Party with the Birthday Bunny
Some of us, including the “Birthday Divas,” combine both celebrations
Mom seasoned our family birthdays with enchanting features. Beginning when I was a very young girl, we celebrated everyone’s “born day” for a full week. Today her oldest daughter, with my late-March birthday, happily reports the tradition continues to offer delight.
Growing up, these celebration menus included our favorite dishes for dinner every night for the six days preceding our birth date. We wore new clothes to classes when this natal anniversary fell on a school day. Birthday finales included flowers and a “special dinner” ending with “made-with-love” cakes.
Mom set such personal precedents for my Easter-adjacent birthdays, that by the time I began reaching the age milestones some of my friends dreaded, the pendulum had swung so far toward joyously celebrating birthdays that it had become impossible to awaken during the last week of March anything short of thrilled.
So, what did I eat during my “pre-Easter” birthday week? Although my list of favorite foods has grown considerably, most of the dishes I’ve selected during a lifetime of “birthday weeks” remain on today’s roster: Shrimp Creole, Gumbo, Crab Cakes, Oyster Loaf, Calamari, Granny’s Rolls, Baked Banana Pudding, Gingerbread and Pound Cake.
Yes, I’ve made tiny “favorite recipe” updates and tweaks. But, for the most part, I continue following ancestor recipe instructions. Keep reading. I promise the full roster of passed-down CreoleSoul favorites in upcoming newsletters.
What a surprise to experience last weekend’s birthday messages as approval for the life I’ve lived with “a million attempts to correct a million mistakes,” as I recorded in a teenage diary.
Sibs, son, nieces, nephews, cousins, dear friends, old buddies and online pals, please feel my gratitude for your birthday trickle of unexpected surprise, joy and comfort.
“We love you and miss you…”
“For the Best Great Aunt”
“”Hope your birthday is as wonderful as you are…”
And thank you, dear Kricket (“Special K”), for your surprise reach-out from Florida.
Now, I’m forever reminded to send notes and cards. Plus, as always, continue “365 gratitude” for smiling-down ancestors.
This year’s tender words from others seem to be responding to decades of unanswered questions—
I’m ending the newsletter with an answer for a reader requesting a recipe for her family’s upcoming springtime celebration: Glazed Spiral-Sliced Ham (see below for mail order sources).
Springtime Spiral-Sliced Ham
1 fully cooked, spiral-sliced smoked ham, about 5-6 pounds 3 tablespoons whole cloves 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1 1/2 cups apricot preserves 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup Creole mustard 2 tablespoons honey Zest from 1 orange 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice 1/4 teaspoon each, ground: cloves, allspice, mace (optional) Freshly ground pepper
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Score ham and press in cloves. Place the ham in a foil-covered roasting pan. Set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in preserves, brown sugar, mustard, honey, orange juice, zest, cloves, allspice, mace (if using) and ground pepper. Cook, stirring, until sauce blends together and begins to thicken into a glaze, about 3 minutes.
Brush the glaze over the ham, brushing a little between slices, if desired. Bake until the ham warms and glaze deeply browns, about 1 hour.
Notes:
spiral-cut hams are available in many markets as well as www.honeybaked.com and www.omahasteaks.com
Tips:
To insert cloves into ham skin, www.recipetips.com recommends scoring the ham “with a sharp knife in a diagonal pattern. Repeat scoring, diagonally, in the opposite direction to create a crossing pattern. Insert whole cloves at the crossings.”
Introductions:
Who are the Birthday Divas?
Click this green link Happy Birthday Diva to discover more about others who celebrate late-March birthdays. “…spring, a time to celebrate renewal, rebirth—and, as it turns out, divas. This week, Mariah Carey, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and Lady Gaga all turn one year older. Coincidence? Astrologically speaking, no. These dynamic women are all Aries, the first and fieriest sign of the zodiac.”