We cleaned up pretty good

• Friday night, a day after my birthday, was the night we chose to get together for my birthday dinner at Sperry's in Franklin. It was a first for all of us, and I was particularly impressed by the lovely stained glass ceiling in the foyer, pictured in the center photo. Since the yearly Frank Sinatra party followed at the kids' friends house in, as luck would have it, a neighborhood next to ours, we headed to that around 9 p.m. after dinner.

• But before that, three of us dined on medium-ugh-rare filets, Dave on lamb, and myself on the halibut oscar. They then served me a piece of strawberry cake, one of their 3 signature desserts, which could have fed the whole table, since they knew this was a birthday celebration. This was one of those expensive al a carte steak restaurants, but with a strange kickback to the 80's - your entree came with a salad bar! And some of the dressings were ones I hadn't seen in awhile: traditional blue cheese and a red blue cheese and green goddess dressing. I asked the kids if they knew of green goddess dressing and they had never heard of it. I wasn't sure what was in it so I researched it (I actually thought it had either cucumber or avocado in it):

This creamy, herby dressing was invented at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco in the 1920's in honor of William Archer's hit play The Green Goddess. It enjoyed great success, especially in California, for decades and, in our opinion, is worth a revival. Yields: 2 cups Ingredients: 1 cup Traditional Mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or minced scallions 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 3 anchovy fillets, rinsed, patted dry, and minced salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl until well blended. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.

So, the next time, you're at a restaurant and they have a salad bar and green goddess salad dressing, try it and let me know how it is. I went out on a limb and chose the regular bleu cheese.