Birthday Celebrations!

Yesterday was my birthday and I found myself suddenly and quite alarmingly an entire year older.

Luckily, I had my fabulous husband and an excellent party to distract me from it all!

After an afternoon in the kitchen on Saturday, Edward eventually managed to drag me away and took me out for supper and a delicious evening walk round Mount Edgcumbe.



It was beautifully calm and gorgeously coloured and just the thing for a romantic wander.



Next morning I had a delicious birthday breakfast and opened my very lovely gifts and cards before starting to get things ready for lunch.

First things first, I had decided last week that of course I needed a new dress to wear for my birthday, so I whipped this little flowery job one afternoon.





We squeezed several tables and nearly all our chairs into the dining room, topped with table cloths and every single piece of cutlery in the house.  I had hoped to be able to picnic in the garden, but the forecast had predicted rain for most of the afternoon and for once it was disappointingly correct, so just as well we stayed in!

As ever, we were all too busy stuffing our faces and talking and laughing and I completely forgot to photograph anything until most of it had disappeared, so you will have to imagine how delicious it all looked!

We started with an aperitif of breadsticks, Fava (a Greek dip made from yellow split peas) and little baguette toasts; some spread with tapenade and some with a fresh pea and broad bean pesto.

Then we all squeezed into the dining room, drinks were re-filled and we settled down to the more serious business of lunch.

We had roast chicken with asparagus, fennel and cherry tomatoes, caramelised onion quiche, courgette and feta baklava, apple and thyme sausage rolls, minty potato salad and beetroot and green salad.

We had to take a short breather before embarking on chocolate praline cake, tarte au citron and nectarine tart.

 

We rolled ourselves into the drawing room for coffee and digesting, absolutely stuffed and feeling suitably celebrated!

When everyone had gone home and we were feeling like we might be able to stand up again, we cycled up to Crownhill fort to burn off some of our indulgences.  Luckily the weather had perked up too and turned into a gorgeous golden evening.

Such a perfect weekend to set me up for all the adventures of my new year!