So, it is party time again, folks!

[wiseheart]

Each year this time, we launch my virtual birthday party, which starts on October 1 and ends on October 9 at midnight, sharp. The goals of the party are to post as many comments and collapse as many threads as possible, on as many new pages as we can. It is always great fun, as you can see if you check out the similar entries of the last few years.

This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.

Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)

So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!

Soledad, in excited expectation




Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.

Enjoy!

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

So, my brand new update just got the first idiot review. From someone who's been on my sci-fi mailing list for ten years. What a grand start to the party. I really don't know why I'm still trying.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Hopefully you'll get good reviews soon.

(I look forward to catching up on your stories soon :))

[illereyn.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thank you. The real day is on October 9, but the virtual party always starts on the 1 st, so that we can have time for fun.

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaah! Happy birthday! And I get to offer you the first cake:



This is a cake I made last week here in New Zealand. It has no artificial colors - the frosting is a natural buttercream colored and flavored with powdered freeze-dried raspberries. Delicious, so easy, and tart rather than sweet. Only the best for your birthday!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Awww, thanks! It looks delicious!
Can it be made with ingredients awailable over here? Because in that case I would like the recipe, please. :)

[bk_forever]

Happy Birthday Party!

Hope this year's goes with a swing!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Awww, this is lovely! Thank you!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Doesn't time fly! It seems like only last month we were partying before! I won't wish you a happy birthday yet, but I hope this party is as fun as previous years!

I snagged one of the virtual chocolate-coated stars to go with my belated breakfast espresso -- umm, delicious -- cheers!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

That's weird; livejournal ate my icon choice. Let's see if it works this time...

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Happy early birthday! The biscuits looks very yummy :)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

That they are indeed.

[sammydragoncat]

Party time! I should be getting ready for work, but I thought I would just pop in at the party real quick.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks. We are not at full swing yet anyway, but it will come, as soon as someone comes up with a fun topic to discuss.

I'm going to post the menu for the real life party below - take a look and feel free to give the recipes a try. ;)

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

So, the food offerings for the real life party on October 4 start with:
Oatcakes with Dates (http://wiseheart.livejournal.com/593617.html).

These are very tasty biscuits that I've already baked for last Christmas. Follow the link to the recipe; they are really easy to make.

[sammydragoncat]

Sounds yummy, will have to try them.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Then we'll have Zebra Bread. Which is simply a batch of crepes, layered like a cake, alternately filled with cremed spinach and thick cheese sauce and then cut in cubes.

[sammydragoncat]

I have never had that, it sounds really good.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

So, is anyone but me reading the Narnia Fic Exchange? 25 stories, mostly decent with only a few clunkers, a big range of topics and no Susan bashing in sight. I'm not an enormous Narnia fan -- Lewis is a bit heavy handed -- but it's nice occasionally to read fan authors more enlightened views of his universe.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestion; I'm not a Narnia fan myself, but sometimes it's nice to read a few stories outside my usual interest.

Which of the original books do you like best? And why would there be any Susan bashing?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Then, because one of the guests is a vegetarian, there will be Quiche Lorraine, alternately with mushroom and tuna filling.

Ingredients to the pastry:
250 gr white flour
125 gr margarine
1.5 teaspoons of salt
6 tablespoons of water

This must chill a bit in the fridge. Recipe says 2 hours; I only chilled it half an hour and it worked like a charm. *g*
Then you roll it our, in a cake form of 26 cm in diameter (it must be buttered and floured first in the inside), so that the pastry will have a rim of at least 2 centimetres. Poke it a few times with a fork, so that the damp can leave while baking.
This year, I didn't make one big cake, but twenty little ones, using muffin forms - they look very cute.

Ingredients for the mushroom filling:
500 gr mushrooms, diced, roast on oil and onions (I always use onion paste, it spares me the tears), seasoned with salt, pepper and parsley
3 eggs
250 ml of sour cream
125 gr grated cheese
1 pinch of white pepper

Beat the eggs with the sour cream and the white pepper.
Stir in the grated cheese.
Spread mushrooms on the bottom of the pastry.
Cover it with the egg-sour cream-pepper-cheese mix.
Cook it in the pre-heated oven, at 210°C for ca 30 minutes.

It's best when still hot, but I've made the small ones in advance and froze them. I'll heat them up when the guests come.
.Traditionally, Quiche Lorraine is served with dry white wine from Elsace.

The original has cubed bacon instead of the mushroooms (ca 200 grams of it). The tuna filling is simply canned tuna (without the sauce), spread on the pastry.

[sammydragoncat]

I haven't had Quiche in awhile, now I want some.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

We'll also have Quick & easy cheesy buns (http://wiseheart.livejournal.com/553318.html), the version of them enriched with sunflower seeds, sesame seed, linseed and pumpkin seed. Follow the link for the recipe.

[sammydragoncat]

Oh my - those sound so good (it doesn't help that it's just before lunch and I am a bit hungry). I am going to have to make some this weekend.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And then, of course, Little sausages in puff pastry - which is as the name says. Little coctail sausages rolled into puff pastry, painted with eggyolk, decorated with linseed or sesame seed, and baked in the oven.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

These sound like something Diefenbaker would love, so I will use my Diefenbaker icon. (Do you watch/have you watch Due South?)

