The internet was down all afternoon, so I popped outside with the rubbish and heard some ladies singing the old standard birthday song. “Whose birthday is it?” I called from outside the window where the jubilee for 30 years on planet Earth was happening. “It’s Rose’s!” She and several of her friends came to greet … More I Love … Birthdays. August 29th is Rose’s.
When I made the Chocolate Rum Fudge Sauce* last week, today’s (August 12) birthday girl mentioned something about liking to have it on a cake, so I made that happen. I made an Ellensburg Chocolate Cake which has sour cream and brown sugar rather than granulated, both adding a shade of difference to the taste … More Chocolate Rum Double-Up Cake
Just before I moved, Mark handed me a bag with organic grated coconut from the Ballard Market and yesterday I found out that he was still organizing and removing his collections from the yard of the house now owned by a developer. So, it was up early this morning to bake his favorite cookie before … More Toasted Coconut & Butterscotch Bars, aka Hawaiian Dream Bars without Pineapple
A couple weeks ago I asked my mother if she’d like to choose the birthday goodies to be baked and mailed to her this year. She had no preference, so I decided it would be based on whatever infused confectionary in my cupboard struck my fancy when I opened the jar on the 4th of … More Treats for Mother’s 89th Birthday
Who in my fan club couldn’t guess the first thing I’d do once I’d opened enough moving boxes and partially put away their contents into the new cubbyhole kitchen? There’s a birthday! Someone dear to me is turning 10 years old and she’d asked in passing a couple weeks ago if I’d please make cookies … More Birthday? Time for some Sprinkles Jones
Happy Birthday, Brian! Continuing my tradition of birthday cakes by proxy, the 23rd of March is his birthday and I baked a cake in his honor. I’m pretty sure that his fiancee will be providing one closer to home, but we won’t be sharing it, so I decided to make my great great grandmother’s recipe … More Birthday by proxy: Dutch Potato Cake for My Brother Brian
I saw a mutual friend this morning while I was baking an even-more-original cake than I’d planned for Mark’s birthday. He could attest that my beautiful lemon sponge cake fell into a hot and broken, gooey mess on the counter shortly after I’d turned the tube pan over in the normal manner, hoping that the … More Lemony Splendor Cake, gone rogue
The 22nd of November is the birthday of my friend and fellow cat enthusiast. Last year I missed the actual date, so it doesn’t count. Since then I found that she likes chocolate cupcakes with white frosting, so I made a big one with two layers and found some decadent Belgian chocolate nonpareils to act … More When A Birthday Cake Is A Big Cupcake, and Lights Get Wavy
My friend and the neighborhood’s reigning matriarch had a birthday today. She didn’t want a big party this year, but next year, one of those zeroes, definitely a party because her son will be here from abroad come Hell or high water. (Ha! Literally.) We agreed to a small sit-down dinner instead of balancing plates … More German Chocolate Cake for Sylvia’s Birthday. She turns oopsie into comic gold.
A funny thing happened. Unbeknownst to me, two days ago Mark went to one of the neighbors and asked for a favor, if she would send out a block-wide email for him as his phone was then missing. As a member of the block, I got a copy and read it late last night when … More Toasted Coconut Party Cake et plus
Ms Chef in Seattle 