I completely forgot our anniversary this year, if it were not for my mother telling me that she got a really cute card for us, I would have simply missed the entire thing. Of course my husband will never let me forget my faux pas. As a matter of fact he giggled when I told him.

But our kids saved the day! Our kids love cooking shows like Iron Chef, Top Chef and any of the daily recipe type shows. So much that they are continually inventing recipes and cooking interesting and sometimes AMAZING dishes. My mom organized them in their efforts for our 14th Anniversary. They were given the secret ingredient ‘Lemons’ and set to work in the kitchen while Paul and I were at our respective jobs all day, me at the nursery watering and organizing plants all day and Paul on the lot.

When I arrived at home I was instructed to stay outside and wait for further instructions. I worked around the yard, fixed an ailing fountain, watered more plants and planted some more veggies. When Paul arrived a while later we were seated by our wonderful maitre d’ at the highly sought after garden table, flanked by beds of strawberries, blueberry bushes and wonderfully fragrant herbs. The bees were buzzing and the butterflies fluttered all around in the evening coolness.

After we were introduced to the chefs, the kitchen supervisor and the organizer, we were presented with out first course made by our oldest son. It was the most incredible lemon Granita with a sprig fresh lemon balm. Truly exceptional!

The next item on the menu was heart shaped toasts, spread with lemon herb cheese and a side of kalamata  olives and an orange slice. VERY GOOD!

The most surprising and delicious salad followed, made by our oldest daughter. The hidden treasure were these little lemon points that had been dipped in egg white and sugared. If you took a bite of the salad and then immediately bit one of the pieces of lemon, it was out of this world!

Our youngest daughter presented her contribution next. She roasted fresh garlic from our garden, minced it, added lemon zest and then stirred into butter that she chilled as small balls. This was served with baguette slices.

The entree was delivered and prepared for us by our youngest son, who informed us that it was a primavera with tomato lemon cream sauce. It was an incredibly delicate sauce that was done perfectly.

Dessert was made by my talented mom and second son. A glorious lemon soufflé baked and served in a lemon bowl. Served with none other than illy coffee.

As you can imagine we were stunned. They had all worked so hard, ALL DAY! As they reassembled for our comments and scores (as they instructed us, I really do not like the ‘pick a winner’ game, it always makes someone sad and yet they always want us to pick a winner. And, we were implicitly told that they could NOT all win.)

So the salad took first place, the Granita was 2nd followed by the garlic spread and then the souffle and fifth was the entree. But as we told them it was everything together that made it a 5 star meal and that they were all winners.

At this point they all groaned and asked us why we couldn’t just say someone won etc. etc. Well as I saw a fifth place child’s eyes welling with tears, I asked why they always want us to pick. The unanimous reply was, “because we want to know even if it’s hard to hear.” mmm… As a mom it’s one of the hardest parts of parenting for me, the “yes that’s really wonderful, but what could make it better” line. I really would like to avoid it completely and let everyone win the coloring contest, tell each of them that their pancake animal tasted the best, encourage them all on to victory in this life, yet life isn’t that way, is it? I’m reminded regularly that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose and that your character had better be strong enough to handle both situations with grace and dignity.

So, our dinner was absolutely wonderful, a 5 star experience and whether they want me to pick or not, as their mom and not their food critic, they all won a 10 from their dad and I. WOW, a true Anniversary to remember.

What do your kids or family members do to make you feel special?

Tags: celebrations, food, gourmet, kids