Monday, 26 April 2010

Anniversary Dinner

Among the quotes on my sidebar is this one, perhaps my favourite.

Emma Goldman -No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

Whilst it is always wonderful to see my girls achieve something academic, for me it is the development of their hearts that warm me more. Today the eldest girls surprised us by planning a dinner for Rog and I, in celebration of our twelfth wedding anniversary. They realised that lack of babysitters mean we are unable to go out for a meal, and they wanted us to have some way of marking the day as special (not that a trip to the doctors to syringe his waxy ears, or a weekly load up at the grocery store wasn't laden with romance :p ).

So they presented us with a menu.

Entree
 Pancakes

Main
Gentleman : Sausages, beans, eggs and toast
Lady: Potato Wedges (Maddie had seen a recipe for these in one of her magazines)

Dessert
Gentleman : Sundae (which later morphed into a banana split)
 Lady : Ice cream soda

Drinks
Water
Coke Zero
Milk
Lemonade


After some discussion it was decided that an entree probably wasn't necessary, if we were to fit in a main and dessert. The girls tidied up the table, which is in the garage right now, (due to no space in our teeny house), laid a cloth, utensils wrapped carefully in napkins, fancy wine glasses and salt and pepper. All this by 3:30pm!


At around 5:30pm they hit the kitchen.


Roger and I sat in the garage (he named it Le Garage), and reminisced whilst listening to music. The girls were very attentive to our needs, filling our glasses and trying to keep the little ones out of our hair.
They worked pretty well, though Maddie went into Gordon Ramsey mode a few times. But eventually, with a bare minimum of help, they plated up a couple of remarkably tasty mains.


Followed by our amazing desserts.


A wonderful, amazing evening. Better than going out to any restaurant. Thank you girls, we love you both!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww!!! How gorgeous!! I just love your girls, they are incredible. What a beautiful thing they did for you guys. The food looks fabulous!

Oh, and Happy Anniversary to you and Rog, too! It's ours on Saturday (1 year less than you).

Catching the Magic said...

Awwww, that's so adorable! Happy Anniversary! Reminds me of what my sister and I used to do for our parents - their anniversary fell on the English school hols and we were often away on holiday. We'd wake up early and gather flowers from wherever we were staying (usually camping) and make them breakfast (I remember drawing little 'love' faces on hard boiled eggs once).

Your wonderful daughters have been made with love and what better way to celebrate your Wedding Anniversary than with them :)

Sarah Bean said...

Yummm! Looks delish, and awww!

Jen said...

bless them :)

Happy Anniversary to you and Roger

skatey katie said...

tell me that is not bacon on your wedges? cos it looks like bacon.
oh, have you joined that fb group "try to say 'beer can' and not sound like a jamaican saying 'bacon'..." or something like that.
happy anni you old peeps X

Laura/CenterDownHome said...

Sounds like a wonderful evening! Happy Anniversary!

debra said...

What a lovely time! xo

Hay said...

Thanks ya'll!

Sarah...that sounds like something out of the Exiles by Hilary McKay, a great series to read with your girls!

Katie, it's tomato, not tasty pig flesh ;)

Karen said...

Happy Anniversary, Hay!! I'm really, REALLY hoping that Nathan will start feeling inspired in the kitchen--maybe I should start reading this blog to him--he already has a crush on Kyla!

Mary said...

Je trouve cet acte (le repas fait par vos filles) fabuleux et tellement émouvant !

J'aimerais cuisiner pour mes parents mais je ne sais pas faire grand chose... :-)

Merci pour le partage de photos, elles sont magnifiques !

***

I find this act (the meal made by your daughters) fabulous and so moving!

I cook for my parents but I do not know how much ... :-)

Thank you for sharing photos, they are beautiful!

The Word Party

Loving words clutch crimson roses,
Rude words sniff and pick their noses,
Sly words come dressed as foxes,
Short words stand on cardboard boxes,
Common words tell jokes and gabble,
Complicated words play Scrabble,
Swear words stamp around and shout,
Hard words stare eachother out,
Foreign words look lost and shrug,
Careless words trip on the rug,
Long words slouch with stooping shoulders,
Code words carry secret folders,
Silly words flick rubber bands,
Hyphenated words hold hands,
Strong words show off, bending metal,
Sweet words call each other 'petal',
Small words yawn and suck their thumbs,
Till at last the morning comes,
Kind words give out farewell posies....
Snap! The dictionary closes.

-RICHARD EDWARDS.