Indulgence rare to pleasures lendeth zest
Juvenal
It's an idea that transcends time,culture and language: little treats, if they don't happen very often, can feel like pretty big treats.
I'm thinking that Juvenal, a second century Roman poet (whom I suppose by this quote to have spoken in Shakespearean English), penned this little aphorism on his birthday. I'll bet his mother asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, and as she lit the candles on the costly cake of dates and honey, he exclaimed:
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| "Wow! Thanks Mom! What a rare indulgence! This really lendeth zesty goodness! I think I'll write a poem!" |
In less poetic language, I offer you a little birthday meal math:
I suppose that even people who eat super sensibly on every one of their 364 unbirthdays allow comfort and indulgence to collide on their birthdays, don't they?
(The department of amusing ironies notes the following: to celebrate the anniversary of one's entrance into the world, one often dispenses with the rules that are meant to help one stay in it.)
Whom, you may wonder, has prompted all these birthday musings?
The man of this particular house- none other than the Home Audience himself.
Here he is, enjoying his wild youth:
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| So little, and already hangin out around bars. |
And his less wild Friday night at the Whole Foods dessert bar, choosing a birthday treat for Saturday's birthday lunch:
His choice?
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| Chocolate cheesecake and a fruit tart. Deliciousness abounds. |
Surprised? Did you suppose that I forbid any birthday to pass before I'd homebaked it a fluffy cake?
Not so.
I have good reasons to rely on great bakers:
Reason 1. Choosing a dessert from about 100 beautiful desserts is so much fun!
Reason 2. I can't always rely on myself to rise to the demands of a baking occasion.
Do you doubt it?
Relax then, while I tell you the legend of the trifail.
(cue flashback music)
Imagine a birthday. Not just any birthday, but a friend's birthday. Not just any friend's birthday, but the birthday of friend who had formed a (mistakenly) high opinion of my baking skills.
For this birthday I'd decided to try something pretty spectacular: a 14 layer chocolate cake
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| It was supposed to look like this. |
Fail #1. I cooked the layers, assembled them with icing, and slid the whole thing into the fridge to chill. Except the whole thing slid in the fridge- and then chilled into a solid mass.
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| like this, but times fourteen. |
Fail #2. Trying to restack the layers. Cake and icing everywhere. Not in a good way.
Fail #3. Trying to trim and spackle the reassembled layers into something cake-shaped.
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| "disaster mitigation powers! come to my aid!" |
In desperation, I cut the whole cake into little cubes, layered the cubes with pudding and whipped cream into a pretty glass dish and called it trifle.
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| Or, as christened by my son, the tri-fail. |
It was the same son who later gave voice to one of the evening's enduring lessons-
" A good story lasts alot longer than a good cake."
Another reason to spend money instead of time on dessert? I wanted to spend time instead of money on something else: one of the man's fave comfort food dinners-
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| The food of a Brazilian boyhood. |
I used lean beef stew meat and two kinds of smoked turkey sausage in the beans-with all that flavor goin' on, I felt pretty secure about leaving out the much fattier bacon, pork shoulder and ham hocks called for in the recipe. Authentic farofa requires manioc flour, which is a little hard to come by even in this foodtastically diverse city; the recipe I've linked to uses bread crumbs as a substitute, but I prefer using fine cornmeal.
And the cheese bread? I've fallen in carbcheesy love with this version that cooks in mini muffin tins, but if you want to test your arm strength and your patience, give this more authentic recipe a try.
And in other food news,
This gumbo recipe is fantastic! I had no idea gumbo could be so yummy!
And we finished off the weekend with spinach and chicken flautas topped with poached eggs and pan roasted grape tomatoes-
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| We all know that breakfast is great for dinner- sometimes dinner is great for breakfast too. |
Sometime this year it's your birthday, isn't it?
And in honor of that sweet event, I hope that this week you find yourself the recipient of indulgent kindness.
The sort of cake and ice cream kindness that unwraps itself into peace.
I hope that you receive this week the very things you need most; things you never could have obtained by yourself; things that fit just right.
And I hope that you take all those beautiful things and regift them to the world around you-
Well, okay, maybe not the whole world.
Only anybody with a birthday.
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