Ms Chef in Seattle

My daughter was born on August 6th some number of years ago in London during the hottest day it had been there in a long time (such that the hospital was operating on a generator due to air conditioners causing power failure.) Today (WordPress won’t admit it’s still the 6th of August) she celebrated it at the annual Block Watch party on the block where I lived for two years and visit twice weekly. It’s a potluck, so folks bring whatever protein they would like grilled on the barbeque along with a salad, side or a dessert.

She’d told me that for this birthday she wanted the chocolate shortcake with strawberries and cream which she saw in a post* a few weeks ago while still in London, knowing that she’d be in Seattle for the glorious day. So I baked the shortcake this morning — before 425 degrees of oven heat added to the summer heat wave inside this apartment — and then sliced and macerated the berries when I got home from the grocery store with them. (Thank you, Sylvia! for the ride to the store today.)

Then I made a quick batch of vanilla cream cheese frosting for a single layer Crazy Cake, a bit of writing and we were off to the party with all the goodies in the car of another former neighbor who phoned and offered a ride as I was dialing up Lyft. It’s only a dozen blocks away but we were carrying two cakes, a big bowlful of juicy sliced strawberries, two kinds of whipped topping and a couple pieces of fresh wild salmon I’d marinated in soy sauce, ginger, lemon and a teeny bit of brown sugar.

To my surprise and most certainly to my daughter’s, Sylvia roused the whole party to join in singing Happy Birthday to the embarassed birthday girl. It was a lovely party and I got a dandelion wish, twice. Both times it landed on Sylvia’s colorful and tasty pasta salad in the middle of my plate.

*https://mschefinseattle.com/2019/06/11/strawberries-chocolate-shortcake/