This weekend was E’s birthday! A celebration was in order.

We did everything E wanted to do this weekend. I asked E what sort of sandwich he wanted for his birthday. Instead of a sandwich, he wanted birthday French toast. His call, so I made him French toast sandwiches, which I’ve done before, but this time with challah bread. It was more two pieces of bread stacked and sprinkled with fruit and powdered sugar and drizzled with syrup. He was happy. That’s what mattered.

We also hosted a cocktail party at our place with E’s close friends. Most brought gifts. Scratch that, most brought Johnny Walker Black, E’s favorite hooch.

Then there was the boozy dinner at Gran Electrica, our favorite Mexican joint down the street. I made a reservation for 12 people, and even had them make special menus with “Happy Birthday E!” typed out on the top of them. E fawned over the menus with way more appreciation than the West Elm gardening gift set I gave this morning as his b-day gift. Small surprises often have the biggest impact.

Because I knew what impact tequila, wine, and Johnny Walker Black would have on his head the next morning, I had an idea to do the most savory breakfast sandwich and the sweetest of dessert sandwiches to help combat that morning after headache. I had not used biscuits in any sandwich to date, but they would be base for both a solid, greasy, Jimmy Dean-eque breakfast sandwich and a lighter strawberry shortcake dessert.

Strawberry shortcake sandwiches are a great idea to make for a treat if you don’t feel like making a whole cake. Twenty minutes and they’re ready (that is, if you cheat and use prepackaged biscuits—when we’re not so hungover we will do a version with homemade biscuits).

But try and serve them before they recipient gorges themselves on too many breakfast biscuits. By the time I presented E with the shortcake treats, he was passed out on the couch asleep, too worn out from the festivities—or perhaps old age—to enjoy one.

by