Let them eat cake!

Or how a horse, a pig and a tiny monkey helped us celebrate!

Birthdays generally feature cake and if you're especially lucky multiple cakes! The cake may manifest itself in a rich cream-filled gâteau beribboned and lavishly topped with delicate chocolate curls, a tower of tiny cupcakes scattered with glittery silver balls and crystalised hearts or if so inclined plump iced buns filled with crème patisserie. In some circles your special day is marked by consuming portions of your own face as your considerate friends and family have had you briefly immortalised in the medium of edible ink and icing! Or perhaps you've had your current pastime captured in cake form, if you're a budding centre forward perhaps you'd most crave a football cake, a rock star in training may appreciate their powder blue Fender Stratocaster carved into sponge of if 'In the night garden' was your bag you could have an icing Iggle Piggle dancing in one corner and no doubt Makka Pakka obsessively sweeping up crumbs in the other.
As well as the cake there's also the important ritual of blowing out the requisite number of candles accompanied by a rendition of "Happy Birthday" and making your annual wish but thankfully giving someone "the bumps" seems to have gone entirely out of fashion!
Today is both my fairy goddaughter KK and my birthday. And at the terribly grownup age of 4 (and at my somewhat older age!) it seemed fitting to have a proper grownup afternoon tea party. And we decided this afternoon tea should be relished in the place of previous enjoyable afternoon frolics - the Caramel Room at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge. They can provide the typical afternoon tea just like other purveyors of this tradition - dainty sandwiches, lavishly jam and Devon cream topped scones and a sweet finish of some sort of dinky cakes and/or pastries but they also have a speciality up their culinary sleeves. The pièce de résistance is their Prêt-à-Portea or 'a fashionista's afternoon tea'. Their unique twist is to get inspiration for their delectable creations from this season's designer collections. Artfully arranged on our iconic Paul Smith cake plates are a Sonia Rykiel nautical vanilla and raspberry jam layered mousse topped with a humorous yellow hat, Yves Saint Laurent soft romantic white chocolate mousse and raspberry custard finished with crunchy meringue scattered with mini strawberries, Chanel must-have clog biscuit adorned with chocolate studs, Erdem dark silky chocolate cake filled with passion fruit and delicate lace, Jean Paul Gaultier fluorescent cheese cake, Anya Hindmarch light apricot sponge summer Halen bag, belted Jason Wu poppy seed cocktail dress, Christopher Kane pale pink almond macaroon and Paul Smith orange, papaya and pink lavender bavarois.



But before we start sharing out the 'desserts' we have some typical little triangular sandwiches filled with smoked salmon, beef and pickle, soft cheese and crunchy cucumber and egg mayonnaise rolls then we had a plate of savouries. Again these reflect the season so we have spoonfuls of saucy moist nuggets of duck, marinated prawns, cornets filled will delicate crabmeat, soft cheese and roe rolls and refreshing watermelon shooters. As we demolish these, our most favourites are replenished before the lure of the designer exotica makes us cast the savouries aside. My top of pops are the gooey chocolate cake, the delicate macaroon and the biscuity chocolate iced clog.



And if the loaded cake tier wasn't enough both KK and I have our individual beautifully decorated plates delivered topped with spookily my favourite cakes crowned with a candle to blow out and wish upon.
KK is a little too distracted by her presents to consider the delights on her purple monkey-head plate much. I'd got her a tiny knitted monkey to attach to her schoolbag as she started pre-school this week and as she is now old enough to start pony riding lessons I thought I'd buy her a large toy horse so her other extensive baby doll, teddy and monkey collection can learn to ride also. Another J had got her an ever so soft Peppa Pig which was accompanied by its own puppy. How apt as another J herself has the most gorgeous beagle puppy Jäger! So KK has her first rider and H is already dreading getting a potentially sugar-high four year old and cumbersomely large horse home in the rush-hour. Whoops er sorry about that!
I've also done incredibly well and been lavished in loveliness. Continuing the designer theme another J has presented me a bottle of my favourite Coco by Chanel perfume and H has given me a gorgeous Alex Munroe necklace I've had my eye on. I've also succumbed to a delicious morsel of sparkliness designed by my local friendly jewelers (I'd only gone in to pick up a repair!) Thoroughly spoilt for sure!
The company and the cakes were utterly wonderful and it's been a truly memorable birthday, the only niggle was that the Berkeley had an unfortunate issue with their air-conditioning and both the beautiful, sweet creations and all of us were melting in the heat. It was actually a joy to get back outside again. We were given the now a little more compact mint green 'handbag' shaped doggy-bag with a few more of those Chanel inspired clog biscuits and other cakes in them to take home and they really tried to find a bag big enough to accommodate the as yet unnamed horse, though that proved too tall an order. So what shall we do when you're five KK? And I promise H if I go large again I'll have 'the man' deliver it!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's my party and I'll share if I want to...

