Last week we invited some friends... somewhere between friends and acquaintances, really... to our home for dinner on Friday night. They called a few days before Friday to let us know they'd forgotten that it would be their daughter's birthday on Friday and they were having a party at 6:30 pm. They invited us to the party instead, and we rescheduled the dinner at our place for Saturday evening.
Friday evening. 6:38 pm. We were strolling in, fashionably late. (Is there any other way, really, when fashion is just bursting out the seams of your being?) We knocked on the door and it opened several seconds later. Expecting to find a party of screaming six-year-olds, we were met with silence, and a host who may or may not have forgotten we were coming... They just smiled and went to the kitchen to start cooking. We sat on the couch and watched TV with the birthday girl. Later we were told we were the only ones who would be at the party that night. So interesting... so slightly awkward... did they know we were coming to the party to which we were invited?
Finally, around 8:00, they started calling a bunch of people, and slowly, the six-year-olds trickled in, just in time for cake. I applaud them on their impeccable timing.
Now this country isn't really rockin' it on the birthday cake front. In fact, we didn't know if they knew what real cake was, so we decided to make some cake for dessert the following night. All of our normal desires for health were replaced with a drive to introduce this family to some real cake. I found a great little recipe for cake, and another for icing, and went for it. I baked it in two circles, then assembled and frosted them to make this little ladybug cake. For a cake that took only 3 minutes to decorate, it was really cute and well loved.
Friday evening. 6:38 pm. We were strolling in, fashionably late. (Is there any other way, really, when fashion is just bursting out the seams of your being?) We knocked on the door and it opened several seconds later. Expecting to find a party of screaming six-year-olds, we were met with silence, and a host who may or may not have forgotten we were coming... They just smiled and went to the kitchen to start cooking. We sat on the couch and watched TV with the birthday girl. Later we were told we were the only ones who would be at the party that night. So interesting... so slightly awkward... did they know we were coming to the party to which we were invited?
Finally, around 8:00, they started calling a bunch of people, and slowly, the six-year-olds trickled in, just in time for cake. I applaud them on their impeccable timing.
Now this country isn't really rockin' it on the birthday cake front. In fact, we didn't know if they knew what real cake was, so we decided to make some cake for dessert the following night. All of our normal desires for health were replaced with a drive to introduce this family to some real cake. I found a great little recipe for cake, and another for icing, and went for it. I baked it in two circles, then assembled and frosted them to make this little ladybug cake. For a cake that took only 3 minutes to decorate, it was really cute and well loved.
The cake in its early stages of ladybug-ship.
The completed ladybug. I left the head unfrosted, frosted the body pink, added some Oreos* as spots, and some chocolate sprinkles (thanks, Austin's family) to divide the wings. We had a thin pink candle I rounded for its smile and some white foam circles that I designed as eyes last-minute. So fun!
*I raced to the supermarket last-minute for these Oreos, one of the few western food products existing in our town. They were out of regular flavor, so I grabbed these ones called "Double Delight," assuming they were just like Double Stuffs or something... Turns out, they were half chocolate filling, half peanut butter. Do they have that in America? They're super amazing... A dangerous discovery!
*I raced to the supermarket last-minute for these Oreos, one of the few western food products existing in our town. They were out of regular flavor, so I grabbed these ones called "Double Delight," assuming they were just like Double Stuffs or something... Turns out, they were half chocolate filling, half peanut butter. Do they have that in America? They're super amazing... A dangerous discovery!