My husband planned a fun birthday evening for me this week, starting with an early dinner at a cute little restaurant we first tried last Valentine’s Day. Café Dejeuner resides in a small, Craftsman-era home just a few blocks from downtown Medford and hosts just 12 tables in the dining room (plus outdoor seating on the patio — not an option for us on this 100-plus-degree evening). The restaurant is very popular with the lunchtime business crowd and those seeking a refined but relaxed dinner spot. Chef/owner Terry Swenson presents a menu which doesn’t overwhelm with too many options but provides a pleasing variety of starters, small plates and dinners. We started with a shared plate of spring rolls. The filling, of butternut squash (sweet and a perfect texture: soft but not mushy), spinach and almonds, tempted us to give them a try, and we enjoyed every bite. Harry then decided he had to try a bowl of the soup de jour, a corn chowder, chock full of vegetables and potatoes but a tad bland. Next came the house salad, a very generous and taste-satisfying plate, presented as a nest of swirled organic wild greens with cranberries, candied walnuts, red onion (the thinnest slices that appeared to have been pickled . . . perfect!) and feta cheese drizzled with a delicious raspberry vinaigrette. Choosing our entrées was difficult. The lobster fettucini sounded decadent, and the pork tenderloin in a wild mushroom marsala also tempted me. Finally, though, I settled on the New Zealand rack of lamb served with sweet potato cakes and a balsamic reduction.   The sweet potato cakes proved to be a light side dish of julienned potatoes lightly seasoned and blended with chopped green onion that complemented the perfectly cooked lamb. While we brought a nice red wine from our home cellar, the restaurant does offer a nice selection of wines, too. After dinner we headed down the road to Ashland, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and our destination for the evening, the Oregon Cabaret Theatre. Housed in a repurposed church, the theatre produces six musical shows per year on an intimate stage with tables for patrons scattered over the main floor and upstairs balcony. We thoroughly enjoyed the five-performer, Tony-award-winning revue of Fats Waller’s music, Ain’t Misbehavin’ — and the dessert which arrived at intermission. The simple set, meant to evoke a Harlem Renaissance nightclub, placed the three musicians above the stage, directly opposite our upper-level seats. I saw this show as a touring Broadway production in Portland way back when I was in college, and I found it as energetic, fun and engaging this evening as it was back then. Harry did an excellent job of presenting me with a delicious and entertaining birthday date. The celebration continues this weekend with dinner in Portland followed by The Book of Mormon. Should be another fun outing! — Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor