prime rib and red sails in the sunset

It is Christy's birthday. And we celebrated in true Cotton style.

All four of us marked birthdays during the past four months. Darrel's and mine were in December and January. Mom's birthday was in February, but she was back in Bend by then. And here it is March -- and it is Christy's turn.

We had talked about dining out at one of several local restaurants. It did not take us long to realize we could put together a better birthday dinner here than at any other eatery. And so we did.

Christy is a meat lover. Prime rib, in particular. And we now have a dependable provider. Mind you, it is choice, rather than prime. But it turned out to be one of the most tender pieces of prime rib any of us had ever eaten.

With prime rib, I usually prepare some classics. Of course, there is my cabernet au jus that almost always complements prime ribs here.

When we were in Manzanillo on Monday, I bought some baby asparagus, but it had already gone off. Instead, I opted for blistered green beans. But all of the green beans in town were woody. I could not even find a package of peas for my famous mint peas.

Instead, we decided a Greek salad would do nicely for the vegetable. Potatoes would be our starch -- cooked on the grill with onions.

And dessert? The meal would be heavy enough. So, we threw together an arugula watermelon goat cheese combination with an Israeli seed topping. It was far better than birthday cake.

We all had a hand in the meal. And it met our goal -- to beat anything we could buy locally for Christy's birthday.

As luck would have it, Mother Nature gave Christy the best gift of all.

We decided to bike down to the beach to watch the sunset. Most of the sunsets this week have been rather disappointing. Not tonight.

With the exception of a sunset in 2009, this was the most spectacular sunset I have seen here. Christy was enthralled.

So, happy birthday, Christy. I am glad the day was as memorable as it was.