Comments on: Happy Birthday To Us! Win A Cookbook

By: Carly

Carly — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:28:32 +0000

Oh, my raffle entry!

My favorite birthday food tradition is the flaming birthday fish! My husband, the laspsed catholic, decided that waking me up on my birthday with a HUGE smoked whitefish with birthday candles in it was a good idea one year! Problem is that I was asleep and woken up to something flaming!!! I nearly knocked it out of his hands and set the house on fire.

Anyhoo…it was crazy sweet for him to splurge on something so near and dear to my heart. He made a variation on the theme each year for several years. Even one year when we were silly broke, I got few pieces of lox with birthday candles in it!

By: Carly

Carly — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:25:24 +0000

Happy Birthday JCarrot!!!! It’s so exciting to see so many other people taking on a “food ministry,” for lack of a better term!

Thanks for a year of yummy recipes (tiramatzah!) and thought provoking articles. Keep up the great work!

By: Leah Koenig

Leah Koenig — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:50:19 +0000

Thanks, Mom - I took the recipe straight off the index card in your file, but am glad to hear about the adjustments you’ve made.

Sara - I’d definitely have to try that cake to believe it :)

That cake sounds delicious Chanie, especially with in-season strawberries.

Naomi, It’s rare to hear someone begging for a savory food over a sweet as a birthday treat - thanks for the idea!

Alana, I love the idea of watermelon birthday cake - who wants to turn the oven on in summer anyway?

Thodarrum, glad you found us. Payasam sounds great, thanks for the link!

Ah, the ice cream cake…such a delicious idea but, at least in my experience, it never seemed to turn out right. (the ice cream was always too hard or something…) Thanks for the link to Vegan Honey, Stacey!

Only a few more days left to post your birthday treat - the winner of the raffle will be announced on Monday, Dec 24.

By: Stacey

Stacey — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 03:00:18 +0000

Growing up, the one birthday treat I could rely on was the Carvel ice cream cake. My brother, my mother and I have birthdays in early June. It seemed like there was just an endless supply of ice cream cake leftovers in the freezer.

My new favorite birthday cake provider (shameless plug to follow) is Kym of Vegan Honey (VeganHoney.etsy.com) a vegan baker who lives in Brooklyn and for my 30th made me a chocolate cake with a gorgeous pink frosting that was colored and flavored with actual berries!

By: thodarumm

thodarumm — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 01:17:21 +0000

I grew up in India and cake was never a part of the menu. My parents never celebrated their birthdays. But no matter what the circumstance, they always celebrated my birthday and my brother’s birthday. We always had a dessert which you would liken to pudding. We called it payasam, http://hungerpangs.blogspot.co.....asam.html.

I smile as I type this: my son wrote in his school journal about the possible food items in our thanksgiving meal: tofu turkey and poisum (instead of payasam).

I accidentally found you through JENA STRONG, “BULLSEYE BABY”.
:)

By: Alana

Alana — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:20:51 +0000

For my DS’s birthday, since his first birthday (he’ll be 4 this year) we never make a cake, instead, we cut a watermelon into big slices and then stick candles in them for him to blow out. Then we cut them up and serve them as “cake.”
Since he has an early summer birthday, it’s usually pretty warm outside and watermelon is way nicer than bready stuff. And we can hose him off afterwards. Plus, watermelon comes in nice colors: red, yellow, orange!

By: naomi

naomi — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:18:02 +0000

My dad’s family lived in Brazil for four years when he was a young child. The family has been back in its New York homeland for a good 45 years or so, but whenever my dad or his younger brother has a big birthday, everyone harassers my grandmother (small, chic, Ashkenazi New Yorker) until she agrees to make feijoada.

For those who don’t know, feijoada is the national dish of Brazil and high on the list of delicious but treyf foods: it’s a black bean and pork stew served with collard greens, rice, fried ground yucca, and oranges. A good feijoada should involve all the parts of the pig that a supermarket counter probably doesn’t display (our family euphemistically refers to this as “pork leftovers”) and linguica, spicy pork sausage. Delicious, and absolutely not kosher. Even the “light” version served by my neighborhood is treyf: it substitutes shrimp for the pork products.

By: chanie

chanie — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:58:33 +0000

my daughter, turning 10 (next week, or next month, depending on whether you count the hebrew or english date), asked for her favorite for her fourth birthday - strawberries. her birthday being in january, and given that we live in israel, i told her there is no way that can happen. she asked months before, and would anxiously walk into the fruit and vegetable store looking for berries as the weather got colder. i told her we’d have to think of alternatives.
then, a week or so before her birthday, suddenly there were lots of strawberries everywhere - bright and red and sweet and IN SEASON! she was thrilled, and we made a huge, plain cake, lots of whipped cream, and topped it with berries to bring to her ‘gan’. the teacher was wary - she didnt think the kids would eat something that 1. wasnt chocolate, and 2. wasnt decorated with candies. they gobbled it up and finished all the extra strawberries i had brought along.
since then, she gets strawberries every year for her birthday, and the cake with whipped cream and berries has become the traditional january birthday cake.

By: Sara Korn

Sara Korn — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:23:47 +0000

As a Pesach baby, my favorite birthday food tradition is the Seven Layer Matzah Cake. (Think matzos soaked in Kedem wine, slathered with chocolate mousse icing, and stacked seven high. I was skeptical at first, but it’s delish!)

This cake is a newish tradition for me, adopted from my husband’s family. Since his Hebrew birthday coincides with the second seder they’ve been celebrating this way for years. (I was born on chol hamoed Pesach of the same year, but my family isn’t as creative with baking.)

Additional points to the Seven Layer Matzah Cake for being the subject of one of our very first conversations.

By: carol koenig

carol koenig — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:25:54 +0000

Hi Leah,
As usual, I am always happy to know that you have happy memories of birthday and holiday celebrations.

I’d add a little more butter to the frosting!!!
Four tablespoons….really, and beat it for a long time.
I usually use strong coffee in the frosting for the liquid instead of milk. I hope people enjoy this wonderful cake as much as we always have.

Love you. Mom