And it’s not even my birthday yet! (here is part one)

So here is the deal with the pie. Every year on the husband’s birthday, the husband’s mother bakes him a banana cream pie. Nothing fancy. Literally it is the same pie recipe she’s been making for him for the past 30+ years. It very well might have come from an issue of Redbook or the back of a Jello Pudding package. And the husband wouldn’t have it any other way. Within the last couple of years my birthday also made it to the “birthday pie” list. Now I get a pie on my birthday! Or the day before, which is fine by me. This is coconut cream pie (recipe from Martha, according to the MIL). A coconut filling layered beneath fresh whipped cream. Toasted coconut and shaved chocolate to top it off. Plus, a homemade crust that looks like a REAL crust (unlike some crusts I’ve known). Plus plus, I also received the pie plate that the pie arrived in as a gift. Beautiful stoneware from Crate & Barrel.

And, because we couldn’t just have pie for early dinner/late lunch/whatever it is you have when you eat at 2:30 in the afternoon, the husband made one of his (and my) favorite dishes that he pulls out for guests: gnocchi al romano. Rich cheeses, eggs and milk, magically/scientifically combined with semolina flour then baked/broiled to perfection. The 16 words I just used to describe the dish doesn’t do the actual cooking process any justice. Just keep in mind that on more than one occasion, when cooking this dish, has the husband hurled out expletives and thrown a few pans around the kitchen. It’s intense. But the results are sooo good. In the background of the photo below you can see the ragu bolognese sharing the plate, another specialty he’s prepared on occasion (the pics of the bolognese didn’t come out, but picture this).