A Birthday All Day Long

We were a lively crowd, for all of friend Rosie's children, plus one lovely fiancé and two children, were there. Everyone was hungry, having taken in the aroma of grilling steaks for a good part of the afternoon. When everything was set, the table, I am sure, quite literally groaned.

We ended up counting them one by one, so amazed were we by the sheer number of dishes friend Rosie and her Ted had cooked, simmered, baked, barbecued, and roasted, in their typical fashion. It was the SconeLady's husband's birthday, and our hosts pulled out all of the stops.

So let me see if I can remember them all for you. Big, juicy steaks. Roast potatoes. Potatoes Au Gratin. Corgettes. Roasted sweet potato wedges. Tossed salad with home made salad dressing. Homemade salsa (which I will have to describe for you, for it wasn't anything that even remotely resembled the salsas we get in California). And there was other thing, which I am certain was delicious because it was all delicious, but I can't quite remember what it was. And the tastiness didn't stop there, oh no. A sudden hush descended upon our festive table as the children drifted off to the other room, having been summoned. In a moment, the lights were all switched off and a glow as from birthday candles swayed into the room, the children proudly bearing in Grandpa's birthday cake.

The birthday song, the invitation to help Grandpa blow out the candles, the actual blowing out of the candles, the cheers, and the licking of the birthday candle bottoms, all made for a momentous occasion. Everybody cheered.

The cake was chocolate, made from scratch, as well as a warm chocolate pudding cake you could put next to, or on top of, your chocolate cake, then there was homemade chocolate ice cream, along with a LUSCIOUS JUG OF THICK CREAM to pour over the lot. It didn't matter that we had already had enough food to satisfy an army - the cake, the pudding, the ice cream, and the cream all disappeared at an alarming rate. 

At the end, as Grandpa put down his fork and used his napkin, he said, "It's almost time for bed - but I don't want to go to bed because it means this very nice birthday will be over." We all thought about this, and knew just what he meant. The sweetest birthdays are the ones you wish would never end. 

But really, a birthday has to end in order to arrive at, and enjoy, the next one. When the next one comes, the three blonds who carried in the cake tonight, will have become four, and who knows what other sweetness may also be just around the corner? The name 'Grandma' is terriby sweet.


See you along the way!

the SconeLady