Jottage from Lancaster - Tristan and Amelia's birthday

We went to Cambridge for Tristan's first birthday party which Heather has written about in her own Jottage. Tristan shares a birthday with his cousin, Amelia who was 3, and the celebrations were for her too. By the time we came down to the kitchen on the morning of the party for breakfast, Heather had already put the oven on and was busy preparing the last minute salad and cycled off to the supermarket to buy the final oddments. It was clear she had thought through the menu in some detail, and we were both musing on the difference that River Cottage had made to both our lives  which was so obvious when you looked at the table groaning with made-from-scratch food.


Of course the chocolate cake disaster was the one cloud on the horizon. The birthday cake should be the centre piece of the table, but it was pushed to the back so that perhaps no one would notice just how it hadn't risen. I can't explain why it went to wrong, but in the event the flat cake with candles was mostly eaten (although Amelia didn't actually eat hers, she was the only one). To my dismay, Ethan, who is almost 6 did comment on how flat it was but no one else said a word. 


The original Mary Berry cake, which had been crammed into a plastic box, was brought out later in the afternoon and picked at in small pieces by everyone. It was the nicer textured cake by far, but the geometrical problems made it rather unattractive (burnt and flattish on one side, well-risen on the other, and about 10 percent of it stuck to the budget-priced silicone cake mould). I had layered it with a tin of mandarins and soaked it in the juice then topped it with Greek yoghurt, which actually wasn't bad at all.

The cake, adapted for Amelia's 3rd birthday with a new centre candle

So now the birthday is over and I have a pinto bean chilli cooking on the stove - one of my favourite feel-good recipes from River Cottage Veg. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Heather wasn't already planning next year's celebrations!

Jottage from Cambridge - Tristan’s First Birthday Party!

A lot has happened over the past year. The most wonderful thing has been watching my son grow up from being the tiniest dot to a little boy on the verge of walking and, although not quite comprehensible, capable of babbling out consonants. But over the past twelve months, and particularly throughout the six that I have been weaning Tristan, I have discovered what can be done with herbs and spices, I have made pastry, pasties and soups, created mountains of whoopie pies and gone from eating chicken kievs every other week to never going near the ready-made food aisle in the supermarket. The blender, ice-cream maker, yogurt maker and breadmaker, once tidily packed away in their boxes on top of the cupboards, are now always accessible on the counter. My cookery books, and especially those written by Hugh, are now tired-looking and splattered with colourful spills and blobs. Of course I have had the time to cook as I’m not getting home from work exhausted and hungry but it is certainly true that, with Tristan’s arrival, I have wanted to be more creative in the kitchen. 

I had been planning Tristan’s birthday feast for a month at least – anxious that I had six adults, two children and one baby to feed and wanting to show-off a bit. Last year I would probably have chosen a selection of sandwiches, shop-bought quiches and sausage rolls but, with experience to hand, I decided to try and make everything from scratch. The results are shown in the picture below: Chicken and Leek Pasties (River Cottage Everyday), Couscous Salad with Peppers and Feta (River Cottage Veg), Salmon Tart (Ainsley Harriott), and a piece of gammon. Of course nothing was difficult to make (or very expensive) but I thought the spread looked as if some thought had put into it and that, more than anything, I felt proud of myself for.

Not a ham sandwich in sight...

There is a little story behind the birthday cake. My mother set to work on a Mary Berry chocolate cake which, alas, got completely stuck in the silicon tray and fell to pieces. The cake was subsequently used as a base for the little desserts with mandarin oranges and Greek yogurt. She made up the recipe for the second attempt which thankfully didn’t stick to the cake tin, but did turn out quite flat. 

Flat (but edible) first birthday cake.

The cake, however, was for a three year old and a one year old who were oblivious to the fact that it was vertically challenged, and it did taste delicious. I can’t imagine yet what the spread for Tristan’s second birthday will be like, but I will certainly keep up the baking and I can’t wait to try out lots of new recipes for us all to enjoy. 

Tristan at a year old