Snowdrops are just plain delightful. They're green and white, my favourite colour combination, they're the first flowers of the season, and they multiply and do their thing without any intervention whatsoever. I love birthdays anyway, but I'm especially glad that mine is at this time of year. I'm 28 today, and have no list of things I want to achieve over the next 365 days. That's my gift to myself.
Speaking of birthdays, Ingrid came over yesterday, and we made my birthday non-cake! She also brought me a Donna Hay magazine, which I intend to have a proper date with tonight. And some yummy tea. The non-cake is Donna Hay's Crushed Raspberry Tart, from her fruit book, and here's the recipe:375 g (13 1/4 oz) block store-bought puff pastry, thawed
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbsp caster sugar (we used regular granulated)
2 cups raspberries
1 tbsp icing sugar
sour cream filling:
1 cup sour cream (I think it would work better with the really thick type)
1/4 cup single or pouring cream (half and half; we used whipping, mmm)
1/3 cup brown sugar
Preheat oven to 400. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch and trim to a 20 cm (8 inch) square. Cut 8 strips measuring 1x20cm (1/2 x 8in) from the remaining pastry. Place the pastry square on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Brush with the egg white and place half the strips around the edge to form a border. Brush the borders with the egg white and place the remaining strips on top. Prick the base with a fork. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the pastry with caster sugar. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. To make the sour cream filling, whisk the sour cream, cream, and brown sugar in a bowl until smooth. Combine half the raspberries with the icing sugar and crush lightly. Fold in the remaining raspberries. Spoon the sour cream filling over the pastry base and spoon raspberries on top.
One more thing: a great surprise on my birthday! My new Artisan mixer arrived this afternoon, when I wasn't expecting it until next week. Nice! I'm excited to try it out.For those of you who are still reading, I'm hiding a little birthday giveaway in here. Leave a comment with your funniest birthday memory, and I'll pick my favourite tomorrow. The winner will be sent some of my fantastic handmade soap.
Happy Monday, and Happy Birthday to me!
Posts
8 comments:
Happy Birthday, Sherrie! Sadly, I can't think of a funniest birthday memory - but I do love birthdays! We just celebrated one here in our house a couple of days ago, but - poor Jai - the power was out for most of the evening, so it didn't go quite as planned. Hope yours is fabulous! ~Lauren
Happy Birthday Sherrie!!!! Thanks for sharing the raspberry tart, looks delicious! My funniest B-day Memory was crushing a handful of my birthday cake into my cousin's open mouth and spearing it all over his face...then laughing and clapping my hands with glee when it was all done!!! It was my very first b-day! My memory of it is a little fuzzy but the photo series of the event make me laugh every time! Hope you are enjoying your day!!! Big b-day hug. Alli
Happy Birthday Sherrie ! You're the same age as my daughter. Sorry, I can't think of any funny birthday memories either. 49 (almost 50) years ago there weren't a whole lot of parties and gifts on birthdays.
Oh my dear, I forgot your big day and it's almost over. I'm so sorry since I love you so much and want to say Happy Day to you! It seems like you have had a nice one. Angela's is tomorrow so we shall be celebrating that now that I'm sitting in NB until the CCI Conference this weekend.
My favorite birthday [not funniest] was when I turned 13. I loved being a teenager finally since they seemed to have so much fun. My mom surprised me by bringing my cousins and boyfriend [mind you we had the same initials ... how exciting was that at the time] home for a nice surprise supper.
And then 2 years ago Matt & Annie' surprised me with a birthday with dear friends, and all three of you were there. I just saw the pic today. My heart rejoiced over being loved by so many.
I know you are loved. Happy Day dear one, Happy Day.
Happy Birthday Sherrie! One of my best birthday stories was on my 40th. I was working for my husbands company at the time and when I walked into the cafeteria, everyone from the office was there with paper masks on.......of my face. My husband had them made and had everyone wear them. It was a very funny/weird moment!
Enjoy your day! Linda J
Happy birthday, Sherrie! I hope it was a good one (how nice of KitchenAid to get in on the party!).
The year I turned 29 my sister arranged a big surprise party for me. As part of the distraction plan, she shipped me off for a visit with a friend, a visit which included an hour-long hike around the edge of Lake MicMac. (At the end of January. It was frigid.) Eventually my friend dropped me off at home and I rushed inside, ripping off my boots and jacket and making a beeline for a hot shower, yelling to my sister (who I figured was somewhere around the house), "Honey, I'm home and holy god, I'm freezing my ass off!" By the time I screeched to a halt in front of them, sweater off and shirt soon to follow, the two-dozen-odd people hiding in my living room were laughing too hard to yell "surprise." (Funny how the hot flush of embarrassment can warm you up in a hurry!)
My funniest memory of a birthday (not mine, yours) was when you did a similar thing as Austen while we were hiding to surprise you! Remember? "I have to pee, I have to pee". And you ran right by us without noticing all the people hiding in your living room! You guys were in York house then.
happy happy birthday to you!!
oh to be 28 again...i can say that since i just turned the ripe old age of 30 last week! ha!
thinking back to some of my childhood birthdays....i usually would have some girls over for a sleepover to celebrate and we would work hard to stay up super late, and we would laugh and talk (then get in trouble for being too loud) fun times....and silly memories!
i distinctly remember when i turned 10 and my dad asked me if i was sad that i would never be a single digit again....nope! i felt so proud to be 10 years old! ha!
hope you had a special day and the raspberry tart looks amazing!!!
Post a Comment