An Unpostponed Birthday

Last year I postponed my birthday by a week due to a work related trip (you can read about that here: How to Celebrate a Postponed Birthday).

This year I got to celebrate my birthday on the day itself, and by baking a bunch of cakes and pies for several of the ex-pats in Musoma. I had a truly enjoyable and blessed time making 5 different delectable desserts. It took 2 full days of work and then a few hours in the morning to put it all together, but it was absolutely worth it!

So, on the menu was (clockwise from the latticed pie): Apple Pie, gluten-free chocolate cupcakes with mint icing, passion fruit upside-down cake, and a chocolate layer cake with raspberry marshmallow middle and raspberry marshmallow icing. Not pictured is the mango cheesecake (my third attempt at cheesecake here and by far the most successful)!

One of the fun things about making all of these desserts was cooking from scratch, including the marshmallows! I really loved the creativity it took and the problem solving that had to happen along the way to make all of them turn out. As I said above, absolutely worth it.

Especially because it seemed that everyone who came enjoyed themselves and enjoyed the cakes and pies!

Oh, a fun gift that my mom sent me was this nifty zen garden trowel. I've never felt more calm.

UPDATE!!! I have been informed that this is, in fact, an extendable backscratcher...I guess you never can tell.

How to celebrate a postponed birthday

I finally celebrated turning 30 this past weekend. If you didn't already know I postponed my birthday by a week so that I could celebrate with some close friends.

So, how does one go about celebrating a postponed decade changing birthday?

Hm, this way:

Have coffee with a good friend (sadly, no picture of this part of the process).

Make dinner for some friends.
We had vegetable stir-fry with peanut sauce...delicious.

Also, make a weird coffee drink that you've never tried before for those friends.
It is called "European Coffee" and includes whipped egg whites. That is not whipped cream on top...

Have 'Happy Birthday' candles on top of a cake. Thanks Mom and Dad for the candles!!!

Ah yes, the picture of some of the friends that came over for dinner.

Have your housemate make yogurt and strain it as a substitute for cream cheese. That process has to be planned out because it can take up to a week to get enough. This is serious from scratch baking.
Then make a delicious mango cheesecake.

See a tree like this, hugging a rock, reaching desperately for more sun.

Enjoy a beautiful hike through some Tanzanian countryside and pick a hilltop to try and reach.

I will say it was kind of odd having a week where I was no longer in my 20s, but not quite 30. I would say postponing your birthday is a fun activity if you want to mix it up a bit, but shouldn't be a regular occurence.