Hylan's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza

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Hylan aged another year on Sunday, February 26th.  Since last year was super lame because we were both too busy and stressed out to do anything more than dine at Carrabba's, this year I decided to make the whole weekend a bit more eventful. 

This picture wasn't from his birthday, but the week before when we went with my sister's family to watch the BYU women's basketball game.  It was a pink out...and we had fun!  It's also the most recent picture of Hylan (did you notice he shaved again?).

To begin, on Friday afternoon, I visited Hylan at the bank to cash out some secret checks I had saved up from subbing fitness classes.  This became Hylan's birthday cash stash for the ensuing activities we were about to enjoy all weekend long.  It also happened that he received a card my mom and dad with a few bucks to add.  Great timing!  (Birthday shout out to my Dad and niece, Marie who celebrate their birthdays on February 26th as well)! 

Later Friday night, we ate at Tucano's (how can you refuse that free birthday churrasaco?) and then I surprised Hylan with an appointment for a couple's massage at Massage Envy.  Hey, I get to enjoy his birthday too, right?  ;)

On Saturday, we met our buddies Lynn and Nick up in SLC at Les Madeleines for lunch and dessert.  Have you ever heard of the Kouing-aman?  Well, we finally got our chance to try this buttery, flaky, crunchy, sugary french pastry (simplified: like a sugared croissant, to the crunchified max).  This pastry was featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network and we have wanted to try it for a very long time.  Unfortunately, they were sold out the last time we stopped by the bakery last summer (not too worry, they have other delicious delicacies--I recommend the french macaroons they call "buttons"-- and they serve a yummy cafe lunch).  We finally got our chance this time and we were both in food paradise!  Hylan declared, "okay, we can move to France now."  Ha ha.

Kouing-aman pastry from Les Madeleines

After that experience, we headed on over to the Capitol Theater for a taping of the So You Think You Can Dance auditions.  Okay, yeah, that might have been more for Lynn and I, but Hylan and Nick graciously agreed to accompany us.  Because of Hylan's magical whimsy, we ended up moving from our pathetic back corner seats, to the mid balcony, to the side chair balcony where we could see all of the action!  The experience would have been much more inferior had we not moved to those seats, because we had a perfect view not only of the stage, but also the judges, audience, and auditioning dancers.  It was the best perspective.

The judges looked up at us several times and I even got a wink from Nigel.  I'm not even kidding.  And when Mr. Adam Shankman used a very naughty word, Mary looked right up at me covering up my ears.  It was so funny. 
Anyway, we had a great time watching fantastic, interesting, and mediocre dance auditions.  It really was just like you see on TV except everything took 17 times longer.  I would have taken pictures but I read a disclaimer that said they might confiscate cell phones, so none of us brought ours into the theater.  They didn't end up confiscating anything or turning people away who wore jeans, but alas, it was a fun time.  We left just before the choreography part of the cuts, but got to see SYTYCD All-Stars Robert and Courtney perform the number the remaining dancers had to learn. 

After our my fun time at the theater, we were going to hit up the Red Iguana for some killer mole (pronounced mole-lay), but we weren't feeling the wait in the cold, so we ended up getting some takeout Zupas close to home and enjoyed the rest of the evening in.

On Sunday, after church, I was going to make this yummy french onion soup per request, but I didn't have enough onions to make it until Monday, so we enjoyed it yesterday.

Along with this roasted pork tenderoloin with apricot sauce and steamed broccoli.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  For lunch after church, I just made a quick french toast and fried egg with pear compote and then used up the rest of the eggs to make the Second Request Biscoff Cupcakes. 

It just goes to show that I don't bake well when I'm not relaxed.  And for some reason, I felt oddly rushed when I made these on Sunday.  Thus, they did not turn out as well as they did the first time I made them.  For some reason, they sank in the middle and the frosting that covers the dip also kind of separated a bit, unlike last time's perfect velvet texture, but I still took pictures for you to scrutinize anyway.  Thankfully, they still tasted delicious, which always matters most! 

Um, they are money cupcakes because that's what Hylan likes.  $$MONEY$$  HA! 

White chocolate money symbol with golden sugar sprinkles.  The cupcakes look a little weird because they spread out like a cookie around the rim, which despite it's odd appearance, does happen to be my favorite part.  By the way, these cupcakes get better with age, I'm just saying.  I may have just eaten one with my lunch. 

And that concludes Hylan's Birthday Weekend Extravaganza.  He enjoyed many messages of well wishes on the actual day, which was great since we planned to lay low the rest of the Sabbath Day, as per his request.