Happy Birthday...Hurrah

It's that time of the year again...for another birthday. But I am  not one who dislikes birthdays. On the contrary, perhaps I am a bit Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation-esque in the way I like to prepare for these occasions. (And Tomas' polite "don't you think you might be going a little over the top?" didn't worry me one bit; one only has a birthday once a year, after all!) I do think that birthdays are important--in my opinion, birthdays are a celebration of another year of life.

Yaminah, two years old, has been very excited about my birthday as well. For days she kept pointing at Tomas' closet, saying "Daddy secrets!" and when the big day arrived, she broke into "Happy Birthday" several times, and other times she just looked at me and said, "Hurrah."

First of all, I know that in many families with young children, people say "No more presents! Just for the children!" but in our family, we all love giving and receiving gifts and we have no plans of stopping. Well, perhaps I should replace "we all" with "certainly I..."  And I admit that whenever anyone asks, I usually (okay, always) have a wish list underway just in case someone needs it.

Of course, getting older is not what I like about birthdays (except that one can hardly deny that one keeps getting a little bit better each year; am I right? :) Well, at least some aspects of life keep getting better. Through my studies I have learned more this year, which is nice. A lot has happened within our family too, with Yaminah growing up more each day. But I did catch myself thinking, as I baked herb bread for my birthday party (don't look for a recipe however; that fancy bread is now safely in the compost after presumably failing with the yeast) something along the lines of "Wow, I must be getting older because I am so out of shape kneading this dough!" As I kneaded, and kneaded...and like I said, to no avail, since I am pretty sure I had killed the yeast right away. But then I paused for a moment in my hard labor and reflected upon the fact that I cannot actually recall when I last baked bread at all. Bread-baking has never been my forté (I am more of a cookie/muffins/cupcakes kind of person). So then I felt a little better and just realized that my lack of bread-baking skills has nothing to do with age.

As I prepared for the party, I thought back to previous birthdays and was alarmed by how few I can actually even remember. Of course, up until a certain age one can blame one's parents. But who can one blame after the age of 16? How is it possible that I have forgotten how I celebrated so many birthdays? Ahem, I mean...not that there have been so unbelievably many birthdays since 16... In any case, I think I need to start keeping a fun book of records. Only because it is fun of course; nothing to do with an advancing age.

This year I have actually been feeling nearly overwhelmed with my studies and realized that throwing any kind of a party at all would be a real challenge. But what else is night for, if not cleaning, planning, and baking? So I decided to invite a group of friends (sans children). What should my theme be, I wondered? Finding cute flowered napkins answered that question. The theme would be pink and red. I told Tomas and I am sure he was quite interested, especially when the day before the party he was going to Stockholm for a class trip for the day and I requested he look for pink and red flowers, and I asked if he wanted to bring a napkin with him to aid in his search. I might have received a strange look when he politely declined and thought he could manage without the napkin.

After cramming in studies and a flurry of activity (most of it very late in the evening when the little girl was sleeping), it was ready. We were nine people total who enjoyed a fun evening of conversation and laughter, and I must say, the menu turned out to be quite good as well. I managed a second batch of bread that turned out this time. And the recipe called for minimal kneading so no problem that my arms may or may not be a little out of shape, no matter what my current age might be.

Chocolate cake with raspberry mousse

The menu (which I realize is mainly appetizers and dessert--but these are my two favorite courses so I figured, why not?)

Welcome drink (nonalcoholic):
Apple Sparkler Drink

First:
Toast Skagen
Salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts, and parmesan

Second:
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup served with homemade herb breadsticks and shredded cheddar cheese


Dessert(s):
Delicious Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse
Peanut Blossoms cookies (for which I now use Natural Peanut Butter for added flavor)
Thumbprint cookies with homemade raspberry curd Homemade raspberry curd cookies (only in Swedish right now)
Brie cheese with pears

Apple Sparkler Drink

Herb breadsticks (recipe from Betty Crocker),
served in beer glasses from Fitger's in Duluth, MN

Peanut Blossoms

For decorations, I snipped a few of the gorgeous tulips Tomas brought home and put into baby food jars with pussy willow branches.