So Stephanie sets this month's blogging theme as 'birthday' and I think “result” with it being my birthday and all. And then I realise it can't be all about me even though I’m an expert at being a 'birthday queen' so I'm happy to share my birthday blog party with all the other Virgoeons (and whatever comes after Virgo, Libra I think). So I'm going to extend a special diamond encrusted invite to Stephanie and promise some non meaty and alcohol free treats to toast your birthday also. And of course a pink fluffy invite to KK who shares a birthday with me and wasn't feeling well enough to enjoy her own pink 2nd birthday cupcakes. I'd offer you one of mine but as will be explained later I don't know if mummy would approve! And for my dearest DD, only a few short weeks until we're back at ‘our table’ in Union Square Café sipping Kir(a) Imperials and nibbling those nuts. Oh the divas are back in the Big Apple again, be very afraid! But birthday food is just not enough; it just needs a little more hence me deciding to give my 'birthday' party a little more heart-shaped, sparkly, diamond dusting to it. First the important fact of the cake, well miniature cupcakes seemed to be perfect and of course chocolate ones in particular. In fact I went for chocolate brownie cupcakes as all my cupcake recipes needed milk and I don't generally have any in unless I'm expecting MC and the brownies recipe was milk-less. And they looked ever so cute in their leopard print cupcake cases! Now if I'd left it there it might have been okay but I considered that they needed that little more pizzazz and for the occasion I had procured some edible black glitter, black sparkly candles, dug out my heart shaped silver candle holder and even adorned a black plate with some suitable heart-shaped bling. Yes just a little more juzzing to make them officially 'diva' cupcakes. The edible black glitter had the requisite sparkle, added an extra sweet crunch and to my horror turned my lips and mouth black! Ah, happy birthday to me! Well maybe it's because they're still warm from the oven, maybe by the time I pack up the two dozen leopard print jacketed brownie morsels and get them to the office the alarming sooty lip staining effect will have subsided. Well at least I hope so. I don't really want to booby-trap my birthday cake for everyone! When my team starting tucking in I was on the phone so wasn't able to warn them, apart from a hasty mumbled hint at their 'unusual properties'. But looking around after a few had vanished none of them looked like they'd been snacking on coal so indeed the comedy effect seemed to have diminished. Well, at least unless the last few! I'd just done the rounds of the office with the plate and was discussing with dh my birthday plans when I noticed her lips and then teeth were distinctly inky blue. Oh my! These are joke cupcakes, but with an intriguing Russian roulette element. Either it's a freaky chemical reaction that only some people have (a little like the infamous asparagus one) or some of the bite-sized cakes just bit back! So feel free to grab one or two but at your peril!

As well as cake it had to be jelly and ice cream but with that extra ‘je ne sais quoi’ again!

