Mom's birthday

[DesertRose]

So I told my mom that she could pick a recipe and I would make whatever dessert she wanted for her birthday.  She chose the cake that has been "birthday cake" in our family for about half of forever, a recipe called Chocolate Waldorf Cake, from the Charleston Receipts cookbook, and she said that, even though we've never done it that way, she wanted me to try the seven-minute icing that the cake recipe recommends.

I've got one word for this, y'all.  YUM!

Seven-Minute Icing is a classic recipe for a reason, and I made it the "plain" way, which is to say vanilla flavored, but you can do all kinds of things with it, and Mom and I may experiment with variations, because it wasn't difficult to make, and it really meshes well with the richness of the cake.



And there's a story behind her birthday gift.  Around the time she and my stepdad got married (might have been shortly before they got married or shortly after, but it was in that general time-frame), he bought her a solitaire teardrop peridot ring (her birthstone), even though she generally dislikes her birthstone, but this particular stone is pretty, and she loved it from the word "Go." 

A few years later, he sneaked it away from her under the pretense of having it professionally cleaned (which was the truth, if nowhere near the whole truth, LOL), and had a little garnet added to one side (my birthstone) and a little emerald added to the other side (his birthstone).

Fast forward a few more years, and the Pod-Child is born (my daughter).  I had been wanting for years to get a little sapphire (Kiddo's birthstone) added to the originally-peridot-solitaire ring, and this year, I finally got off my duff and did it.  Because of my very tight budget, I talked my stepdad and my daughter into going in with me on the addition, and I decided that I didn't possess the necessary stealth to attempt to sneak the ring away from her, so I just point-blank asked for it, complete with my plan.

Good thing, too.  When she gave me the ring, she told me it needed to be sized up just a tiny bit because arthritis (osteoarthritis is the curse of our family; I've had it in my right thumb since my early twenties, and none of us have been spared) has caused the knuckle joint to swell, and she hadn't been able to wear the ring because she couldn't get it over the swollen knuckle.

So I took it to a proper jeweler's shop (they do still exist, although sometimes they're hard to find) and had the sapphire added and had it sized up 1/4 of a size.  (I wasn't sure they could size in quarter-size increments, but they can.)

And we gave it to her after the cake.



So now the whole immediate family is represented on the ring, and she can wear it.  I'm calling that a successful birthday celebration for her. 

[Shiral]

Happy Birthday to your Mom, DR! I was at a lunch with my mother and several of her friends today, also. No cake, but everyone enjoyed their ice cream. She got lots of cards and liked the birthday present I bought for her.

[DesertRose]

Happy birthday to your mom, too, @Shiral !  Ice cream sounds lovely, especially in the heat we've been dealing with lately!

[DerynifanK]

Time with family, a really yummy cake, a beautiful ring that she can now wear again, sounds like a perfect birthday. Again Happy Birthday to your mom and kudos to you and your family for giving her a perfect day.
And Happy Birthday to your mom also Shiral. Lunch with friends and ice cream also sounds like a lovely way to celebrate.

[Jerusha]

Sounds like lovely birthdays for both moms.  Well done!

[Laurna]

Wonderful Birthday story. Love the ring. Happy Birthdays to both DesertRose's and Shiral's moms.

[HoundMistress]

Glad to hear both moms liked their birthdays and their gifts. Love that ring, DR. It's so pretty with the 3 stones!