Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Birthdayful Day


My mother, God rest her soul, would have celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday, had she still been with us.  But as she was not, we celebrated her centenary ourselves, and were sure that she was with us in spirit.  It seems like months ago that we prepared a gala 90th birthday party for her.  She attended that one in the flesh, and had a great time. 
As usual, Rebecca was the chef du jour, and I was the assistant.  The day previous, I cleaned, set the table, shopped, and baked a cake per her instructions (recipe here on her fabulous food blog.)  Then in the morning, I fetched her and we shopped some more, trying to find pine nuts at a better price than  the stunning $39 a pound, which they were at our first stop. I was the one with the credit card, so I naturally balked at the price, despite the fact that we only needed half a cup.  We went to another likely source, PFI, and were happy to see that they were $24 a pound.  I fear that this would not have made me at all happy had I gone there first, but the initial shock had inured me somewhat.  While searching for our pine nuts, we found many other delicacies which we absolutely needed, and spent more than we would have if we had gotten them at the original market.  Becca found some pickled mango (mango is my top favorite food thing), and she was sure it would be just the ticket.  When we got home, we opened the jar and she tasted it.  Her face fell.  “I’m sorry,” she said, “I thought it would be good.”  Feeling that anything with mango in it had to be at least okay, I tasted it. “Maybe in very small portions, next to my pilaf,”  I said sadly.  But I think that despite the fact that it tastes more of salt than of mango, it really will be nice mixed into a lovely pilaf.


We prepared vegan lasagna, with Margaret assisting in the making of the noodles.  Happily for our guests, she is too old to give as much help as she wanted to.  Despite Margaret’s help, the lasagna was delicious.   I made a grapefruit and fennel salad, once again with Becca supervising.  Margaret was less interested in that.  


It was a fun party, and I am looking forward to celebrating her next centenary 100 years from now. 

There was another milestone birthday for the Twins! All the best to them on their big day!




4 comments:

Marta said...

What a lovely idea.
My mom was born April 21, 1910.
I thought of her but no cake.

Very nice blog.

Janet said...

Yes, it's important that we keep remembering our loved ones on what would have been their birthdays if they were still with us in the flesh. My mother was born on Easter Sunday April 7, 1912. I have 2 days therefore to remember her, but in fact I find myself thinking of her more and more as the years go by and she is no longer with us. My sister-in-law would have been 81 today, April 28, if she were still alive.

Laura said...

My mother was born on Feb 12th 1910 Also find myself thinking of her more and more.

karensomethingorother said...

What a nice story. My mother passed away last April at the age of 59. This May 18 she would have turned 61. I hope one day enough of the sadness passes that I can have a nice day of remembrance and a beautiful cake.