Wild Salmon and a Birthday Ride

This was a nonstop weekend, but what better way to celebrate my birthday.

Celebrating began on Friday with the out of town guests pre-wedding dinner at Thom and Jeff's. Though they couldn't make it legal, my friends decided to go ahead and affirm their love and commitment to each other and they enlisted Jerry and me to prepare dinner the night before their wedding.

A couple of weeks ago, Thom and I got together to discuss the menu, and we decided on things that he and Jeff would like, but would be easy buffet food.

This is how the menu ended up:
Cold poached salmon with sour cream dill sauce
spanakopita triangles
cold pasta with pesto and artichoke hearts
roasted asparagus
roasted potatoes
toffee and butterscotch bars

Everything came out beautifully and Thom's friends were pleased and impressed. Jerry and I really worked well together to make this a great meal. I did the spanakopita triangles earlier and froze them unbaked, and made the toffee bars a couple of days ahead. We bought gorgeous wild salmon fillets that morning.

The trickiest part of the whole meal was transferring these beautiful, large salmon fillets to a platter without breaking them. We had three spatulas, and as gently as we could, we slid the salmon over. We were successful, mostly. One fillet got slightly damaged, but we pieced it back together pretty well.

On Saturday, Thom and Jeff got married at the Cliff House. As we rode across the Golden Gate Bridge into the city, we could see the fog lifting and knew they would have a perfect day.

The wedding was on a patio that overlooked the ocean. The weather was perfect, the guys looked handsome in their matching linen suits and their mothers sat together, proud of their sons.

Friends of theirs sang their song, "Happy Together." I'd forgotten what a great song that is. In addition, another friend, who is a professional singer sang a couple of songs and there were readings. Thom and Jeff exchanged leis and rings. They are both known for being prolific tweeters and Facebook posters, and while they didn't do any posting during the ceremony, the officiant encouraged the attendees to "tweet away," and several did.

The ceremony was followed by lunch. There were three choices, and Jerry and I had salmon, again. It was quite good, though if I may toot my own horn, I thought the salmon I made was moister and more flavorful. The herbed potenta that accompanied the salmon was very nice-- on the soft side and the accompanying vegetables were also okay. Not great, but okay.

Since Thom and Jeff are very into the 50s and Tiki Bars, the cake and decorations reflected the theme. It was a fun, joyful atmosphere. Jerry and I opted to steer clear of the fruity drinks, but I must admit we overindulged in the red wine. Not enough to get drunk, but more than we'd usually drink on a Saturday afternoon.

We felt the overindulgence only slightly on our ride today. Today was the AIDS Lifecycle thank you ride. For the second year running, it has fallen on my birthday, and I like to think of it as my birthday party. We did a short ride to Mill Valley, then headed back to Crissy Field for a barbecue. It was great to see old friends and talk to some new riders.

Jerry felt a little bonky going up Sausalito Hill, but we still made very good time. Not bad for a couple of old farts who drank too much wind and didn't eat dinner the day before.

Tonight, to finish the celebration, we're going to a movie and will have one of our favorite dinners-- popcorn.