For Your Birthday

I have a birthday cake for you.

From The Vagabond Table

Full warning: it is not a frosting cake (thank god!) It is not a cheesecake. It is not made of carrots or chocolate or strawberries or coconut. Instead, it is made of plums.

From The Vagabond Table

Simply dimpled, lovely, and jewel-toned, it is a cake for any-day or birth-days. It is, ideally, made with end-of-summer plums from the farmer’s market, and is made all the more interesting with a whisper of lemon zest and sour cream in the vanilla batter. It sounds strange, but is quite the find. It is, indeed, quite a cake. And, as my birthday gift to you, I present you the best cake I’ve had all summer, one I’ll probably make again before plum season ends, and one I promise you’ll thank me for, for being both simple and gorgeous at the same time.

From The Vagabond Table

I have some ruminations on my entrance into the grand year known as 28. So I’ll make this simple and sweet, (similar to this cake.)

From The Vagabond Table

We grow older, and, we hope, wiser. I don’t know if I’d ever consider myself wise, except that I have learned a few things during these past 28 years, most of which center around the themes of listening to myself, and being myself, no matter who thinks I’m crazy, or who thinks I’m a nerd and a half.

I’ve learned that risks are best taken with a family to hug you and send you bags of granola, and friends who cheer you along the way. And some killer mixed CD’s that become the soundtrack of it all.

I’ve learned that meals are best shared with a side of jokes and a dessert of thanks.

I’ve learned that a well-made bed is the best kind of bed to crawl into at night.

I’ve learned that there is absolutely nothing more important in this world than surrounding yourself with people you love and who cherish you right back. And that telling them so is a Very Important Thing.

I’ve learned that there is definitely something to the art of doing nothing. To napping beneath a tree. To dipping your fingers into a fountain and taking off your shoes in the park. To watching endless movie marathons and recording the lovely random thoughts that float through your head. To enjoying a perfect bite of cheese, the squeezing of a lemon and the sizzle of butter.

And I have learned that it’s okay to grow, and to change your mind, and to be wrong, and to be right, and to just be. And that the constant adventure and the thrill of what’s next is kind of what makes us tick, what makes us human, what makes us blessed.

So I cheers to you. To remaining true to yourself, but to the constant change. To the loved ones in your life. To another year to celebrate sunshine and clouds, raindrops and snowflakes, fall leaves and new flowers. To stretching yourself completely, and the loveliness of curling back up, newly changed, but always and essentially you. To your birthday, whenever it may be. To you.

From The Vagabond Table

As they say in Albania… Gezuar! Now go bake that cake and celebrate in style.