Last night, my family and I celebrated the day of my birth with drinks before dinner, birthday brownie, strawberry shortbread, and presents.
Since my brother is now a fully-certified bartender, he made me a Flaming B52 for me to blow out and take before my I blew out the candles on my birthday brownie (I do not care for cake because I do not care for icing. For the last 8 or so years, I’ve been having birthday brownie).
It was interesting, to say the least, to have to fight drunken stupor in front of the two people who provided you with the opportunity to have a birthday, and a third who also happens to share your DNA, whilst opening presents.
But I think the best part about having the flaming shot, or any intricately-made drink for that matter, is the amount of ceremony and presentation that goes into it. I found it to be immensely charming, if not a little bit terrifying.
I’m really excited about the gift my brother gave me: he had my Michael Symon-signed menu from Lola framed for me. For years, it had been sitting in my parents buffet table, because I never had time or the gumption to get it framed. He and the framer even matched the mat to the orange that is used on Lola’s website.
I love it, and I’m so excited to hang it.
The Blog of JulZ 
