If I knew that you were coming I would have baked a cake

I just celebrated a birthday over the weekend too. I'm not much of a cake eater and dh was bugging me about what kind of cake I wanted. I finally told him I'd really like a homemade tapioca pudding. He bought all the ingredients, including real - not minute- tapioca and spent two days making the pudding because you have to soak the pearls overnight before you start cooking them and then it took another 3 hours of fussing after that. It was delicous and filled with love (and a few choice words).

I feel like we should be having a bake sale!

What a great bunch of recipes. I'll need to give some a try. These quick cakes are fun.

Some of my favorite cookbooks are the little ones put out by various groups as fundraisers. The recipes are always so usable and mostly easy. I never pass them up when I see them for sale.

Happy birthday J_B.

I love tapioca too, J_B what a nice birthday treat.

Bubble tea is a big deal here and all of the tea shops sell it. Bubble tea is made with these huge tapioca pearls and tea. It is served with a hilariously huge straw to drink it with. I get one once in a whle figuring the tea benefits equalize the tapioca guilt.

My mom used to make rice pudding - another favorite I haven't had in years and years.

Here's a suprise for ya : many professional cake bakeries use cake mixes. I worked for one that used pillsbury.

The reason is, it allows for consistency in taste and appearance.

mixes are pretty darn good.

Unless you're going for something more complex, like an italian creme cake. Make it yourself or leave that up to the pros.

My current favorite cake is godiva's buttermilk chocolate cake. It's not overly sweet and very decadent.

http://www.godiva.com/recipes/recipe.asp?id=302

I have found that you can leave out the liquor if it is too expensive, and pretty much any frosting goes well with it.

Portal Star, that Godiva cake sounds wonderful.

Well, boomerang. My son is about to turn 30. I am throwing him a party. I don't know if I'm going to bake him a cake or do the bakery thing. There is a terrific European bakery in Galena, IL not far from where I live. I might get one from there. Or I might try Godiva chocolate cake ala Portal Star.

Happy birthday, J_B!

Oh, how rude of me! Happy Birthday J_B!

Happy bday J_B!

Thanks all. I'm almost ready to stop counting. The big 50 hits next year. Is this the point where I should start looking forward to retirement?

J-B--

Twenty-six more years and you'll be an antique.

Meanwhile, who said the candles had to go on a cake? I love blowing out candles on brie.

Fifty is a great milestone. After 50 you can be really uppity about your opinions and people will call you wise (or uppity).

Fifty is great, J_B. I just turned fifty in October.

I figure I'm old enough now to do anything I damn well please. And too old to "hafta" do anything I don't want to do.

(Is that "uppity" enough, Noddy?)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Don't get yer hopes up, J-B. I won't tell what they call me, but it sure ain't "wise." Of course, if my name were Noddy. . . .

And happy birthday.

I like uppity, uppity is good... wise is better, but I'll take uppity.

Eva--

When my mother was approached by people with ideas for spending her time and money, she was wont to coo, "Oh, thank you for thinking of me, but I'm in my declining years--and I decline your proposition."

Three cheers for the Great Gray Nay!

if I knew you were coming
go to www.rienzihills.com/SING
should be a list of many old songs.
I used to play the 78 record all the time when I was young

Bren....what a great site that is! Thank you so much and welcome to A2K! I just briefly browsed through the list...and there are tons! But I couldn't believe how many of them I actually knew!. I read a very interesting quote just this morning that fits your site just perfectly!

"Music as it exists in old tunes or melodies ... is Inspiration, and cannot be surpassed; it is perfect and eternal".