Corey's Birthday, the cake on the cover of Baking, and TWD - "Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chippers"

"Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, 

and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD." 

Proverbs 16:20

So today is Corey's birthday. It is two days after Sarah's birthday, and for two days they are the same age. But now that it's Corey's birthday, she and Annie will be the same age until September 19th, which is Annie's birthday.

It's not easy having your birthday two days after you sister's birthday. And not only is that difficult, Annie used to be so jealous seeing two sisters having birthdays and she wanted to participate fully in the event. I have been known to put both Corey and Annie's names on a cake, and thus letting Annie think it was also her birthday. So Corey (and Annie) are now 29 years old.

The day started out with going to breakfast at a Swedish restaurant. Riley and I, and Annie and Corey and Emily. I called Sarah, but I got a hold of her too late for her to make it. The restaurant was very nice, and not like any restaurant we'd ever eaten at.

The after a short walk around the very interesting neighborhood that the restaurant was in, we took the girls down town to go to a button and lace store, and then we finally all went home. I settled in to feeding Emily lunch, and I don't know where everyone else went. Tom showed up at 2:00 to get the kids. He had neglected to get a baby seat in his car, so they had to just head off down the street walking.

At about 3:00 Sarah and Caleb arrived for tea. In some order or other I made the TWD cookies and got the tea set up. The cookies were very easy to make, and they were a big hit. Oh I remember where Riley went - to Costco to get beer and toilet paper. As soon as he came in he grabbed a cookie, and then said "Oh Wow1" Actually everyone liked the cookies, even those who don't like peanut butter cookies. The only change I made in Dorie's recipe was to use creamy peanut butter, as I never buy chunky, and I wasn't about to when I had a whole jar of creamy in the cupboard.

Dorie'a Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chippers

As soon as I felt that I'd made enough cookies, and that tea was ready we adjurned to the side yard for a birthday tea. Tiah also arrived with present in hand. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a lovely time, the seven of us. I got all of her presents, because there were as many of us as there was going to be.




But after our leisurely tea, it was remembered that a bunch of people would be arriving shortly after seven for the tiki birthday party. For me the most important thing was to get a start on the cake. Riley went into a bit of a tizzy wanting to get the deck and fire pit ready. It's all a bit of a blurr in my mind. All I know is that everything seemed to get ready in due time, even the cake. Annie had lots to do also. She made sweet and sour meatballs, baked beans, a fruit platter, and arranged the table beautifully.



All the right people arrived, in particular Peter. There was lots of beer and hot dogs, and the group (Corey's co-workers) had a very nice time. They sat on the lower part of the deck where the fire pit was, while the rest of us sat comfortably in the upper area. It really worked so nicely.



Eventually I went inside to get the cake frosted. It was the fluffy kind that required getting the sugar and water to a certain temperature, and then beating the syrup into the beaten egg whites. It seemed to me that the recipe needed just a bit more sugar, but oh well. I finally was just finishing the cake when people began to leave. I quickly coaxed them into staying for cake, which all came together quite nicely. We ate cake on the upper deck.

If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly 

and want to wring her neck at the same time, 

then you were probably an only child.  

~Linda Sunshine