Birthday Bash

So, I turned thirty yesterday. And really, for the most part, it was great. It feels just like 29!

 The girls spent two days painting me a box for my birthday. Like a produce box. Just an old box, and they saw it and said, you know what mom needs? A painted box. And they were right.

 Box painting is serious business.

After that, we went over to my friend Yasmin's house. She'd made me a cake, she said.

Now, when I make a cake, I pour a mix into a bowl with a few eggs and water and cook it for a half hour. Usually, I'll make my own frosting, but that also only takes a few minutes.

These friends of mine, they're a different type of folk. A really good, really nice couple. But they do things like grind their own sausage. They do things like grow their own yeast. They serve me things like this for lunch:

 And this:




So, yeah, I was a little wary of my cake. She says it took her two days, and I believe it. She gave me the recipe to post on the blog for "Recipe Monday." It was crammed onto an entire 8x11 sheet of paper. On the back of her husband's PhD resume. Which is just as well, since the information on the front about the physics of agriculture made just as much sense to me as the recipe on the back.

But it's delicious. And gone, I might add. This gigantic cake made it barely two days.

Want the recipe? Really? Because I'll type it all out for you, but that's as far as I go. If any of you make it, you can send some to me.

Crostata Di Apancia

The Crust (Crostata)
300 grams flour
150 grams sugar
130 grams butter
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder

(And if you guessed I have no idea how much those grams amounts are in American measurements, you're right.)

Directions:
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and butter. Add egg. Mix until a dough is formed.
Put it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 380 F
Remove dough from fridge and roll it into a buttered pan.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Let cool for 20 minutes.

Filling:
200 grams sugar
50 grams flour
1/2 liter of milk
3 egg yolks
1 small glass of liquere

Directions:
Mix flour, sugar, butter (did anyone see butter in that ingredients list? This is what I'm talking about. Some people know how to cook, and unfortunately for me, they just cannot translate it), and eggs.
Add the milk and start to beat it.
Put it in a pan for stovetop and cook it over medium-high heat, continuously stirring for 5-8 minutes.


Pour the filling into the crust, cut up some oranges, strawberries and melons, and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Actually, all typed up, it doesn't look SOOOOO bad. Maybe I'll try it after all. I'll go without the butter in the filling. I'll assume that was a mistake. I'll let you know.

Anyway, this is what thirty looks like when you have a friend who loves you enough to bake you a cake:

And a few extra "party" shots just for fun.

And my husband came home with presents, and took me out over the weekend to celebrate, too.

It was a good birthday.