My Darling Mom ~ 80 & Still as Fab as Always ♥

My darling Mom ~ Still Young and Fabulous at 80! 

It was my mother's birthday August 3rd, 2012. Two weeks before her birthday, having pondered what I should do to help her celebrate, I finally decided to have a surprise party for her at our home.

The festive buffet table, filled with tempting verrines & cocktail bites, all made by myself or our dear friend Sue, who prepared four of the dishes.  Some of the goodies you see: Tiny Marinated and Bar-B-Que'd Chicken Tikka skewers which I served on a fresh Cucumber Mint Raita in small verrines (these are on the square serving platter front left); Smoked-Salmon and Fresh Dill Canapés on thin Rye Bread spread with Lemon Pepper Butter (center front); miniature Vol-au-Vents filled with Ratatouille that I prepared with fresh herbs from my garden and veggies cut in brunoise (seen in the small rectangular serving dish, center); Sue's Deviled Eggs; tiny Cheese, Jalapeno, and Olive Empanaditas in a Cheese-Butter Crust (seen on the small glass cake pedestal behind the Deviled Eggs) ...

It took quite a lot of planning, but with the help of friends and family, we managed to ensure it would be a totally unexpected surprise. Mom's birthday was on the Friday, but I wanted to have the party on Sunday so it would be easier for more people to be there. One of our relatives had already planned a small dinner party for her on the Thursday night. Dreaming up a little white lie, I told her I would have to be in the Eastern Townships until the Saturday night (to accompany my sweetheart at a fundraiser his sports club was organizing). Have to admit that I felt a pang of guilt about telling her I'd miss her birthday (even though I was planning a special treat for her) but she assured me it was OK, and I promised I'd have a small but special private dinner for her on the Sunday.

A close friend had already planned to invite her out for her birthday on the Friday for lunch, and when I explained my plan to yet other friends, they decided to invite her to dinner on the Friday night. In addition, she'd already been invited to a darling friend's 104th Birthday on the Saturday night (yes, that's correct - 104 years young!), so she had no time to feel lonely!

With all that celebrating during the week, she could not imagine what surprise awaited her at our place when she arrived with her friend Rita! All the friends who'd celebrated with her during the week and other family and friends were there, waiting to greet her. Mom was not only surprised ~ the gleam in her eyes and her contagious laughter said it all! It made all the effort so worthwhile ♥ Like a typical lady, her only worry was that she was dressed too casually, but we all assured her she looked great ♥

Mom and some of the guests shortly after Mom had arrived. We ended up being 23 in all ~ 

Below is a photo of the large 11 x 15 inch, two-layer lemon-scented butter cake I created for her.  Filled and frosted in Italian limoncello-flavoured buttercream, topped with a layer of almond paste, then covered in limoncello flavoured fondant to give the cake a mirror-like finish, I then wrapped three fresh white roses with pink ribbon and placed them on the cake. These added a special touch, not only because of their beauty but because my Mother's name is Rose-Blanche, which means white rose!

Unfortunately, I ran out of time to make more buttercream (which takes quite a while to make) and had to make due with what I had left to decorate the cake. Then a little hole appeared in my small piping bag and my writing ended up a little wonky, but with the fresh roses, everyone thought it was quite pretty nonetheless! I must say that the flavour, delicate and not too sweet except for thin layer of fondant and almond paste, was the perfect pairing for the sparkling Rosé we served with it ♥

The Limoncello-flavoured birthday cake with fondant icing which I created for Mom, decorated with 3 fresh white roses.

In addition to the Birthday Cake, I also made a dozen small Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cakes in pretty shapes (which you can see below), some of which I decorated with fresh rosebuds and placed in tall glass petite cake pedestals with glass domes to decorate the table; I later gave some away to friends who had helped either making food or assembling the verrines and platters ♥

Small Lemon Sour Cream Bundt Cakes in pretty shapes sit under glass domes.

Mom, below, looking  positively radiant as she reads her small booklet of personal greetings written by all who were at the party.

One thing is for sure, I could never have organised this so successfully without the help of all our wonderful friends and family! Huge thanks go out from my heart to my sweetheart Claude, Solange (merci mille fois pour toute ton aide!), Sue Potter-Lee (thank you so much for all the help and the wonderful dishes you prepared), Marielle, Claude, & Rita (pour votre amour et votre complicité!), and to everyone else who lent a hand here and there ~ I love you all!