For my son’s tenth birthday, he requested that we bring three friends to the trampoline park. We piled in a car and drove an hour to the play place in Savannah, GA. I called first and asked if we needed to make reservations. They said, “No, just come on in”. I approached the counter with my cake, a balloon, and a few presents. The cost for all the kids and parents was $200 for a 2-hour jump. Great! But I couldn’t bring in my birthday party accoutrements unless I paid for a $400 party. I returned my cake to the cooler and encouraged the children to focus on the trampolines.
Afterward, I parked the car in the shade, opened the hatch, and lit the candles on the cake. One kid asked, “Is this like his actual birthday cake?” This partygoer also frowned at the lack of plates. We ate cake from napkins. Don’t worry - the poor children had forks! As we were standing on black asphalt in Savannah in June, the temperature in the shade was 95/feels like 195. The chocolate fudge melted in the amount of time it took to cut the cake. The sweet kids that asked for seconds ended up just covered in chocolate. When my redhead son said, “I don’t feel so good,” I shut down the cake tailgater and started the drive home. I told my son, “One day you will remember that parking lot cake.” My 13-year-old took the picture below and sent it to his friends to show them how the party ended. I bet they were jealous.
For the second night of his birthday weekend, we dined at Alligator Soul, a high-end restaurant with an unassuming name. I reserved our table a month ahead of the event, and it was well worth the wait. The handsome chef specializes in Cajun Creole cuisine and wild game. Last year we enjoyed beef heart at Okan, so I surmised that a trip to Alligator Soul would be a fun adventure. We loved that the restaurant was in a unique and cool underground space in a colonial building. The hostess seated us at a corner table next to a discreet water garden, and we enjoyed talking about the art hanging in each nook and cranny.
The first thing that we noticed was that the restaurant was abuzz with food talk. Diners were leaning over to their neighbors’ table to discuss the wild game special of the day or the size of the tilefish filet. The man seated next to us said that
”the lamb was not too baa-d.”
Without consulting the boys, I ordered the alligator bites and the frog’s legs as appetizers. Both dishes were big hits. I also let them try my Mocktail loaded with spicy ginger ale, cucumber, and mint. The younger one said that it smelled like the yard but tasted delicious. They ordered their entrees and I was proud of their brave choices. My older son settled on the antelope. He likes that gamey taste so it was a good choice for him. My younger son and I had the crawfish gumbo. It arrived with a fried green tomato and a frog leg sticking out of the top - artfully done. The frogs legs were the best thing that I have eaten in a very long time.
Factoring in the amuse-bouche and the bread, we ate like foodies at a reasonable price. We guessed how the French spell “amuse bouche.” The kids thought that it started with the letter “m” since it was a singular piece of food like: “a muse bouche”.
My older son mentioned that Frank Ocean has a new album. That prompted a re-telling of the evening’s specials but with Frank Ocean as the body of water like, “Tonight’s special is a wild caught salmon from the Frank Ocean.” We volleyed those back and forth until the waiter brought out the cake. My son was grateful to get peanut butter Oreo cake on a night that wasn’t his actual birthday. He tricked them into lighting a candle for him! He wants to tell waiters that it’s his birthday more often! I was just grateful that I saved my money on a birthday party room so that I could buy antelope, alligator and frog. It was memorable and delicious.
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Happy Birthday Rocco!