What really prompted me to reply to this, was to ask if you make your own puff pastry. I tried it once -- a very long time ago -- and it took me ages and turned out rubbish. At the time, I don't think I could have bought puff pastry in our grocery shop (this was when I was a kid, living with my parents on a farm in very rural Sweden). Here in the UK, I find that most grocery largish grocery shops will sell you ready made, and rolled out, puff pastry, often of a few different varieties (frozend, chilled, 'light'). For awhile I made spinnach and chickpea rolls, using puff pastry, for my lunches which I really enjoyed. I should have a go at making them again, when things quieten down at work...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Then, there will be, of course, Salade de boeuf, which is made with cooked chicken meat, despite its name.
It's Mum's speciality; she cooks a whole chicken breast with carrots, parsley roots, onions, a piece of celery, seasoned with parsley and salt - regular chicken soup, actually, at least how whe make it.

Then she dices all ingredients, together with boiled potatoes (boiled in the peel, to keep their aroma), boiled eggs and some sour cucumbers. Then she makes mayonnaise (always home-made, never what you get in the supermarket), mixes it with the diced chicken meat, vegetables, etc., and lets it ripe in the fridge overnight.

On the next day, the salad is filled into small, hollowed tomatoes, and the slice removed from the top of the tomato is put back like a little hat. It looks fantastic, and it's absolutely delicious.

French salad, as it is also called, is quite popular in Hungary, but most people put boiled green peas and raw apples into it, which makes it way too sweet. Peas have the tendency to dominate every other taste anyway, so we never use them for the French salad.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

And the first threads have already collapsed. Ladies, we are good! Now on to Page 2!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

We are awesome! Though currently icon free!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

On with the Real Life Party food: Meatballs.

As the name says, these are walnut-sized little balls made of minced meat (pork or beef or a mix thereof), crumbled stale bread (or rather rools that are soaked in warm water, which is then squeezed out of them), chopped onions (we always use onion paste in these days - so much easier to find the right dosage and to blend it with the rest of ingredients) and an egg, seasoned with salt and pepper and then fried.

People usually deep-fry them, but I'd advise against it. Paradoxically, it makes them dry like sawdust and really hard. Mum always fries them in a frying pan, in a generous amount of sunflower oil, but only so much that they would be a little less than half-covered. When one side is fried, she flips them; this way they are golden brown, of a nice consistence, and hold in the fridge for at least a week.

For 500 gr minced meet we use one or one and a half rolls, depending on their size, one middle-sized egg and a teaspoon of onion paste. Don't put too much bread in the mix, or the meatballs will taste of... well, nothing.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Happy early birthday, wiseheart! May the next year be full of chocolate, rewarding (and appreciated) writing projects, fun trips and friends (on-line and off)!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's so good to hear from you again! Tomorrow, I'll post the recipe for the Super-Choco-Cookies I'm about to bake, just for you!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Before I head off to bed, I thought I would contribute one more top level comment and a topic for discussion:

Have you seen the film The Princess Bride? A friend of mine introduced me to it a few years back, and I loved it in all its rather silly glory. Then this summer I found out that there was actually a book as well; indeed the book came before the film. So I bought the book (and the film) and now I have just 33 pages left of the first chapter of the fictional sequel, that is appended at the end of my edition of the book. (If you haven't read the book or seen the film, that comment will probably make absolutely no sense what-so-ever, in which case I would like to apologise in advance. On the other hand, if you haven't I have just given you a suggestion for an interesting read and/or watch, so hopefully that makes up for it!)

[sammydragoncat]

I love The Princess Bride - I haven't read the book yet, how is it?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

One more recipe before I go to bed (because I have a veryearly appointment in the morning at the hairdresser's, so that I'd look somewhat civilized for my party guests.

Super-Choco-Cookies for solanpolarn - and yes, I'll be baking those, too.

Ingredients (for ca 25 biscuits):
200 gr dark chocolate, roughly hacked
100 gr butter or margarine
100 gr brown sugar
60 gr hacked walnuts (recipe says pecan nuts, but I can't afford those; the biscuits taste great with walnuts, too)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
125 gr white flour
some icing sugar to sprinkle the biscuits

And here is how to made them:
*Melt chocolate and butter in a pot, by low heat; occasionally stir with a wooden spoon, until they are liquid.
*Take pot from the heard, let it cool for 2 minutes.
*Add brown sugar and walnuts and stir well.
*Add sieved flour and stir until it is smooth.
*Butter a quadratic baking tin of 19 cm and line it with baking paper.
*Fill in the dough and bake it in a pre-heated oven, by 180°C for 30 minutes, until the surface has a spongy feel.
*Let it cool down in the baking tin. Then turn the tin over to remove cake. Cut it in small squares and sprinkle it with icing sugar.

[sammydragoncat]

Sounds yummy - I do so love chocolate!

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Delighted to see your celebration in full swing! Please give Mum my greetings, as well!

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Hi there! I'm stopping in before bed to hug you and wave to Mum and say hello to all the others here.
Lovely party!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Mum says thanks and sends her love.

[sammydragoncat]

Well it looks like everyone is asleep, I thought I would leave a little Birthday cake and check back latter

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, yummy!

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Can we make it onto a new page today? If I recall correctly, in previous years we have determined that we needed 25 top-level comments. Being a scientist I will try adding some more to see what the rule is now!

And to make this more of a proper comment, how about this as a discussion topic: what is your profession (paid or unpaid)? Do you like it?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Still a grossly undervalued teacher. Would still prefer to be a professional writer, although by my luck, I'd be undervalued in that profession, too. *g*

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Still being a scientist here: if my count is correct this should be top-level comment number 25. If the rules are what I think, then this should be the last one on the first page.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

*Hangs head in shame* I can't count! That was top-level comment number 24...

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Now this will hopefully start a new page: as Gwendolyn Farifax says in one of my favourite plays The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde: "The suspence is killing me. I hope it will last!"

Any other Wilde fans at this party?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I never read anything else but some really short things by him, like The Happy Prince.