Belated birthday blogging

Two weeks ago tonight, we girls celebrated Vickie’s birthday with dinner at Sitti in downtown Raleigh.

I’d never been to Sitti before, but I’d heard good things and I for one was very happy with the atmosphere, my drink (Chelle and I each got a When in Doubt, Pinkies Out – yum!), the service, and my food (the Sun-Dried Tomato Pizzette – yum again!).

I made Vickie some cookies and a batch of Banana Pudding Cupcakes.  The latter needed to be refrigerated, which the restaurant was kind enough to take care of as part of the $10 cake-cutting fee, and when we told our server we were ready for dessert, he arranged the cupcakes on a platter and presented them with a flourish.

I added the Nilla Wafer crumbs just before heading to the restaurant so my “good” pictures don’t have the extra touch on them.  I still think they look pretty mouth watering.

The frosting was sooooo good.  I could’ve just eaten the whole bowl one spoonful at a time until it was just a memory.

The filling was simply boxed banana pudding so it wasn’t too special on its own.  But added to the cupcake and frosting, it was a pretty important part of the bigger picture.

And do you see what’s there at the bottom?  Yep, each cupcake liner got a Nilla Wafer before being filled with batter.  Because you can’t have banana pudding without Nilla Wafers.

Now, I knew Vickie would like these (she told me to surprise her, she just wanted cupcakes), but I kinda had a feeling they wouldn’t be everyone’s favorite.  So I made a second dessert: Colossal Reese’s Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I used my whoopie pie pan.  I didn’t have to use that pan for these cookies, but I’m excited for any reason to pull it out.

I think any cookie that’s super-sized automatically tastes better.  Maybe that’s partly because you can cram so many more add-ins into each one.

Or maybe it’s because you can have just one, but it’s really like eating, I don’t know, three regular cookies.  Yep, less guilt definitely makes things taste better.

I was glad that the birthday girl was happy with her treats.  We’re celebrating Sara’s birthday with dinner and treats tomorrow night so there are more surprise sweets to look forward to (in real life and here on the blog).