This afternoon, I hopped on the ferry (sans sunglasses on a very sunny day, I might add) with an empty dog carrier (looking slightly crazy) and headed to NJ to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. It wasn’t a milestone birthday and he’s not a child (he’s in his 40s), but every birthday is a big deal in my Italian family. 

My aunt cooked ham, pork loin, baked ziti and a bunch of vegetables. I had some of the pork loin, vegetables, salad and pasta. I started with the vegetables and salad before eating the pork loin and the pasta so that I could fill up first. My aunt passed around cocktail franks when we got there, and I also had a little piece of ice cream cake, also known as heaven.

I don’t count calories, but I know I had a lot of them today…