A Happy Birthday
I enjoyed a very happy birthday, thanks to the loving efforts of my family. We enjoyed a quiet day at home, which is what I like best: we rehearsed our upcoming play, I read C. S. Lewis, we danced folk dances and waltzes, we watched The Seven Dials Mystery, and we ate that delicious honey-sweetened apple-spice cake. Here are some photographic highlights of my special day—namely, the delicious meals! ;-)
An important birthday tradition is the breakfast. The “birthday person” must stay in the bedrooms while the others prepare the meal, decorate the dining room, and sign the family card. When everything is complete, a sibling comes and leads out the blindfolded guest of honor. When the blindfold is removed, the siblings leap out of their hiding places and sing “Happy Birthday” at the top of their lungs. Then everyone gets a hug and we sit down to breakfast.
Biggest Brother decorated my breakfast bowl with colored markers which he assured me were nontoxic. We had a delicious, thick corn porridge which we thinned with creamy raw milk. (The marbles “aren’t a present,” a little brother anxiously informed me when I admired them. “They’re just decorations because they’re so pretty.”)
Next Sister and Second Brother at breakfast...
A beautiful bouquet graced the table. The ruffled pink carnations were my favorite. They were so large! “One pink chrysanthemum?” we kept asking each other, quoting a favorite line from Leave It to Psmith by P. G. Wodehouse.
Our cosmopolitan dinner was Italian onion soup topped with French bread croutons and Swiss cheese. (Hint: We have found that a cookbook with the word “Glorious” in the title is bound to be good. This recipe is from Glorious Soups and Breads.)
This special birthday marked XX years of life. I look solemn at the thought.
The refined-sugar-free lifestyle doesn’t stop for birthdays. Next Sister made this delicious apple-spice cake, made with freshly ground flour and sweetened with raw honey. It was just as good for breakfast the next morning,
Tuesday, September 13, 2011