But first before the sugar high I thought I'd better squeeze in some savoury nibbles. I'd been desperately trying cast my mind back to birthday parties of old to recall our chosen party fare. But my main memory was a wasp caught inside the large carton of orange squash and the 9-shaped birthday cake having my name spelt incorrectly. I'm sure there must have been more for my be-ribboned party guests to scoff but I can’t really recall. I'd take a bet at crisps and peanuts and maybe some skinny possibly slightly curled at the edges sandwiches or finger rolls. It would have never ever been marmite at my party but perhaps hard boiled egg, potted meat or cheese. I am fairly sure of cocktail sausages or sausage rolls. So perhaps I can bring these three sandwich fillings up to date, lose the bread and give them a little gourmet canapé treatment. So instead of potted meat or meat paste (that even sounds evil) I opt for considerably more delicious beef Carpaccio enveloping cubes of Grana Padana cheese and spiked with the evitable diamond picks, well when I have a theme... And they were certainly a fine little nibble.
So that's the meat and cheese revamped, now the egg! And the modern take on the old favourite hard boiled egg was little glossy quail eggs and a miniature mound of celery salt, again impaled with the bejewelled sticks. All these lovely food needed capturing and writing up but therein lies the problem. My laptop had done the thing it did last time and just refused to switch on so I rang 'if your computer is ill call Phil!' again and he relieved me of my dead HP for a little open heart surgery. But that's where all my photos live of all the fabulous foodie excursions I've indulged on and haven't yet blogged. I guess there's always my work laptop, it wouldn't have my photos but at least I could write my blog. But sadly my work IBM being such a homebody doesn't really like leaving my desk. Even if I take it into a meeting room it sulks, refuses to connect to the wireless network and flatly refuses to do anything useful until it is back safely in its docking station. It’s like a moody teenager, if there's a computer equivalent to the 'whatever!' attitude then annoyingly my laptop has it. But ignoring its proclivities, needs must so I took it home. Big mistake! There was a little run in with some torrential rain, part of the 'glorious weather we've endured all summer' and the laptop went bang! Well it turned out to be the power pack and the wall socket it was plugged into. Yes, a stroppy teenager, one that has now resorted to downright vandalism! So it seems no laptop, no access to the internet and no blogging for me! But during the hiatus I've been visiting a host of fabulous extremely blog-worthy establishments and now am even further behind with all the catch-ups. When I finally get my laptop back at the beginning of the week, I am then utterly embroiled in trying to prepare for a work presentation so yet again no blogging for me. And then I had to wrestle with some heart-shape jellies, hastily post the photos to the blog, pack for two trips and leave to run for my train. I’m sitting on my train writing the words to accompany the hurriedly uploaded images and wondering when I’ll be able to release it all to the world. Seemingly the computers I am coming into contact with at the moment are determined to misbehave and M’s is no exception as it has itself been convalescing for the last month at another home of a PC doctor and therefore she is also internet-less.
Whilst I have been denied access to the world-wide-web I did find some time to embellish a crystal martini glass for my birthday-blog party drink. I was veering between some sort of Chambord-Champagne combo but I thought I’d be alcohol free this month in Stephanie’s honour and made some sort of raspberry liqueur laced (hmm maybe a tiny percentage of proof in there) and sugar-free Red bull. It was actually a great combination; it’s a cut down version of The Chambord Energiser which would normally have a healthy slug of vodka. The original drink recipe normally uses sugar-ful Red Bull but personally I find this a little too exuberant for my tastes. The advert does say that ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ and that’s probably the intention to give you a little head-rush but the combination of the excessive caffeine and sugar is a little too stimulating for me. In deference to the recipe change, I’ll change the name and in honour of the rather fabulous glass I’ll call it a Chambord Sparkler.
I also had to consider how to add a little glamour to the obligatory ice cream and jelly. The ice cream was an easy one – after several previous canapé productions for blog parties where I spent way too long trying to corral rapidly melting ice cream into something attractive I decided just to just serve small porcelain spoons of the finest Belgium chocolate ice cream scattered with the tiniest of silver sugar balls served on the canapé platter I bought back from Portugal. The balls were so small I feared I may have inadvertently bought ball bearings but no these dots of ‘robot dandruff’ were indeed edible – phew and they didn’t turn your mouth silver or black!
My final birthday bite was the jelly; I’d been determined to make some heart-shaped raspberry jelly studded with fresh raspberries. Firstly I had to track down a silicone heart-shaped ice tray mould, and ignoring the fact that I’m sadly allergic to it (that’s the silicone bit not the heart-shapedness of it!) I then got the raspberries but sadly work stuff and birthday stuff got in the way and the raspberries became a little furrier than I’d like before I had a chance to encapsulate them in jelly. So new raspberries procured and time rapidly running out, I arrived home on the last train and in the wee small hours thought I’d make the jelly and pack. In a moment or creativeness/insanity I made up the jelly mixture with more Red Bull and then dropped a plump raspberry in each. After nowhere near enough hours sleep mainly due to some last minute furious emailing (you know who you are!) I awake to find the jelly is still very much liquid but hope that a quick burst in the freezer will allow me to turn out the perfect jelly little hearts. Just in the nick of time I was able to turn some out in the manner I’d envisaged and produce a rather tasty little morsel, though I did feel I was having my monthly virtual feeling of waves of disbelief coming from the direction of D, if she had been there there would have been much head-shaking and eye-rolling. Even since the debacle with the mini chocolate Magnums I can sense what her thoughts are on the bizarre machinations I conduct in the name of a diva-esque canapés each month. Well, a girl's got to have a hobby!

