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I'd second Lorenzo on the salad--maybe a few slices of duck breast or steak on top of your choice of salad vegetables and for dessert, poached pears with or without a drizzle of chocolate sauce!

I wish I lived in Portland! I love Kim Boyce's book and cook out of it every chance I get.

@meleyna, may I ask why the prohibition on grapefruit? Is it because you only have it with gin? Or is there another reason?

The photo makes me want to dive in, face first...

I've been making your grapefruit and avocado salad twice a week for lunch since you published that recipe--so good! I also make Gina DiPalma's orange polenta cake as my husband's birthday cake...

Any crispy potato application, like tater tots, french fries, etc.

Short ribs are my hands-down favourite cut of beef ever.

Classic home desserts (like chocolate , with a twist. But I like the idea Dina's idea of all hand pies, too.

Happy birthday! I love this place and you guys!

Actually, I was quite tempted to make the suckling pig, but I was afraid for the recently-reformed vegetarian who will be coming, but this will be perfect.

The mainstay of my cookie tray is alfajores--then I experiment and gather positive/negative feedback for which cookies come back the next year. Back from last year are Homesick Texan's pepita and lime crescents and pepita brittle (my son's allergic to nuts). I'll make some molasses ginger cookies and some sort of chocolate thing (fruit and seed bark? rum balls? chocolate sables?) and maybe lemon squares, if I have the time. I also do some sugar cookies and royal icing when we have other children around so they can decorate cookies themselves. I've been thinking about making/decorating a gingerbread house/castle with the kids, but this may have to wait for next year since I'm already exhaustedly pregnant with #3.

I used to have my spices in random jars and bags but several avalanches and a few instances where I couldn't find a certain spice, bought another jar/bag of it, only to find several jars of it a week later, I broke down and figured out a system.

I bought 2 different sizes of glass jars with tight-fitting lids (8oz/4oz) and 3 letter-sized trays that fit my closed pantry shelves. I did a spice audit and placed all spices in their new glass jars and labeled the tops and bottoms with my labelmaker. The big jars were for my Indian spices that we use most often (and can buy in larger quantities) and the little ones are for spices we sometimes dabble with (like sumac). I need to be able to yank out a whole tray of spices so nothing gets lost in the back, but the drawback to having a (wood) tray and many glass jars is that it tends to be a bit heavy, but my spices sure look tidy!

Thanks so much for the great slideshow and for being generous about showing your skills--I don't know if I'll ever attempt such an elaborately decorated cake, but I know my appreciation of these cakes has increased a hundred fold.