Birthday Clebration
I came home on Wednesday to find that A sitting in our living room next to this display holding a lovely bouquet of flowers and a present for me! I knew what the present was already because the purchase was made when we were in NY and had been sitting quietly, all wrapped up, on the top shelf of my wardrobe just waiting for this day to arrive. In fact, it had been sitting so quietly that I’d almost forgotten it was there, let alone what was in it!
On Saturday night, we had some friends over for a housewarming/birthday celebration. Mum, who is a fantastic cook, offered to prepare everything for us so A and I didn’t have to lift a finger. I even called her up that morning to ask if she could boil some rice for me – terrible, I know! She made curry puffs, dahl, chicken and potato curry, beef rendang, fried mee hoon, pandan chiffon cake and a very old favourite of mine, a Black Beauty cake. Mum learned how to make this when she first got married and didn’t really know how to cook. She is now an amazing cook and still this cake remains a prized recipe of hers. I haven’t had this cake in years but I have now been reminded of why it was my favourite. Hmmm, I think I’m going to have to alternate having this and a Black Forest cake for my birthday each year!
Of course, I couldn’t resist making SOMETHING, so we bought some roast duck from Victoria Street and made some peking duck wraps. I also baked some chilli-
chocolate shortbread and cheddar cheese biscuits to give away at the end of the night. The chilli-chocolate shortbread, which I went straight into the kitchen to prepare after reading Niki’s post about them, were outstanding. A would be polishing them off right now if we had any left – alas, they were all given away. I think I’ve become a fan of ice-box cookies now. I even rolled the dough for the cheddar biscuits into a log and cut the slices instead of rolling out and using a cookie cutter.
Finally, congratulations to B and SJ on your engagement!
August 16th, 2005 at 10:34 pm
Oh the food looks wonderful! And I am very intrigued about what was in that Barney’s box!!
How thoughtful to make a little gift for guests to take home. I am never that organised, but maybe I’ll do it in the future.
August 17th, 2005 at 2:19 pm
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August 17th, 2005 at 4:42 pm
So, what is a black beauty cake? I’m intrigued. I’m so pleased the choc chilli shortbread turned out well – they are yummy, aren’t they? I’m intrigued about the cheddar biscuits – I’m a messy biscuit maker when cutting them in rounds. Did you just use a normal recipe and roll it. Would you be interested posting about it?
August 18th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
The food all looks wonderful!