I would recommend jelly with Red Bull, it certainly gives the jellies and intriguing kick and a subtle fizz on the tongue. Maybe not entirely ideal for children's parties however, as you may have to scrape the little darlings off the ceiling if they have more than one!
All in the all, despite the last minute panic (would it be me without one?), the catastrophic failure of all technology around me and the incredible yet selective mouth-staining brownies it was a glittering birthday affair. Now leaving a little trail of black fairy dust in my wake, I must finally extinguish the birthday candles and find a working computer. Cupcake anyone? Happy birthday to me and Stephanie and all the rest of you that celebrate this month.
See you on Saturday...hopefully - if of course M's computer rises from its deadbed - cousin A, I am depending on you!

The smallest birthday cake in the world

When I was on my way home on Monday I popped into Harvey Nichols to purchase the makings of a special birthday meal and in the fabulous Vth floor foodmarket I spotted these two new cakes.
The black and white cake is a small individual fruit cake intricately decorated with the finest black icing and seemed extremely fitting for me. There were also some rather large cakes fashioned to look like the foodmarket carrier bag. I thought a solo birthday cake would be rather nice and added one to my basket. As it turned out when I got home I wasn't really hungry so I thought I's save the food I'd purchased and the cake for another day.

And today I remembered my uneaten cake and dug out a rather overwhelming candle to impale my cake with and round off my birthday week celebrations. I then attempted to share it between the five of us, luckily it is marked coincidentally in five portions but they are mouse-like portions really. It was just a token gesture. Nice rich fruit cake though. A final happy birthday to me!

Prêt-à-por-birthday-tea

When I booked a table at the Berkeley’s for their Prêt-à-portea to celebrate H’s birthday I do recall them asking if we were celebrating anything in particular and I must have said a ‘birthday or two’. As it turned out with our usual way when attempting to schedule anything together we had to move onto plan B or was it C? So actually the little get together of the girls to celebrate H’s birthday ended up being much closer to mine so we called it a joint celebration. That meant K bought us both fabulous presents, a chocolate recipe book for me – how did she possibly guess? And the eggs I’d brought from Russia for H and KK were exchanged for a stunning Lola Rose ring.

It was the first time ever that another J, K, H and I had been together. Clearly H has been rather busy the last year with KK so we had plenty to catch up on. And because of the excessive chit-chatting, some say gossiping, the fabulous canapés and sandwiches didn't get as much look in as last time. When we moved onto the little cakes our waitress presented the details of each one and the general consensus was that the red velvet hat was the most delectable and the winner. So when they surprised H and I with a decorated birthday plate they used another red velvet hat-shaped cake to hold our birthday candle. It was a lovely way to celebrate our collective birthdays and just so wonderful to finally get us all together. And K's Z rather enjoyed mushing the take-out cakes into his face later when we carried them home in the little pistachio coloured cardboard handbags.

Birthday cupcakes

Another J got these fabulous little cupcakes as a belated birthday cake thing. Aren't they just rather cute and so very me? The baby pink one with the black stiletto on it mysteriously seemed to have my name on it. And they were tasty too! And yes I did share them, honestly!

Yachting

I haven’t been to the Yacht Club for such a long time. It’s pretty handy for work but they can be a little unwelcoming. I was grabbing a lunch with G who was over form the US and we headed for the Lightship (I’d checked that G didn’t have H’s belief that the Lightship moved too much and thus made her seasick) but it seems to be shut so over to the Yacht Club it is then. Let’s hope there’s no awkwardness about us getting in with us not being sailors or whatever the mysterious criteria is.

I’d always thought the Yacht Club was a civilised place for a cheeky glass of wine after work (assuming we'd managed to get in of course). The Syrrah would be served in a heavy lead crystal cut glass, which always improves the taste. There’s no banging loud music and it’s just a cosy place to sit and out the world to right. And there’s also the good food and the rather tasty Spanish J behind the bar!

It seems that all has changed, you don't have to be buzzed in with a secret password but can just stroll like other eateries. Unfortunately I am too early today for the lovely J so I’ll have to amuse myself with some yummy food instead. I go for two starters which are smoked salmon with brown bread and pâté and toast.
We get to sit outside in the September sunshine, I’m not sure if they still serve the wine in crystal glasses as we have to forgo the such a delight with an afternoon full of appointments. But we don’t abstain from the dessert and tuck into the rather rich and chocolaty hot chocolate fondant topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Not bad at all, a finest fork for the Yacht Club.

