Daniel Gets the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER (and I don't mean the iPhone)

So in honor of Daniel's birth and the election of a new leader for this great nation, we had a little party in our new SF abode.

The focus was more on the what we were watching than on what we were eating, but a few foodie notes...



Those of the eagle-eye variety will notice the two bowls of candy perched on the arm of our couch. Daniel, who although he loves delicious candy more than the next guy will sometimes favor a joke over his palate, came up with the idea that when a state went red we would eat Airheads and when a state turned blue, we'd celebrate the Smarties they were.

With the election called early (especially in this kooky West Coast time zone), we were able to move quickly into the celebration portion of the evening. Complete with dessert and champagne.

Because he's been such a mensch of late, Daniel deserved two desserts -

A pear upside down ginger bread, recipe courtesy of Williams Sonoma:



And a three layer chocolate cake with caramel sea salt icing and a chocolate ganache, called the Sweet and Salty cake, recipe courtesy of the Red Hook bakery Baked, endorsed by Martha Stewart herself...

Please note the immense amount of butter involved in the ganache (does not include the butter that went into the caramel icing...)

Applying the caramel icing

The birthday boy applying the ganache, Ace of Cakes style


The presentation

It was a good night for two great patriots - President Elect BARAK OBAMA (I still can't believe it!) and our man Daniel.