A 60th Birthday Celebration

Martha Stewart inspired banner. I bought the circle cardstock from Paper Source, downloaded a font from dafont, printed the letters out (had to tape it to a square piece of paper for my printer), and used a 1/8" hole puncher and 1/4" ribbon threaded through.

On Sunday, we hosted a birthday luncheon for 40 people at my house. I've never made food for so many people before and after this experience, I have so much respect for caterers. I had plenty of help, but it was still quite a feat as we made quite the variety of food, all from scratch. The only thing that was purchased was the cake. Important thing was, everything turned out well and my mom and everyone had a great time, so it was worth it. Happy birthday mom!

The hors d'oeuvres: crostini with pesto, roasted tomato and Gioia burrata; endive with roasted red pepper hummus and chives; Gioia smoked mozzerella, quince paste rolled in almonds and spinach on a stick; cucumber topped with smoked salmon mousse and caviar

Sides and finger food: salami and provolone finger sandwiches with dill and tarragon cream cheese (whipped with lemon zest, lemon juice and heavy cream); smoked salmon tea sandwiches with capers and dill and tarragon cream cheese; cucumber tea sandwiches with dill and dill and tarragon cream cheese; potato salad with 2 types of mustard, dill, celery, radishes and bacon, and orzo with smokey tomato vinaigrette and asparagus

Grilled cajun chicken skewers and pulled pork sliders with cole slaw and pickles

Birthday cake from Angel Maid Bakery in Culver City. We love Angel Maid and always get our cakes from them. The cake is light and airy, with fresh fruit and not too sugary

I also made Jen / Martha Stewart's white sangria with peaches and honeydew and we had a big platter of sliced fruit. All in all, lots of food, but everyone liked it all.

I love this picture for some reason!

Some food detail shots: