My dad's 70th
Mar. 26th, 2016 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylThe day of the party dawned earlier than it should have done: I was woken at quater to five in the morning by the sounds of vegetables being chopped in the kitchen below. Unable to get back to sleep with my mother pottering around and stressing out of the preparations, I spent the next few hours reading until it was time to get up.
Presenting myself downstairs at a reasonable hour, I discovered we were still trying to decide whether to postpone pending my sister's recovery from what is now very obviously flu, whether to continue without her, or whether to abandon entirely. Eventually my parents managed to persuade themselves to go ahead without my sister — they were very keen to ensure that neither their friends nor my niece's two week old baby were exposed to the disease.
I spent the morning in the kitchen, preparing the veg — my main contribution being the cauliflower cheese — keeping an eye on the cooking times, and helping out with anything that needed it. Obviously I didn't do everything: I drew the line at handling the beef; fortunately I found someone else who was only too willing to do that bit:
We had a brief pause mid-morning when my brother-in-law and one of my nephews came by to help my dad open his birthday presents.
While my dad was occupied elsewhere, my mum and my nephew used the opportunity to dress the cake with a few suitable objects: a small bike, some piratical candles, and edible writing:
Thanks to the good offices of my brother-in-law, we were able to dress the dining room with an appropriate set of helium balloons:
My niece arrived around midday with her son in tow. Here she is with her baby and her younger — but not youngest — brother:
Lunch was excellent and it wasn't a bad thing my sister wasn't there: there was barely enough food left to make up a plate for her. My cauli cheese was singled out for particular praise and S's merengues were, as ever, superb.
The cake — a two layer chocolate one, filled with cappuccino cream, and topped with chocolate icing — was particularly fine and got to make a fairly spectacular entrance between courses:
Everyone had a good time and we ended the day happy. Even the birthday boy enjoyed himself:
Presenting myself downstairs at a reasonable hour, I discovered we were still trying to decide whether to postpone pending my sister's recovery from what is now very obviously flu, whether to continue without her, or whether to abandon entirely. Eventually my parents managed to persuade themselves to go ahead without my sister — they were very keen to ensure that neither their friends nor my niece's two week old baby were exposed to the disease.
I spent the morning in the kitchen, preparing the veg — my main contribution being the cauliflower cheese — keeping an eye on the cooking times, and helping out with anything that needed it. Obviously I didn't do everything: I drew the line at handling the beef; fortunately I found someone else who was only too willing to do that bit:
We had a brief pause mid-morning when my brother-in-law and one of my nephews came by to help my dad open his birthday presents.
While my dad was occupied elsewhere, my mum and my nephew used the opportunity to dress the cake with a few suitable objects: a small bike, some piratical candles, and edible writing:
Thanks to the good offices of my brother-in-law, we were able to dress the dining room with an appropriate set of helium balloons:
My niece arrived around midday with her son in tow. Here she is with her baby and her younger — but not youngest — brother:
Lunch was excellent and it wasn't a bad thing my sister wasn't there: there was barely enough food left to make up a plate for her. My cauli cheese was singled out for particular praise and S's merengues were, as ever, superb.
The cake — a two layer chocolate one, filled with cappuccino cream, and topped with chocolate icing — was particularly fine and got to make a fairly spectacular entrance between courses:
Everyone had a good time and we ended the day happy. Even the birthday boy enjoyed himself:
