Post 38.1: Start the Birthday with a Birthday Truffle Field

For Connie's birthday this year, Diana and I thought that truffles would be a fitting gift since Connie has this obsession over anything truffle.  I remember a certain picture of two certain somebodies that just about died over the delirium of truffle sampling at La Buona Tavola earlier this year in Seattle.

Diana and I spent some time brainstorming creative ways to present Connie with her gift of truffles galore, and we came up with a birthday truffle field.  What the hell is a birthday truffle field? Well, it starts with worms in dirt dessert... the creativity blossoms from there.  Check out what we made!

Essential ingredients:

General process:

Finished product:

Connie's birthday is on Halloween, hence the mini pumpkin and the pig dressed up as candy corn.  The pig also plays a pivotal role in the truffle field dessert because pigs help truffle farmers sniff and search for the expensive fungi with their keen sense of smell.  We put the pig there to help Connie search for her presents (white truffles, truffle oil and truffle butter).  We also included some a package of macaroni, dried morel mushrooms (good with pasta), a wedge of Beecher's flagship cheese from Seattle (bought fresh at a local supermarket) and a recipe for truffle mac n' cheese to help her get started.

Other notes:

1.  Always, always, always read the instructions for every box of JELL-O instant pudding.  Different flavors require different amounts of cold milk.  Cold milk is underlined for a reason; make sure the milk doesn't sit out on the counter while making the other flavors of pudding.

2.  Truffle products may be a bit harder to find, but gummy worms and mint leaves can be found in any local grocery store.  The chocolate capped mushroom cookies in the finished product can be found at Japanese supermarkets Mitsuwa and Nijiya or other Asian supermarkets such as 99 Ranch.

3.  Some links in this post are attributed to work and photography by oolong milk tea.

Woot.  Props for on-the-fly creativity (Diana knows exactly what I'm talking about).

Happy birthday, Connie!

Next post: Double birthday dinner at Providence

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