Whew what a day! We had a great day but a busy day. It was Ludie's 39th birthday today.
It started out with getting the kids and myself ready to go to the store to buy some lemon extract for the pound cake I have never made before (or any cake for that matter from scratch and not a box), Last week there was lemon extract at the store. This week there was not. So then we finally left the store and got home to have 1 hour to mix up a cake that needed 1 hour of baking time and then leave to go meet Ludie for lunch. Impossible you say? I was only 15 minutes late. I had a brain bubble and had to call my sister to ask her how many cups of butter was one stick of butter when I should have asked how many oz? So then I just guestimated and put it in, but it was too cold so I used the blender to chop up the butter and then finally got the other ingredients added in. I cut the recipe in half because my pan is a lot smaller than my mom's and the cake would have overflowed. I knew that did not mean cut the cooking time in half but we also have a convection oven which cuts off baking time so go figure how long the cake should stay in. ....why do I try to do things like this under a time crunch or when we have other people over usually? Maybe I am just daring...or stupid. Don't say a thing!
So anyway the cake got baked! It did not fall. The outside was crusty but the inside was moist. We were only 15 minutes late for lunch at Ludie's work. We were just in time to serve dessert though. Griffin decorated the cake. I left the lemon glaze at home so Mary improvised and saved the day with custard she found in the fridge and lemon marmalade she mixed with custard and heated up in the microwave. I never would have thought of that. I am so thankful because the cake really needed that. BTW Catherine, I will replace your custard and marmalade this week.
Then we got home and Ludie's favorite dessert is pumpkin pie...cold pumpkin pie. Well I have yet to find a frozen pie crust in Ireland, or graham crackers. I made my own pie crust and realized I have no pie plates so I put them in cake pans and made the pie. Then cleaned up a little bit, played with the kids between all of this and then we had some friends over that cooked supper.
Ming Yu, MiAe, and Jen He are all from South Korea. They made "firemeat". It is steak sliced up and cooked with soysauce, garlic, pears and sugar. It is sweet and so good. I have never seen Griffin get seconds with an Asian dish but he did tonight!!! However I did not know we needed rice, I thought noodles would be okay. So I had to make a quick run to the store and get some rice. I have never driven so fast down the bog road as I did that night. However, I did find Doritos and had not had that since we came here 9 months ago so I snagged a bag of that (bonus!) Our Korean friends broke cultural tradition to leave the rest of the team and come celebrate Ludie's birthday and have dinner with us. I am so thankful they did that even though I know that was very uncomfortable for them. I am so grateful for them making such an effort. Ming Yu prayed the blessing in Korean and I don't know half of what he said but I have never heard or felt passion in prayer like that in a long time from all 3 of our friends. They are true prayer warriors. They are usually put in an English "world" and to hear them (my eyes were closed) praying to their Abba Father on our behalf as a family was amazing!
The night wsa topped off by gifts we had bought for his birthday, including an Elvis coffee mug and Shawshank Redemption DVD (one of his favorite movies). We also got to talk to Aunt Lissie back home, Ludie's family that skyped and sang "Happy Birthday" and also to his crazy brother, Marty. Marty even recorded a video of his students celebrating Ludie's birthday and sent it to him.
That night when we were getting ready for bed, he told me it was his best birthday ever. I cannot imagine how something so simple could have that much of an effect but he seemed honest!
Wow! I am amazed at how full a day can get with such simple things as baking that can take all day. I was in so much pain by bedtime from going and going all day but it was worth it. Happy Birthday baby. I am glad it was a special day for you. You do such a great job the other 364 days making sure we have great days and taking care of us. We love you and look forwards to many more years.
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