In my husband's family, when it's your birthday you can do pretty much anything you want and you pretty much don't have to do anything you don't want to do. Queen for a day, so to speak!
Growing up in my family we weren't quite that extreme but we were definitely made to feel very special on our special day. We got to choose what we wanted to have for dinner, what kind of cake we wanted, and our place at the table was always set with the special red plate and cup and gold silverware! I'd like to bring the special plate tradition into my own family... it's a good one.
We walked around the city, visited a lovely old church with loads of history, visited the cathedral (which is officially what makes Oxford a city) and wandered around the outside of a lovely meadow and along the river where we saw ducks, geese and swans. We also visited Magdalen College (pronounced Maudlen) where CS Lewis taught. They have a deer park and some of the most lovely wooded paths on their grounds (not pictured).
When we got home Ben and Hannah made dinner for me... Yumm wraps!! We couldn't have done this without Hannah! She bought us a huge bottle of Yumm Sauce in Eugene and froze it, then checked it with her luggage. I have so missed my Yumm...
After dinner and some phone and skype conversations with family, we put Nora down for bed. Then, my crafty cravings were once again satiated. My loving husband who the night before had made (from scratch) a super delicious dark chocolate cake allowed ME to decorate it!! SO FUN! I decided to try my hand with fondant for the first time and then did some piping (out of a ziploc bag.)
(I know, I know, the lighting for these pictures is less than impressive... welcome to my living room!)
It really made me want to practice more of this type of thing and to get a better rolling pin (my good one is in storage in Eugene) and some real piping bags whose seams don't split under pressure (although I may just use parchment paper next time). I feel like I could do A LOT better... but I'm not too disappointed for this first attempt. Plus, the cake was delicious! ( :
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COMING SOON!!!
On an entirely non-birthday related note, we just returned last week from a LOVELY trip to London and Edinburgh, Scotland which will soon get its very own photo-filled post...