What would I ask for my birthday?

There are two fat parcels on my desk today. Yeah, aren’t birthdays great! Okay it transpires that I’ve ordered both of them myself months ago but it’s still nice to get any parcels on a birthday. They are the latest missives from Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. They both coincide with their new television programs and both contain a plethora of exciting recipes. It has been interesting seeing their new shows. Jamie has been accused in the past of showcasing his aspirational life, family and friends amongst the tasty cooking bits. Much as I love to see food tasted, savoured and enjoyed on a cooking show (I always wondered if Delia ever tastes anything she cooks, I’ve never once see her stick a finger or even the merest point of a spoon in the treat she’s just dished up and I get so annoyed when she says ‘season to taste’, I wonder how she knows because we never see her taste it.) Okay, off my soapbox now but you know what I mean and then there’s Nigella - lots of close-ups of her licking her fingers, smacking her glistening lips and positively salivating over each creation. Clearly there’s a world of difference her. The jury’s still out on her new series, I love many of the recipes but not sure if we really need to see her, getting in and out of black cabs, tucking Bruno into bed I’m sure much earlier than he actually goes to bed or even standing at a bus stop slurping her just whipped up smoothie. And I’m not sure I believe she even gets on many buses. However, it’s supposed to be about the food and I guess that’s the issue you get distracted by their lifestyle and surrounding though admittedly I do enjoy the snoop at the kitchen, the various bits of scrummy kitchen paraphernalia and table bits and pieces but I’m not so interested in the family and friends.

Now Jamie’s show was all a bit like this in the past, jumping on and off his scooter, sliding down banisters, drumming with his band of playing table football with other friends. But his new show is all about his home grown vegetables, yummy things you can whip up with them when they’ve just been picked, dug up or plucked. And the only time we see anyone other than Jamie himself is when he chews the fat and the latest delicious treat with Ben the gardener. A quick flick through the pages and these leap out at me creamy asparagus soup with a poached egg on toast, crispy and delicious asparagus and potato tart, fresh tagliatelle with sprouting broccoli and oozy cheese sauce, incredible roasted shoulder of lamb with smashed veg and greens, really very delicious and simple lamb tartare, smoked barbecued shellfish, beautiful courgette carbonara, balsamic-baked onions and potatoes with roast pork, potato salad with smoked salmon and horseradish crème fraîche, grilled strawberries with PIMM’S and vanilla ice cream, roast of incredible game birds with proper polenta, game ragù with pappardelle, pan-roasted venison with creamy baked potato and celeriac, cheat’s pappardelle with slow-braised leeks and crispy porcini pangrattato, roasted white fish and leeks and finally Italian ham and spinach tart. Phew that’s not bad for starters!

And from the fastest Nigella ever - brandied-bacony chicken, potato and mushroom gratin, steak slice with lemon and thyme, flourless chocolate brownies, oeufs en cocotte, green eggs and ham, croque monsieur bake, maple chicken ‘n’ ribs, coq au Riesling, chicken schnitzel with bacon and white wine, scallops and chorizo, instant chocolate mousse, chicken, mushroom and bacon pie, Cheddar cheese risotto, macaroni cheese, totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies, potato cakes with smoked salmon, scallops-on-the-shell, duck breasts with pomegranate and mint, glitzy chocolate puddings, buttermilk roast chicken, pea and pesto soup and linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms. So not too shabby either!

I think I’ve got a lot of quality time coming up in the kitchen soon. Aren’t birthdays grand?

Happy birthday to me!

... and also the fabulous KK, I wish you a very pink 1st birthday.

M sent me this fantastic birthday cake, it's not very edible unless you have a penchant for florist oasis but it smells lovely! Though I have to admit, I am having lustful thoughts about chocolate cake or perhaps a little Gü delight of some sort. I may just have to procure something intensely chocolaty before the day is out! Well, if you can't indulge in chocolate on your birthday, when can you?

Nuts about Union Square Cafe

DD and I hadn't made any plans for my birthday lunch and having always been a fan of Union Square Cafe I thought we should try and get a table for a light lunch, as we were still full from last night. Though when we sat down all thoughts of 'a little salad' seemed to fly out of the window.

