Steve and Sandy Throw a Birthday Party

By Sandy Hu

Since the kids have grown up, we celebrate birthdays casually – cooking a special dish or getting takeout from a favorite restaurant, and picking up a cake or pie.

But yesterday, Steve and I threw a birthday party for ourselves, inviting a small group of friends. Chris was home from New York over the weekend to attend a wedding, so our whole family was together – another reason to celebrate.

From decorations, to gift bags to food, we spent many hours planning and executing our party. It always requires more time than you think, but with the whole family pitching in we pulled it off! (For all our party planning tips and pics, visit Special Fork’s Pinterest page.)

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It’s a Porchetta Party!

Not too long ago, I received an intriguing email from my friend and Special Fork food editor, Linda Anusasananan, the former recipe editor of Sunset magazine.

“I've been fantasizing about the porchetta sandwiches I saw last week sold from the Roli Roti truck at the Ferry Plaza,” she wrote. “The line was about two blocks long – far too long to wait, so I never got to taste them.

“That weekend I saw porchetta turning on the spit at the Burlingame farmers' market. I asked if I could buy some and the vendor said someone had special-ordered the whole roast. He said I could do the same thing and pick the porchetta up at one of the farmers’ markets.”

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