Forty Isn't Old for a Tree. Or a son, either.

If you look closely at the top left photo on this page, you'll see a young mother and her infant son. That, friends, was me and my four-month-old baby, Noah. The year was 1972. I leave it to you to do the math.

March 29 is Noah's birthday (hint on the math: 2012 minus 1972 is 40), and we are celebrating with steaks on the barbecue, salt on the glass rims and, heck yeah, chocolate syrup on the ice cream. After all, it's not every day my firstborn catches up to me in age. (Wink wink.)

But of course there must be a couple of fabulous sides to accompany the perfectly seared-on-the-outside, medium-on-the-inside slabs of marbled meat.

For starters, Onion Chip Nachos from the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee is a winner. And then we'll follow up with Litehouse Foods' Baked Asparagus with Bleu Cheese Crumbles.

Just before we reach the "too stuffed to move" stage of the evening, the grandchildren and I will carry a candled birthday cake and dishes of ice cream out onto the patio.

Forty years. And my son is telling me HE feels old...
Kathleen