HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME…

My birthday cake: a  6” Black Forest cake from St. Germain Bakery, Oakridge Mall, Vancouver, B.C.

Stomach is out of town on a business trip for the week and end of term is near.  I’ve got marking coming out of my ears and I have a big exam coming up (which will entail more marking afterwards)! yahoo.

My birthday comes at a time of the year when everyone’s kind of busy with their day-to-day life and at my stage of life, it’s not always a priority to celebrate.  Let’s face it, nowadays it is way more fun to celebrate a birthday when you are a kid.  I mean, what with the cool cakes your mom makes for you and the huge group of friends amassed at a play palace running around, sweating and screaming, and all those presents?  Come on.  Nothing compares to a kid’s birthday party.  An adult birthday. meh.

Though I no longer celebrate with a huge group of friends and now instead go out to dinner and lunches with each of my girlfriends…primarily to catch up, I still insist on a birthday cake, even if I don’t have time to make one for myself.

Since Stomach was away, on my birthday on Tuesday,  my mother handed me 20 bucks and said “Here, go and buy yourself a cake.”  That’s my mom.  Direct.  No nonsense.  She still gives me a bday card and a red envelope every year with 100 bucks for me to spend on whatever gift I want too.   In my parents’ household growing up, that’s how it was.  Always a cake, usually dinner out and the red envelope.  It makes so much sense.  I think I’ll have to institute the red envelope when the kiddies hit the teenage years. 

I went to St. Germain, an Asian bakery located at the Oakridge Mall shopping centre.  I knew I could get a decent cake for under $20 here.  I chose the 6inch Black Forest because it was…well, chocolate.  The 6” cake was $18.  That’s my primary motive for choosing desserts.  * Chocolate*.   The frosting is a fresh whipped cream and there’s a cherry-kirsch jelly filling that is solid to the point that it resembles an agar jelly.  It slices cleanly and is totally unlike the European cherry fillings that are more sauce-like.  Though the solid texture of the cherry filling was unsettling, it wasn’t unpleasant.    The fresh fruit and the light texture of the whipping cream was refreshing.  The sponge layers are chocolate chiffon. 

I came home with the cake, made Shake ‘n Bake, roasted brussel sprouts, gravy and mashed yukon gold potatoes (my kids’ favourites) for dinner and we had the cake for dessert.  We scarfed down almost half the cake.  The girls loved it--but not the cherry jelly, which I had to eat off of their plates.

Oh, and the ulterior motive for choosing this bakery?  I went on a shopping spree at the mall.  The red envelope was burning a hole in my pocket.  I firmly believe in buying myself a gift, or two or more! for my birthday.   Who knows better than the birthday girl what she wants?

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