SO Friday was Emma's 17th birthday and I took it upon myself (not gonna lie, it took me a few minutes to remember that phrase right there) to do a few extra things to make it special.
The first of the two projects I took upon myself was the cake. Before coming here my mom wrote out the recipe to carrot cake, remembering that it was one of Emma's favorite foods, and this very recipe had not seen the light of day since the very day I got here. So, this being my first time ever making this cake (or any cake for that matter) from scratch, had very low hopes. Actually I almost told Ana to buy a back up cake just in case because my expectations were just that low!
Anyway, they bought all of the ingredients for me and I took on the baking job all by myself! Everything was going great until I got to shredding the carrots. Now I had seen a blender type thing used before that I figured would work for this, but I didn't know if carrots were too hard of a food for it to handle so instead... I used a hand grader. This was killer and the carrot came out the other side as mush rather than shreds, so that ended after... 1/6th of a carrot. Next I decided to take the risk and just use the blender thingy, and what do you know it worked perfectly!
Next minor set back came when it was time to mix the stuff all together. They don't have a blender here so I had to hand whisk the whole thing. Not only was that extremely tiring (I know I live a tough life), but also the dry ingredients kept puffing up at me and by the time I was done mixing I was probably wearing more on my shirt than what was in the actual bowl.
The last set back came with the oven. Converting Fahrenheit to Celsius? No problem! Fitting the pan in the oven? Piece of cake (ha ha)! Getting the actual cake to cook? Huston we have a problem! Now first of all, this oven has a bazillion settings like if you want it to cook from the top, bottom, both, left or right, and I was like hmmmm lets go for the all around right? Right!? WRONG! Apparently to get the cake to "rise" you must only cook it from the bottom. Next set back, I took like a million years to cook through and every time I checked on it, it kept psyching me out by looking all cooked and beautiful from the outside, but watery and jello like once you moved it. After a some time (I think, I had to leave for dance class before the actual cake came out of the oven, Ana very kindly did that part for me) the cake was done.
Next day, frosting time! As if making the cake wasn't enough of a challenge now I had to make the frosting! For me, there are two different parts of baking. There is the part where you feel really accomplished from making something out of nothing, and then there is the part of you that wishes you had never made the thing because you realize what exactly the cake is made up of and some things are just better unknown. The baking the cake part, something out of nothing. The frosting part... there are some things you will never be able to "unknow". Sparing you the dirty details, I made the frosting and although not evenly mixed and spread the cake looked decent enough and I set it in the little ventilated pantry thing to cool.
Final birthday project for Emma came in the form of balloons. The day of her birthday after returning home from school I blew up 50 balloons to stash in her bathroom as another surprise. I didn't blow them up all by myself, after about ten balloons in and an extreme feeling of light headedness (these were pretty big balloons) Roman stepped in to help and brought with him a half functioning pump.
When Emma came home we ate the cake, discovered the balloons and had a good time. Later that night she invited me to go out with her and her friends to dinner, which I happily accepted and enjoyed as always!
Saturday came, and I had an early morning with dance from 11 to 2. With our event coming up this Friday, we have begun to cram and get a little nervous that we won't finish in time or be ready when the day comes. However, things like this always have a way of coming together, so personally I am not too worried and just having some fun with it!
After dance the whole family went out to eat at a very nice restaurant where I tried some new vegetables that are considered typical food of Catalunya. After our very nice lunch we went off to the movies and saw "The Book Theif" which I really, really enjoyed. Not my typical type of movie, but I liked it a lot and understood 95% of it which might have played a part in how much I liked it as well. After the movie we had a low key night at home.
Sunday was also spent low key and at home, with a nice surprise FaceTime call with Mari, Nicole and the Long Island crew! The nice relaxing day was great and much needed, especially considering this whole coming week is going to be a whole lot of school and dance, and very little sitting around doing nothing! The balloons are still lying around the house. Every now and then you hear an earth shattering explosion and think someone has just, I don't even know what, but then you just realize it was just another balloon popping. I would say they are about half way popped by now. Little Ana has even drawn a face on one, not sure if it has a name or anything, but it definitely does have a face!
Its been another great weekend full of new experiences and rest. Although I wish the weekends could last forever, I am ready to dive head first into this coming week with a good attitude and ready to dance... a lot!
Hope you all had a nice weekend too! Stay safe and stay warm!
Love,
Emily
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| Before |
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| After |
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| Emma's Bathroom |
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