Dinner for Many, the best gift

It was my freshmen year of college. I lived in this dorm called a "townhouse" basically the place they put either athletes or lazy applicants who didn't send in their dorm preference in time. It was exactly as it sounds, a small townhouse with 2 bedrooms, 2 freshmen to a bedroom. I lived in mine with one girl from Korea, one girl who was gothic, and one girl who really really really liked to party (the kind you find passed out on the toilet a lot).


The townhouse created many obstacles to meeting your freshmen year dorm friends who would be your "besties for life". So on my 19th birthday, February of freshmen year, in frigid upstate new york, I didn't know which way to turn when it came to celebrate. Fortunately, I had a boyfriend. Unfortunately, we had recently considered going on a break, and I was half heart broken, and convinced I shouldn't call him, or any of our friends we shared. So in the end, I couldn't even tell you what I did on the actual day of my 19th birthday.


But the important part of this story is what happened on the day after my birthday. At 8pm a persistent forceful knock on our front door forced my Korean roommate to get up and see who was there. She was immediately trampled by four rather large males, one of which being my boyfriend, carrying groceries and champaign. They quickly made their way to the kitchen and began cooking while my roommate fetched me from upstairs.

I came down to 3 giant 19 year old boys cooking a feast of seafood pasta with a white wine vinaigrette, shrimp, scallops and clams, while the fourth uncorked a bottle of Andre yelling "happy birthday Tania". 


What can I say. It might have been a day late, but it was the best gift: food and booz. To this day the four giant boys are all extremely good friends of mine. I am not sure if they remember that night as well as I do, but I hope they will always remember how much it meant to me.


Of course the three friends eventually left me alone with the boyfriend who confessed that he did want to stay with me (I am not a romantic, although this story is becoming one). And yes, I'm still with the lad. He proved to me that not only did he really like me, but that he was an awesome cook! My god have I landed a gold mind.


So to this day on my birthday he cooks for me. I don't want anything else from him except a glorious meal freshly made by him, and of course, all friends are invited because he loves to share his food with everyone. So Kesley, Allison, Jess, mark the calendar: February 10th, my place.