Birthday girl

Today was Chickpea's birthday. She is now older than I was when I gave birth to her. Which is weird. And scary.

But she's still my baby.

She thought she wasn't going to have any presents to open this morning as that nice Amazon has been a bit tardy and not delivered them yet. However, I'd sneaked an owl necklace and a pair of cat socks in without her knowing. Our friends from Oxfordshire showed up too with some gifts. As we hadn't seen them in a while that was a real treat in itself. They have a 5 year old who kept us all amused by dressing up in Chickpea's shoes and playing 'beauty parlour' by painting everyone's nails. I do wish they lived closer.

For once, I decided to make Chickpea's cake. She's had the same kind from Marks and Spencer since she was little and no amount of persuasion will convince her to have something different. 'It's tradition!' is a constant cry in our house! Well, at least I had a clear idea of what was expected.

I used Nigella's recipe for a Victoria Sponge from How to Eat to make 3 layers and then sandwiched them together with vanilla buttercream and homemade crab apple and blackberry jam. It was then covered with white fondant icing. It was the first time I'd decorated a cake this way and I rolled the icing out a bit thin but luckily some ribbon and a few butterflies and flowers hid the worst! And you can't beat a bit of edible glitter - there'd have been a lot more if Chickpea had had her way!

For the last few years we've gone out to restaurants for birthdays but this year we decided to have a celebration at home. In total, there were 7 of us: me, Chickpea, her boyfriend, his parents and my parents. Mum helped me with the food and between us we served up chicken casserole, roast potatoes, mini corn on the cob and minted peas. For dessert, as well as birthday cake, there were strawberries and cream. Lots of chatter and lots of laughter.

And now the house is quiet. Chickpea has gone to spend the week with her boyfriend and will be back Friday. I'll be back tomorrow with more news and photos from this long bank holiday weekend.

But, of course, I can't leave without saying, Happy Birthday darling. x