Party

This may be the last time Louka's happy to have her birthday party combined with mine and Johnny's. But for now, she still loves her grandparents and cousins best.


I've been making the easy one bowl chocolate cake for all occasions recently, including morning tea at kindergarten on Louka's birthday, so I thought I'd try something different today. I found a recipe for chocolate genoise that looked light and rich and tasty, so I gave it a try. At Louka's request it had pink cream icing (thick cream sweetened with a little icing sugar and coloured with pureed strawberries) and decorated with more strawberries. It was pretty good, and a success with Louka.


She wasn't interested in the pink trousers I gave her, and unfortunately the pastel pencils Graham had ordered hadn't arrived, but there were plenty of presents. Graham gave me a gorgeous dark blue Kitchenaid Deluxe. When we got home, Louka insisted on trying it out so we made up a batch of bread which I hope will rise ok overnight.


Lunch was a barbecue with three different kinds of sausages and chicken breasts as well as onion rings, baked potatoes, mushrooms and salad.


Then we had cheesecake for Johnny's birthday. After a short break to digest all that we had coffee and Louka's cake, as well as a cake for me that mum had made despite having agreed that two cakes were plenty. Just as we started eating cake, a few drops of rain fell, and it quickly became a deluge. Sheltering under the outdoor umbrella wasn't cutting it, so we raced for the house, trying to cover the cakes so they didn't get soggy. My parents' rain gauge showed 5mm in about 5 minutes ― pretty heavy rain. It eased considerably once we were all inside. It was quite enjoyable though, as it was still fairly warm.