30
Today is my 30th birthday! I used to think that 30 year olds were so OLD, but now that I'm here, it doesn't really feel any different. I haven't done too much different today, although Anya has been in a better mood today than most of the rest of the week, so that makes me feeling happier for my birthday. And I've got to talk to a lot of family today, and that always brightens my day. My parents and Hilary's family sent me this beautiful bouquet today.
Thanks to all the people who have sent me birthday wishes in one form or another. I feel loved.
And now to the sad part of the day...
Does the above photo look familiar to anyone? Apparently, we just aren't meant to have intact birthday cake at our house.
If you are a faithful blog reader, then you remember the story of Anya and me making a cake for Steve's birthday and how it tragically fell apart as I tried (a little too violently) to remove it from the pan.
Well, here's a little bit more of the story. Soon after this happened, Steve was with Anya at school (she has been going to this eight week Saturday morning preschool and Steve and I take turns going with her each week) and somehow the story of the cake falling apart got retold. One of the women there made some snide comment about how daddy must have made the cake or something like that. You know, one of those stupid comments women make about how men can't do anything "domestic" without screwing it up. Steve obviously took offense since he quite capably shares the cooking responsibility in our house, but he didn't say what he was thinking, which was, "No, if daddy had been making the cake, it would NOT have fallen apart." He relayed this information to me after they came home. (Quite smugly, I might add.) :-)
Well, with my birthday approaching, Steve said that he was looking forward to making me a cake. Anya wanted to help and kept asking if my cake was going to fall apart like daddy's. Steve assured her that no, it would not in fact fall apart and we would put icing on it and candles and everything.
Well, as you can see from the above picture, it didn't work. See, it's hard! I was sad that it fell apart because I was looking forward to having some iced cake this time. But I have to admit that I thought it was freakin' hilarious that my smug husband's cake ended just as tragically as mine. We're still going to eat it, of course, but it just won't be the same without icing. Good thing Evan has a birthday in a month and maybe we can try to improve our technique and/or buy new cake pans or something! We're determined to make this work. I don't think Anya believes it is possible.
So, what else are we doing for my birthday? Well, tonight I think we'll go out to dinner. I think we'll just go to Noodles and Company - somewhere that I really like and that I know Anya will also enjoy. Her eating has been stressing me out lately, so I want it to be a pleasant experience for us all. Plus, I got a coupon for my birthday for a buy one get one free meal.
And then we'll come home and eat some cake crumbs.
Tomorrow there is a babysitting co-op drop-off from 4-8pm, so we are taking both kids to that so Steve and I can celebrate. We did this soon after Steve's birthday in January and it was really nice. I am actually going to be quitting the co-op after this semester. It is just not a very efficient way for me to get a break. So, I'm using up my remaining tokens before I quit. I'm not sure yet what we'll do tomorrow night, but I'm looking forward to it.
Thanks again to all of you for making my birthday special!
Thanks to all the people who have sent me birthday wishes in one form or another. I feel loved.
And now to the sad part of the day...
Does the above photo look familiar to anyone? Apparently, we just aren't meant to have intact birthday cake at our house.
If you are a faithful blog reader, then you remember the story of Anya and me making a cake for Steve's birthday and how it tragically fell apart as I tried (a little too violently) to remove it from the pan.
Well, here's a little bit more of the story. Soon after this happened, Steve was with Anya at school (she has been going to this eight week Saturday morning preschool and Steve and I take turns going with her each week) and somehow the story of the cake falling apart got retold. One of the women there made some snide comment about how daddy must have made the cake or something like that. You know, one of those stupid comments women make about how men can't do anything "domestic" without screwing it up. Steve obviously took offense since he quite capably shares the cooking responsibility in our house, but he didn't say what he was thinking, which was, "No, if daddy had been making the cake, it would NOT have fallen apart." He relayed this information to me after they came home. (Quite smugly, I might add.) :-)
Well, with my birthday approaching, Steve said that he was looking forward to making me a cake. Anya wanted to help and kept asking if my cake was going to fall apart like daddy's. Steve assured her that no, it would not in fact fall apart and we would put icing on it and candles and everything.
Well, as you can see from the above picture, it didn't work. See, it's hard! I was sad that it fell apart because I was looking forward to having some iced cake this time. But I have to admit that I thought it was freakin' hilarious that my smug husband's cake ended just as tragically as mine. We're still going to eat it, of course, but it just won't be the same without icing. Good thing Evan has a birthday in a month and maybe we can try to improve our technique and/or buy new cake pans or something! We're determined to make this work. I don't think Anya believes it is possible.
So, what else are we doing for my birthday? Well, tonight I think we'll go out to dinner. I think we'll just go to Noodles and Company - somewhere that I really like and that I know Anya will also enjoy. Her eating has been stressing me out lately, so I want it to be a pleasant experience for us all. Plus, I got a coupon for my birthday for a buy one get one free meal.
And then we'll come home and eat some cake crumbs.
Tomorrow there is a babysitting co-op drop-off from 4-8pm, so we are taking both kids to that so Steve and I can celebrate. We did this soon after Steve's birthday in January and it was really nice. I am actually going to be quitting the co-op after this semester. It is just not a very efficient way for me to get a break. So, I'm using up my remaining tokens before I quit. I'm not sure yet what we'll do tomorrow night, but I'm looking forward to it.
Thanks again to all of you for making my birthday special!
posted by Lara at 3:32 PM
4 Comments:
Great entry! I laughed out loud several times!! Wonder if it's the altitude? Are you still making them from scratch? Maybe it's time to go to a mix? :)
Good choice for dinner too - Noodles & Co is one of my all-time favs too!! We actually just got one in Kingwood, a suburb North of Houston. We're going to go try it out soon ourselves!
What will you do for babysitters once you are done with the co-op?
A couple of tricks from my cake decorating days. Use solid shortening for greasing the pans - then put a couple of tablespoons of flour in the pan and shake it around. Wait no more than about 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan. The easiest way is to then use a knife around the edges to loosen the sides. Put a cooling rack on top of the cake (If the cake is taller than the side of the pan you should likely trim of the excess if you are making a layered cake since each layer needs to be flat and not rounded. Just eat those crumbs-you are used to that part!) With the rack on top of the cake and holding the rack and pan firmly, flip over. The cake should fall right out and already be in place on the rack. If that doesn't work, see if you can gently put a small spatula under the cake in a few places to loosen a little and try the rack flip again. Maybe Anya and I can try to make a cake in a couple of weeks. MOM/GRANDMA
P.S. Evan is so adorable in those pictures!! And the flowers are pretty. MOM again
If Mom's tips don't work and you still end up with crumbs, make "mistake cake". Crumbs topped with pudding and whipping cream.
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