Matthew's birthday

26th January was Matthew’s birthday and, as is our custom, we indulged in prolonged celebrations:

- Thursday: In a low key start to the weekend, we had fish and chips from Michael’s High Class Fish Bar (which is so much more fun to call by its full name than just saying “the chippy”) and watched the Dr Who Christmas special, which we’d missed due to being in Texas over Christmas. We both agreed with conventional wisdom that special guest star Kylie Minogue is indeed very, very tiny, but noted that her teeth are actually quite large. It creates a weird spatial tension on her head.

- Friday: fish ‘n chips and Dr Who might have been enough for some people, but not for party animals like us. We had a party on Friday night with a proper birthday cake (made from Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake recipe) with candles and everything. It looked something like this lovely cake by Amy Sedaris, except made of cake instead of plaster of paris.

I decided not to embarrass anyone by actually putting a candle for every year (and the cost of that many tiny candles would have been prohibitive anyway), but used some very cute ones spelling out “Happy Birthday” from Gill Wing. I was disappointed that they melted really quickly, considering that they came from a fancy gift shop, and dripped before I’d even got them all lit. Fortunately, Matthew didn’t wait for the end of the Birthday Song to blow them out, so wax drip damage was minimal. It did not deter the greedy pigs, I mean, our dear friends from digging in with abandon.

Since the party was on 25th January, otherwise known as Burns Night, I made Scottish-themed nibbles. I baked pearl potatoes in the oven, then stuffed them with haggis (regular and "vegetarian," which actually just looked like all other veggie fake foods - lentils, shredded carrot and some onion), and served chunks of brown bread with smoked salmon and mackerel . At the last minute I freaked out that there wouldn't be enough food, so Matthew was dispatched to the shop across the street for pita, hummus, taramasalata , olives, etc. The foods aren't indigenous to Scotland, but I'm sure they would not feel out of place at a party in Scotland. My friend Adrienne brought chips and more dips, so there was enough - though apparently just barely, since there were almost no leftovers for us to snack on during the tidy-up.

- Saturday: Matthew’s mate Steve came to visit from Plymouth and we all dressed up and went dancing at Set the Tone, a ska/reggae/60’s soul night. We looked so good and had such a good time that we’ve decided to another ska night in a couple of weeks; we’re considering making it our new “thing.” I had several outfits planned out by the time we got home. The only real problem is that I cannot dance to ska music. Matthew explained that the emphasis in ska music is on the 2 and 4 beats, while I am dancing on the 1 and 3. So it's not that I don't have rhythm; I've just got the wrong one.