25th Birthday Celebration, Part II: Cupcakes and East Coast Grill

My parents arrived at my apartment bearing an assortment of 25 gifts - it was like Chanukah times 3.33! - and many were food-related, such as a beautiful Teavana tea set, spicy chipotle rub, potato scrubbing gloves (awesome!), cupcake lip gloss, Barbie fruit snacks (because they apparently think I still like playing with Barbie dolls), Food Lovers' Guide to Massachusetts, and A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes. Soon I'll be supplementing my Cupcake Quest with posts about my own attempts at fancy cupcakes!

They also came bearing real cupcakes. Guess I'll have to put off the cupcake break for a few more days. These are Shaw's minis, which I've previously described as "always decent." They didn't disappoint, although this spray paint-style frosting tastes more chemically than the normal frostings. (It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but the cupcakes all have white frosting with pink and purple color seemingly sprayed on.)

Next, we met Joel at the always-amazing East Coast Grill, where I have previously tormented myself at two Hell Nights, enjoyed an amazing Cinco de Mayo media dinner, and devoured The Best Meal I Have Ever Had. Our waiter, Arthur, is also ECG's social media guru, manning the Twitter and Facebook pages. After apparently seeing my Twitter posting about going there to celebrate my birthday, he wished me a happy birthday and offered us a couple desserts on the house! Yum! He even asked permission to sing to me; I appreciated being asked first. Of course we had to get the peanut butter pie with candied bacon as well as the key lime pie, and both were delicious. The key lime pie was the real thing - not bright green. (Check out Joel's recent guest post to learn more about what makes key lime pie awesome.) The entrees were fabulous as usual. I just can't contain my love for East Coast Grill. I've never been disappointed there. By the way, East Coast Grill is also celebrating a 25th birthday very soon! From July 11-16, participate in their birthday celebration. Three-course prix fixe meals will be available for $25.

After dinner, Joel and I promptly passed out in food coma mode and didn't accomplish anything else that night.

The next night, Sunday, we went to Church (the bar near Fenway) for a drink with Geoff and Julia, who are about to move away. Note to self: Do not order a drink called Death on a weeknight. And then my birthday weekend was over, and Monday arrived, full of humid, 90+ degree grossness. Such is life.