How a Petaluma food columnist celebrates his 50th birthday

Birthday’s come and go, and during COVID-19 they can feel especially insignificant, what with the lack of celebratory outlets. However, this past week had me crossing into my sixth decade so was hard to slip by family and friends without some notice.

Nick Gordon, co-owner of Petaluma Food Taxi, and I had been talking about getting out on the links and hitting a few balls around. When I learned that his birthday was last Monday and mine was last Wednesday, we both figured it was as good a time as any and booked a tee time at Indian Valley Golf Course in Marin.

The morning started well with the wife making a special early morning trip to Keny’s Donuts to retrieve fresh warm buttermilk bars and old-fashioneds. She usually heads out early for a run but first got the goods so I would have them when I woke up. When people ask me how we seem to make it work so effortlessly, I have to remember to tell them about times like this. It was something so small and unexpected but was done from the heart, and so it counts as one of the best birthday gifts to memory.

At least, as of that morning. I had no idea what kind of incredible food surprises were yet to come.

To air out a fine bottle of Sandeman 30 Years Old Tawny Port for our golf game (Nick was the designated driver so I could indulge a bit), I cracked the cap the night before. In my never-ending quest to find something that I do not enjoy pairing with tawny port, I decide donuts and port were on the menu for breakfast. Not surprisingly, they went well together. And before anyone passes judgment regarding morning drinking, keep in mind that I am food and drink writer. It was research.

I cannot say that I remember the last time I had a bad doughnut, but Sophie’s from Keny’s Donuts are some of my favorites. The buttermilks bars are particularly moist and she makes an unbeatable old-fashioned. When asked to list my favorite foods, I count the “wings” of an old-fashioned firmly among my top 10.

Nick was set to pick me up at noon but I figured the golf course might not serve food, so I figured I’d better grab lunch. As luck would have it, I still had some of our anniversary leftovers from Quinua Cucina Peruana, where among other favorite dishes, we cannot resist ordering the seafood fried rice (arroz chapo mariscos).

The downpour just prior to Nick’s arrival was ominous, however we were both looking forward to “a good walk ruined,” so were not deterred. However, the skies cleared up as we arrived at the course and stayed crisp and clear throughout the afternoon. Even though it had been a while since either of us had swung a golf club, we had an enjoyable time seeing how many golf balls we could lose. I believe we came in at about a half a dozen.

Upon returning home, I learned that my brother had ordered us a surprise dinner from Seared, and his wife and two young daughters had dropped it by our house. Along with all my favorite items from the happy hour menu, there was a bonus of two wonderful, hand-drawn birthday cards from the girls telling me I am the best uncle ever. (I do supply them with a lot of ice cream and other sugary treats, so I would expect no less of an accolade.)

Dinner started with my favorite appetizer olives, the warm and meaty house-cured Casteltravnos (confit garlic, chili, lemon). Next up were deviled eggs with house pickles, chives, everything bagel seasoning and topped with Nashville hot pork belly. Using Valley Ford cheese and cavatappi noodles, Seared’s mac ‘n’ cheese is one of our favorites in town, especially when topped with Neuskes bacon. No happy hour order is complete without salt and pepper calamari, seasoned with cilantro, lime, sesame and chili and garlic aioli. And although we have been shying away from fried items to-go, these calamari arrived still crisp and delicious. For our “mains,” we had the filet mignon skewers, which was excellent, as always, as well as a new dish to us, the Kung Pao prawns. The flavor was fresh and frisky and we really enjoyed the small order of ginger and scallion noodles that came on the plate. This is certainly something we will order again.

It shaped up as a pretty good birthday. Although the original plan was to start my 50th celebration in Munich at Oktoberfest, culminating in a big 1970 vintage port tasting with family and friends, Keny’s Donuts, Quinua’s fried rice and Seared’s excellent happy hour menu had definitely put a festive spin on my birthday.

But the big surprise was still to come.

My mother has never had a sweet tooth in her life and insists that every restaurant should simply serve baked apples for dessert. However, she recently got hooked on ice cream cakes thanks to Samantha Mahan, who has been wowing both children and adults ever since she took over at Baskin-Robbins last year.

My mother was surprised to learn recently that we sometimes buy an ice cream cake simply on a whim, with no celebration in mind. After seeing a custom ice cream cake made for my brother’s recent birthday, she got on the bandwagon. In cahoots with my wife, my mom asked Mahan to make something special for my 50th.

I knew something was in the works because mom called the house more often than normal and never seemed to want to talk with me. I figured an ice cream cake was likely on the horizon. Never having met an ice cream cake I did not love, I was not at all concerned with the design, just that I got to pick a big piece.

As we drove down to Baskin-Robbins, my wife seemed more excited than normal. Walking into the shop, on an obvious cake retrieval mission, I glanced into the case, pointing to a pink unicorn cake and jokingly inquired whether it was mine.

“Nope, keep looking,” the wife said.

Then, something out of the ordinary caught my eye. It was a pig cake. I love pigs, both in the pen and on my plate, so I was drawn towards it immediately. Then I noticed that the pig was wearing lederhosen. Then I stepped closer and realized in the center of the front crossover section of the pig’s lederhosen suspenders was the number 50. Then I saw the pig had a small black cowboy hat on, just like mine, and was sitting next to a frosty mug of Hacker-Pschorr beer. All this made out of ice cream and cake, of course. It was one of the most unbelievable things I had ever seen and had me smiling from ear to ear.

The detail work on this cake was beyond belief, especially considering that Mahan admitted that she knew very little about lederhosen or Oktoberfest and was not sure she had ever made a sitting pig before. Even the legs of the pig were filled with ice cream. The details were everywhere, even the mug was branded with the same Hacker-Pschorr logo as the Oktoberfest shirt I had just received that morning for my birthday. It was perfect in every way, but the surprises kept coming.

Little did I know, this was so much more than just your run of the mill ice cream cake. First off, Mahan had collaborated with two of my other favorite makers here in town – Pilar Mcgoldrick Bernard of Mariposa Ice Creamery and Tony Russo of True Delicious. Bernard supplied the ice cream in my three favorite flavors (lemon lemon cookie, peanut butter chocolate pretzel and cookies and crème) and Russo provided the cake, one of his Italian specialties when he is not baking up the best biscotti outside of Italy. In fact, because they are so much more time consuming, Tony rarely bakes cakes anymore, so this was really something special.

After transporting the cake to mom’s house, so she could bask in the glory of her incredible gift and see the huge smile it was still putting on my face, we broke out the candle and sang a round of “Happy Birthday.” My brother asked if I had any trepidation about cutting into such a beautiful cake but I sliced without hesitation and we enjoyed the best cake I have ever had.