Rachel's Birthday TND= Springtime Pasta and Brown Velvet Cake

Rhino's friend Rachel tends to be pretty opinionated (a pretty kick-ass quality).  So, it came as a little bit of a surprise when she did not give any suggestions for her birthday dinner.  Luckily, Rhino likes recipe foraging and, after much searching through blogs, websites, and other foodie forums, she found a winner. Spinach-ricotta pesto pasta with crisp proscuitto and asparagus.  Seasonally-appropriate and Rachel-approved!!

To ease game day TND work, I prepped the spinach-ricotta pesto sauce ahead of time.  It turned out perfectly.  I cannot say the same for the Rachel-requested red velvet cake.  Coming off my tres leches failure, I really wanted the cake to be a rousing success.  My red velvet comeback started out well....up until the red part.  Only at that juncture did I realize that a tablespoon of red food coloring is A LOT of food coloring.  After emptying my red vial, my yellow vial, and my blue vial (purple velvet cake anyone?), the batter turned an ugly swamp green.  Wondering how to remedy the situation, I peered into my cupboard and saw more red food coloring.  D'OH!!

Thankfully, my friends accept cake of all colors.  They also make AH-MAZING white wine sangria and bring delicious bread and spicy pimento cheese dip for TND feasts.  They're pretty good conversationalists too.

In the end, Rhino succeeded in her first asparagus attempt in cooking and in making a cream cheese frosted brown velvet cake.  More importantly, she succeeded in making a Rachel-worthy TND.  I'll call that a success even if I cannot say the same thing about my cake.