Last night, my good friend Maggie invited me over to celebrate her 21st birthday with her family.

 I arrived bearing gifts, of course.

Bombay Sapphire and homemade red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. I’m a good guest.

Before dinner, we sat out on the patio with her family and had drinks. The first legal beverage was a Corona Light…

Followed by a bottle of Krug champagne her dad had saved from the year she was born. Fancy! I love me some champagne.

While we sipped, we also nibbled at a place of drunken goat and Manchego cheeses, both from Spain. Maggie studied abroad there this fall and fell in love with the country, so the night’s food was  Spanish-themed.

The birthday girl was forced to wear a supersweet tiara:

And Finny kept us company. He’s smiling for the camera!

Eventually, we headed inside for dinner. Maggie’s mom made a delicious pan of paella, with chicken, chorizo, shrimp and mussels.

I had a big portion of the stuff with only the shrimp and mussels. I’m no paella expert, but I thought it was really good! Maggie and her mom both insisted it needed more saffron, though. Who knows…give me carbs and seafood and I’m a happy girl.

There was also a loaf of toasted French bread.

After the paella, it was time for cake! Maggie requested red velvet, and though I’d never made one before, I was happy to test it out. I used Paula Deen’s recipe and topped it with this cream cheese frosting.

I haven’t tried red velvet cake too many times before, but this was pretty good. It was super dense and similar to chocolate cake yet with a very unique taste. Probably not my best baking endeavor, but hey- cake is cake. The frosting was my favorite part, of course!

I think Maggie enjoyed it.

Lovely. Finn didn’t get any cake, but he did get lots of attention.

Maggie taught me that you have to make a weird noise to get him to cock his head. I’m going to have so much fun with this.

Overall, it was a really fun night. And Maggie is 21 now, so she can finally accompany me to the bars. Wooohoooo! Get ready Mags.

What would be your perfect birthday dinner? What kind of meal and cake would you request?