Now that October is here, not only do we have cooler fall weather, but the birthday season is over at our house. We didn’t go quite as crazy as usual with the treats this year, but it was still a month full of way too much butter and sugar.
Rich was lucky to have a Friday birthday this year, and he took the day off to celebrate. He and I had a nice relaxing morning and then went out to lunch at Pastries of Denmark, a local bakery and restaurant. It was so nice to have a weekday to do whatever we wanted.
Dinner Friday night was a mini Thanksgiving dinner, complete with roasted turkey breast, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole – Rich’s favorite meal. And I gave him a break on the dishes, since it was his birthday. I really do know how to do dishes; I just don’t get much chance with a gem of a husband like Rich.
Dessert was flourless chocolate cake with softly whipped cream (post coming soon). We decided to bake the cake in custard cups for individual servings, rather than baking a large cake. Half of those fudgy, dark chocolate cakes are in the freezer, waiting for us to feel ready to eat dessert again. I was going to turn them out of the cups to freeze them, but they were too soft and creamy. I can live with freezing them in the custard cups until we are ready to eat them, in return for such a decadent texture.
One of Rich’s presents was a promise to make him almond blueberry muffins. A few months ago we visited Pint Size Bakery and had absolutely sublime Frangipani Berry Muffins – moist, airy, fragrant with almond and speckled with blueberries and blackberries. Rich has been talking about them ever since. We had our version for breakfast on Saturday. I wasn’t able to recreate the bakery muffins exactly, but they were good anyway. They were richer than our usual muffins, and were moist even on Monday, when we ate the last ones. I’ll post on those sometime soon too.
And so ends the birthday month in our household – it was a month of rich breakfasts, indulgent desserts and favorite dinners. We also had trips to the baseball game, family dinners and days when we did whatever we felt like. It is back to reality for October – healthy meals, fewer desserts and catching up on all the chores we let slide. Though we do still have those flourless chocolate cakes in the freezer. I wonder how long it will take for one to thaw?
The Cook's Life 
Ok Sarah — after a summer of eating my way through Colorado with your Mother-in-Law, I’m trying to lose some weight and you’re not helping …..Can’t wait for the recipes for the cake and muffins.
Sorry! Dick and Mary aren’t good for the diet, are they? I wish they lived closer, but my waistline doesn’t!
Oh, how I know what you mean by the close birthdays. Mine is 6/27, DH’s father, 7/16, DH’s mother, one week later, then DH’s, a week after that on 7/30. And last, is his sister on 8/30.
We, finally, had had enough B cakes one year and decided time to celebrate once around the end of July and send B cards to everyone. My sweet tooth was a happy camper with one cake a year. Yep, I don’t have too much of a sweet tooth. Most of the time, a bite or two of sweets is all I need or want, but, give me a yeasted bread & I can eat half the loaf.