plus a fabo cake (for those who LOVE cake)

I am very blessed to have friendships that have stood the test of time, and last night we shared a special ‘significant’ birthday with a gorgeous man named Frank, his amazing wife, and their family…brothers, sisters, niece and nephew, son and in-laws, many of whom had travelled significant distances to celebrate his day.  This is an amazing bunch of intelligent, talented and caring people. Chris and I and one other non-family member, were lucky enough to be included. It was both a privilege and an honour to be there.

So what to take as a present? I had already offered to make something, and having made the Ginger and Lime Syrup Cake on one other occasion, I suggested I could do it again. There was no refusal. Construction started on Thursday and was completed on Friday afternoon. It’s not a difficult recipe, but it is a cake you cannot rush. In a nutshell you have to cook, soak, layer, chill, slather and decorate it (if you want the recipe, let me know, and I will try to type it up and maybe even post it to the blog). I am pleased to report that fresh ginger used in the recipe came from our garden! It may have been the only ingredient that did, but it was a significant one. 🙂

And for the present? I am in a phase of being a bit minimalist…I think it is an outcome of the reading I am doing in preparation for study this year (I am about to undertake a Graduate Certificate in Sustainability) and so these days I am more mindful of the ‘naff’ we end up with in our lives. We surround ourselves with ‘stuff’, and yes, some of it is wonderful and useful, and aesthetic and pleases us, and there may be myriad reasons for it, but a LOT of stuff in our lives is a result of want over need. And so, instead of buying something for Frank that he may already have, or worse, something he doesn’t have and would never use, we gave him a gift from the aquaponics garden…our first official harvest of two red-coral lettuces and an oak leaf lettuce, all tied up like a bunch of flowers!

It felt good, as it came from the heart, did not use a resource that is in short supply, or have a carbon footprint impact in its making or in its delivery. Win, win, win!

I do hope these small gems made it into a salad today for the rellies who stayed on for the weekend!