Though we did opt to share both the starter and the dessert but also had to squeeze in a few nuts!
I know that Nigella Lawson is a huge fan of the Union Square Café’s nuts that they serve at the bar between lunch and dinner and I figured if we lingered long enough over our meal we could try them out.

But first we shared a portion of Frascatelli Genovese – Handmade Tiny Semolina Dumplings with Green Beans, Potatoes and Pesto Cream. These were exquisite, so tasty and just perfectly fresh.

Union Square Café is famous for getting the freshest, most luscious ingredients from the Union Square Greenmarket, which is the popular farmers’ market, held in the nearby Union Square. And the chefs Danny Mayer and Michael Romano attribute some of the daily specials to a stroll amongst the stalls there. We did go for the salad and both had the Grilled beef Sirloin and Rocket Arugula Salad with Mushroom Vinaigrette and Parmigiano Reggiano. Again, an inspired choice, the salad was dressed really well and the beef was really succulent. I was able to satisfy my meat craving from last night! And in the name of investigation I had to order the exceedingly fine Union Square Café’s Mashed Potatoes with Frizzled Leeks. DD declared that he hadn’t eaten mash for many years and when Y cooks sausages and mash he has sausages and salad instead. I am speechless! However, he declared the USC mash to be very fine indeed.

We round this off with a shared portion of Honey and Vanilla Ice cream, Peach Sorbet and Raspberry Sorbet, which is really refreshing. (Note DD’s Tiffany ring in the picture!)

The nuts weren’t ready but we retired to the bar and watched all the staff prepare for the dinner sitting. They put all the olives into little white bowls and sort out all the other bits for the tables. They first have their own meals from big stainless steel tureens and chat about the day so far. When the fabulous nuts we brought out of the oven, the area fills with a spicy, herby aroma. The peanuts, cashews, brazils, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds are tossed with melted butter combined with rosemary, cayenne pepper, brown sugar and salt. They are very good indeed even if you think you have no room to ever eat again!

As we lingered at the bar we thought it would be rude not to have a fabulous fizzy pink drink to toast both KK and me on our birthdays and when I realised they had Chambord, well the decision was easy. We had Kir Imperials – which is the delicious black raspberry liquor Chambord served in the ‘orb’ bottle with Champagne. Cheers!

The staff here were so fantastic as well, they were really friendly and when I was trying to take a photo of our Kir Imperials they offered to hold up a napkin so the beautiful pink colour could be seen.

A fabulous meal with truly fabulous company and a fabulous birthday – three forks for Union Square Café – maybe Michelin doesn’t think they deserve a star (their sister restaurant Gramercy Tavern has one) but I think they do. And they do fabulous nuts as well – what more could you want!

Finally, I also HAD to pick up their latest cookbook to add to the burgeoning collection. I am seriously nuts about USC

Happy birthday to me... And bump!

H's bump is no more! Clearly she felt that she didn't want to bake any longer and appeared a month ahead of schedule. So happy birthday to J and KK. Pink champagne anyone?

Birthday 1

As I am in the USA for my birthday this year we decided to hold my first birthday party (well of this year anyway!) tonight. Really it was just an excuse to wear my tiara again, decorate the table, christen my elegant new crystal Villeroy & Boch candelabra and to cook the fabulous beef fillet with a gratin of mushrooms and sautéed new potatoes from Gordon Ramsay’s F Word.
LLcT had a few friends around (Scruffy or Fluffy and the finely eyebrowed JP) so we had a full house to help me celebrate!

We started off with he samphire we picked up on Bank holiday Monday. Samphire was a new experience for me. It is cooked like asparagus and served with lashings of unsalted butter. You eat it by picking up each sprig, biting gently through each piece and pulling the succulent flesh off with your teeth and then discarding the inner core. We were perhaps a little generous with the portions of samphire; we started to wonder if we’d ever get through it all but I really enjoyed it.

The beef fillet with a gratin of mushrooms and sautéed new potatoes was really gorgeous – the execution was slightly complicated by the fact we had two slightly conflicting versions of the recipe but D and I worked it all out. It was a truly tasty first birthday celebration meal.

And then we had a heavily candled M&S decadent chocolate cake to finish it all off.

Happy almost birthday to me!

Update: I just had to have another do and it was even better this time around!