happy birthday heather

Yes, Mark & I have birthday's that are only 5 days apart so it's usually a busy week for us. We went out for a nice romantic dinner on my birthday at Market Street Grill - our favorite seafood restaurant here. Who'd have thought that you could find good seafood in land-locked Utah? They fly the seafood in fresh from across the US and overseas (including Australia & NZ). I had Alaskan Halibut topped with shrimp and Bernaise sauce, while Mark had pan-seared Ahi Tuna with a ginger-soy glaze. Yum. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and wishes :-)

happy birthday mark

It was Mark's birthday this week. On Thursday night we went into the city to see the stage musical Cats. The show was in Salt Lake City as part of a "Broadway Across America" program that takes Broadway shows to other cities across the country. The sets, costumes, singing and dancing were great. We had dinner before the show at Martine - a restaurant in the city that we hadn't tried before that serves Spanish Tapas-style dishes. We knew the outdoor activities would be great here in Utah, but we have been pleasantly surprised at the good selection of restaurants and other cultural activities also on offer here. On Saturday night (Mark's actual birthday), we had his family over for dinner & birthday cake. Happy Birthday husband!

twin cakes

Our neighbors Ben & Melissa have young twin daughters. When looking through my scrapbook album Melissa noticed the pictures of the fancy birthday cakes I had made for my twins Ben & Kate when they were small. I showed her my trusty Women's Weekly (Aussie magazine) "Favourite Childrens Birthday Cakes" book that I had used all those years ago and offered to help her make something from the book for Ava & Ella's next birthday. (They were turning 5 - quite a milestone for a mother of twins!) So with a "princess" theme in mind we decided to go for the "dolly varden" cake (times two of course). Basically the cake is the skirt of the doll with a Barbie look-alike inserted in the top. Unfortunately Ava is allergic to eggs, dairy and peanuts so the biggest challenge was finding a cake receipe that didn't use eggs, butter or milk! Eventually we found a vegan receipe that with some experimenting (and an extremely long cook time) turned out quite well. With a little bit of instruction on how to use the piping nozzle and bag to decorate the cake with icing rosettes Melissa soon had the girls (and herself) squealing with delight at the results. I think she did a very professional-looking job. You'd never know it was it her first attempt. For me it was a great walk down memory lane remembering the "fun" of choosing a design, having it actually turn out like the picture and seeing the delight the children had at having such a "special cake" made with love by Mom. I think the princesses had a lovely day.