Happy Birthday Matthew!

There is so much going on right now I can barely handle it.

The good news: I'm loving every minute of having my brother, SIL, and niece here.

The bad news: This blog is getting dusty!

Matt and I are 20 months apart. My mom tells me that when she came home from the hospital, she was careful to greet me without the new baby so I wouldn't be jealous. Apparently I wasn't interested in a hug, but looked past her and asked "where's the baby?". I've been enamored ever since.

My brother Matt celebrates his birthday on December 17. When your dad is a music minister, there is almost always some sort of Christmas program scheduled on or around the 17th. Matt's been a good sport over the years, but I don't think it's always been easy sharing his birthday with his parent's job.

Since Matt is here for Christmas, Aleks and I wanted to cook him a belated birthday dinner. Aleks cooked braised short ribs, creamy polenta, and salad.

I made a chocolate crepe cake (thank you Martha Stewart).

First you make the crepe batter.

Two hours or so later, you make crepes. These were really thick and spongy. It worked well in this cake context, but as a typical crepe they were an abomination.

This much butter went into the frosting.

The base of the buttercream is an Italian meringue.

The frosting called for hazelnut creme. I couldn't find that, so I used almond paste. It turns out the two are completely different. My frosting had chunks of marzipan throughout. Not what Martha intended, but I liked it.

Then everything is layered.

Finally it's topped with a chocolate glaze.

Happy Birthday Matthew.

I'm so glad you're my brother and that we could celebrate together this year.

I'm so excited for you and all that the year ahead has in store.

And maybe another cousin for my girls....???

Love you.