It’s my birthday on Monday, but I’ll be spending the day on a plane, and then spending the evening all by my lonesome in a hotel room in Sydney, huddled in a dark corner, softly singing happy birthday to myself, as a hot tear wends its way down my cheek.
So we celebrated my birthday with the family today. I’m a big believer in having a theme for one’s birthday meal – I’ve had themes like “mexican” or “greco-roman” or “wilderness wandering” before. In fact, see here for last year’s Greco-Roman theme – Peter’s “Ephesian Artemis” outfit is still spoken about in tones of hushed respect in this household. Anyway, this year my theme was “gourmet degustation” – different wider family members prepared different gourmet courses, for a meal that spread across the day. It was certainly too indulgent to do very often, but as a special celebration it was great fun. Here are the courses we had (click for bigger pics):
1) Olive tapenade, made from the olives that I got raw a while ago, and have been processing ever since:
2) Warm goats’ cheese tart with herb salad:
3) Chicken salad with quail’s egg:
4) Fresh pea cappuccino:
5) Beef cheek with baby carrot:
6) Nougat glace ice cream:
7) Petit fours with espresso coffees:
Thank you family! Hmm… I think perhaps next year I’m due for something a little less up-market: I’m thinking “bogan”…
This is phenomenal. I had a themed birthday party last year but passed on doing so this year. I never thought of doing food themes each year… Definitely going to try this out!
Amazing images, so inspirational. Really love this post 8)
Noice. Happy Birthday.
Impressive food. Good photos too! This reminds me that I haven’t had my Ephesian Artemis costume out since this time last year for some reason. Happy Birthday!
Nathan: Thanks! I tried to make the photos look like they deserved to be in a magazine… some turned out better than others – but all the food was delicious!
Christoph & Peter: You guys should definitely host an Ephesian banquet in my absence!!