My baby girl was born yesterday....but now she is 9!!!

My little girl celebrated her 9th birthday a few weeks before. Let me invite you guys to a small conversation that happened a few days before her birthday…

Me----- “Hey Leah, what do you want for your birthday?”

Leah--- “I can’t believe that you forget… You promised me that I can cook all by myself on my 9th birthday”

Me-----(In my mind) Yes, that promise happened a few months back… I said those words just to avoid her disturbing me in the kitchen while I was experimenting something… But I really thought that she will forget it until someone else, possibly her pesky little brother who selectively remembers and reminds everyone of anything that shouldn't be remembered and reminded, reminds her…

“Oh… are you sure that you want to do it? I will not help… I will not come near the kitchen… you will have to do everything by yourself…” (I have to make sure that I tried my best to make her drop the decision.)

Leah--- That’s exactly what I want… I don’t want anyone in the kitchen…. I want to cook by myself.

Me----O………….k…. (does that sound as unconvincing as I was then?)

So together we decided on the recipe… It is going to be a Brownie… from ‘A Tasty Challenge’. Together we made this Brownie a number of times in the past… But still I tried to impart a bit of hesitation in her mind…, mainly because I just can’t admit that my little girl has grown so much… I just can’t… It is not fair… she was born just yesterday…. I changed her diapers and put her to bed very recently… But as the conversation proceeded she convinced me that all these things happened 9 years ago…

Me----“So there is baking involved… you have to switch on the Oven… Will you do it?”

Leah---“Yes I will… You just stay there and see whether I am doing it right. That's it”

Me----O…..k… (I am still not sure about this whole idea; but it wont cost anything after all...)

Sure or not that day came and Leah was as determined as ever… And I have to say she pulled it off quite well…

I took a print out of my Brownie recipe and showed her where all the ingredients are…; left everything to herself and checked our smoke detector for proper functioning… you know.. just in case…)

I sat on the dining table, which is next to the kitchen and listened to Leah reading each and every sentence from the print out and making her own comment on the sentence as if she is 'The Next Food Network Star'… She even fired her little brother once, when he tried to sneak into the kitchen to swipe some Chocolate chips….
She measured, she mixed... I sat there at the table browsing....listening and smiling to the commentary from the kitchen....
She used a parchment paper on the bottom….

She poured the batter….

Her pesky brother volunteered to do the 'quality control'….

But I interfered when what started as a simple 'quality control' went wild….

After baking it came out good… But I was too skeptical about taking the brownies out of that pan… So I took a photo of it in the pan itself… I went back for more browsing while Leah let the Brownie cool down a bit….

But after sometime she came with this….

Then she cut it…; shared with her brother and us….

Oh forgot to mention… during this time, news went out that Leah is baking by herself and two of our friends with their families came to taste her Brownie… (Brownie tasting ended up in dinner and a long time of unlimited chatting!!!) Oh.. by the way....that painting on the table... Leah did it... I thought at least some of you would love to know...

Even though I started writing this post to portrait my daughter’s first attempt at cooking by herself, I would love you guys to sneak into her party too…

Usually we celebrate our kid’s birthday at home with some of our good friends, their kids, some home cooked food and a homemade cake of there preference… This time was also no difference…

For the first time in her life when Leah said she don’t want a Princess or a Fairy Tale character Cake, I realized with shock that my little princess is growing up… Her choice was a ‘swimming pool’ Cake... I sighed as she made her choice... she did not ask for a ‘High-Heeled Shoe Cake’ or a ‘Louis Vuitton Hand Bag’ Cake…. At least she is not a diva yet!!!

 

 It was a Rev Velvet Cale with a Cream Cheese filling and Butter Cream frosting... As you can see, I ended up covering the cake with fondant... Birthday Girl was more than happy to see my creation... and so were the guests...

Both of us were excited with the idea of an ‘all starters’ party’, as appetizers and soups being  her favorite… And this was the menu….

Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches and Egg Tea Sandwiches… (Most of our guests were not familiar with Smoked Salmon and hence we made an alternative too…)

   

Cream of Mushroom Soup…

Alligator Samplers… (It was actually fired Alligator with Indian spices…; It was my husband’s idea to incorporate something adventurous and he simply hated when I called them ‘Alligator Samplers’… he told everyone ‘Cheenkanni Varuthathu’!!!)
Amazingly it tasted just like Chicken and a four year old girl in the party went crazy (in a good manner) over it and ate right from the bowl where I kept it in bulk. (See, I got some good foodie friends!!)

Chicken Chilly…

Pav Bhaji…. (For easy handling I substituted Pav with Bread…)

Chemmeen Kozhukatta…

Salad with Vinegar, Salt and Pepper dressing... I think this goes well with Chicken Kebab

Chicken Kebeb

Fruit Trifle

If God allows, there will be more fabulous birthdays for my daughter, but I know I will never forget her 9th Birthday… when she convinced me that she can cook all by herself…

And I hope she will never forget it either…. Love you Leah... love you a lot....