A Birthday Lunch!

My pal Barb had a birthday this week, so friend Kate and I decided to throw her a birthday lunch! After all, we need a good reason to celebrate something and what could be better that honoring the day that a special friend was born?

 

I got the table set the night before, using a vintage tablecloth as a base and a smaller cloth over that as a topper. (Rita -- do you recognize the smaller cloth topper? You should!) As the salad was the main course, we dispensed with salad plates or bowls. Mom's silver came out, along with the some Depression glass tumblers. My Mikasa "Just Flowers" pattern seemed to be the right one for spring.

 

At each place setting was a small vase of flowers and a bird's nest. (The nest was the idea of Pattie, whose blog provided the inspiration. Flowers and nests were the "party favors." I got the "take-away flower idea from our guest of honor herself, Barb, who almost always sends her guests home with flowers!

 

Barb's arrival meant time for snacks and Prosecco. We just had a simple cheese and nuts for starters. We didn't want to fill up too much!

 

Lunch included Kate's Cobb Salad and a nice baguette. (Not as good as Rick's, but pretty good!)

 

And for dessert, a Battenberg cake, recipe courtesy of the wonderful Marie Rayner's "The Best of British Baking" cookbook.  (Marie has a different version of this with chocolate on her wonderful blog.) Since I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I opted for the pretty pink and white vanilla checkerboard in the book. 

 

She says that it was claimed that "the original Battenberg cake was created in honor of the marriage in 1884 of Queen Victoria's granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg, with the four distinct squares of cake representing the four Battenberg princes." 

 

This cake is surprisingly easy to make -- but it takes time. I would do it again! It presents so well!

 

(I took liberties with Marie's recipe, adding a bit of vanilla to the batter, modifying the baking times to accommodate my pan size and using a buttercream rather than the marzipan topping. It was just as good. Maybe better!) I put some pearly pink and white non-pariels on the top -- a good idea, but watch your teeth!

 

Sometimes there is nothing better than a celebration.

 

And when it's with good friends, it's even better! 

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