Michael Turns 9

The day started out nice, low key; Carolyn scrambled eggs - fresh egg taste! - and Michael ate a rare treat of bacon, which he devoured.

Jack's school project graced the table - one of those unfortunate cats which lost its tail.

After sharing some email greetings, M opened Grammy & Papa's gift from NYC...

- always books. This time a beautiful old edition of "The 5 Little Peppers" and another about growing up on a British canal.

Carolyn baked a WONDERFUL double-layer chocolate cake to feed over 70 and, with Philadelphia readily available now, I made an easy cream cheese icing.

The Swiss, however, excel in pyrotechnics, a "9" sparkler in the center

with FUEL-CARTRIDGED, COLORED CANDLES emitting COLORED flames. 70 students singing Happy Birthday! No longer low key.

That's TinTin, btw, with his dog, Milou. We are going full circle, since Herge's comic strip inspired Indiana Jones (M's 8th birthday theme); we will eventually stage a TinTin school party to coincide with the movie premier this week. (This Financial Times article ("TinTin and the War") is worth reading).

The owl hoot by Elle, which perfectly matches Michael's whistling nature. And binoculars.

We then hopped in the car and drove to Beaune in the Burgundy region of France - 3 hours away, just northwest of Geneva - so had a birthday dinner in a wine cellar.

France is absolutely CHEAP compared to Switzerland and many Swiss cross the border to do grocery shopping.

We broke out this great board game based on Switzerland - a group gift from the house,
along with a lovely handmade card signed by the students -

while in Beaune, the heart of wine country (the bottles to the right),

but I leave you with this amazing cake recipe.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened, 3 cups white sugar, 5 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
1 cup buttermilk, 2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the dissolved coffee and buttermilk. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes.

This time out, we have become firm believers in parchment paper! A big difference and makes serving easy.

***

Can't believe Michael will be a double digit next year. There is so much yet to learn and it's easy to feel we're running out of time & opportunity. But the indulgence of birthdays is a reset occasion, reminding us (and him) "We're so glad you're here."