIL particularly liked the sauce, yay!). Baked the fingerlings with some olive oil (forgot the parchment paper this time... never forget the parchment paper) and seasonings, the asparagus (must admit I overcooked them worrying about undercooking those thick suckers), warmed the meatballs and threw together salad. Had to call around for a bigger Cuisanart because I have one of those silly mini-combo blender ones then realized I can't find my spring-form pan, dagnabit (used a rectangular one, lame). But, I successfully drained the yogurt overnight to make yogurt cheese for the first time and also the cottage cheese (but that was just 30 minutes). It tasted just fine and I even swirled homemade raspberry puree on the plates and topped the pieces with fresh raspberries ($3.99 at Costco). Eight adults, three kids and one happy birthday boy!