Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Happy Birthday Ursula....





This supper was a birthday celebration for fifteen 24 year olds! The birthday girl being the braver of the bunch had chosen a supper night/bespoke dinner to celebrate with her friends...it soon transpired that she seemed to be the only one who really knew what she was coming to!



With the menu being left to me and after a brief chat I decided a shared dish rather than individual plating would be more convivial so chose a seafood curry as a main with a serving of pea and ham broth served in tea cups to start.

Chocolate cake with berries to finish and handmade chocolates with popping candy as final overload.


After all the work it made me smile to watch the reaction the popping candy got, applause and cheers. The simplest of things, perhaps a memory of childhood?

They arrived in groups, sort of 'pack' like, spilling into my tiny space excited but unsure. With pleasantries exchanged and a very feeble attempt on my part to ask names which I immediately forgot, one of the 2 men steered them to their seats, it came out later that he was slightly intimidated at the supposed formality and needed a 'job to do'.

With everyone seated they began to relax and the food was hoovered up.


The 'boyfriend' had come proudly bearing a cake he had baked, a fabulous assembly resembling to my eye, the 02 arena! It was this man that noticed I was knackered and put an end to a good night, but not before clearing the table. A first, and a grateful one at that... Bravo to the man with no name, your mother has done a good job !

I had to laugh at the poor man who throughout the meal seemed rather subdued. He admitted at the end that he had no idea where he was, had never heard of a supper club and thought he was coming to one of his friend's houses only to find himself standing in my living room and being told to put his coat on in the bedroom by a strange woman in a mad black hat!


They all wrote in the visitors book, a good memory and I woke the next morning completely forgetting that I had encouraged them to write on the bathroom mirror, giving it a slightly squat like air. Great comments, some of which I needed translating !