Eladio’s birthday and the broken cake!

Hi folks

So today was Eladio’s birthday. I don’t think he would like me publishing his age on my blog so I will refrain from doing so. Suffice it to say he looks as young and gorgeous as ever. My Ukranian cleaning lady, Zena, agrees!

Here’s the birthday boy opening his presents and here is the birthday boy sitting down to a groaning breakfast table, laid for best in our new dining room.

Susi and I went all out in our preparations as there is nothing we like better than organizing parties and special menus, as you will all have gathered from many of my posts. Lunch was itsy bitsy and included home made “humus” and pitta bread, gambas al ajillo (prawns cooked in garlic and olive oil) and many other delicacies.

The piece de la resistance was the home made chocolate, cream and m+ms cake which we had difficulty making yesterday. It’s a standard house recipe but yesterday it refused to come out as it should. Midway, the cream turned to butter twice while being whipped so Susi and I had to go out and get some more. When we got back she had to go and Eladio took her place, helping me. He promptly helped me by putting the top layer on without adding the cream. To remedy that he took it off again and, of course it broke into various parts!!! It then had to be reconstructed with more chocolate. We finally placed m+ms to hide the cracks but instead of hiding them, they sunk into the cake making the cracks even bigger.

Despite all the difficulties and mishaps, it tasted delicious, to judge by the long siesta we had afterwards.

Oh, yes and the presents. My Father bought him a lovely adidas track suit (for our daily walks), Susi bought him a practical gardening book – well he is the in-house gardner – and I bought him an indoor tropical plant, basically because I realized we might have a huge garden but we don’t have any vegetation in the house.

Olivia was dearly missed today. Love you darling.

Until next time/Masha