The Civilized Life in Sarasota: Son-in-law's 40th birthday

Saturday was my son-in-law, Mike Calandra's 40th birthday and my daughter, Kristin, gave her husband a sweet, tropical party for family and friends. Of course it was St. Patrick's Day, too, but that was only reflected in the green leprechaun hat that Mike wore all night.

Kristin and Mike love the Florida Keys and in fact, spent the majority of Spring Break there. They returned home just in time to make the final preparations for the party. Mid-century beach cottage is the theme for their home and also was for the party. You can always expect the food to be a little different at Mike and Kristin's and the party was no exception. We did have yummy coconut shrimp to start off evening. The main dish was a Pastelon Cuban lasagna. What is that you might ask? Well, instead of lasagna noodles, you use plantains, picadillo mix, ground beef, raisins, olives, cheese, peppers and onions. It was actually pretty good. There was also pork roast on Cuban bread, rice and black beans, and then a layered salad that included bananas with the traditional items. Kristin asked me to make lemon bars and pineapple upside down cake to also go with the fruity tropical theme and My granddaughter Marina made a cherry coconut bar cookie that is Mike's favorite. That's what they used for the birthday cake.

The party was held around the pool in their large deck area. They only moved in a year ago and have worked hard to do the landscaping. Kristin is a pro at orchids and has many all around. There were about 30 adults there and about 15 children who spent the night going up and down the slide in the bounce thing - photo below. It was a great activity to keep them all occupied!

The weather was perfect as was the love and warm birthday spirit of the evening! Happy 40th birthday to a terrific son-in-law who is a wonderful husband and father to our daughter and grandchildren! We couldn't ask for anything more.