Birthday lunch

Celebrated quietly enough this year, with the main business following the following day. But towards the end of birthday lunch there was a seed cake, a sort of cake we made a lot of perhaps forty five years ago, much less frequently since. But I was reminded how much I like it, even if the cutting left something to be desired. Well off-centre. Also a practical cake, as it stands much better than a sponge cake, which really needs to be eaten on the day it is made. Even a fake sponge like a Victoria sponge. 

This one lasted two and a bit days. A bit in that there was just a small stump left for me on the third day. Whereas forty five years ago, probably when I was cycling perhaps fifteen miles a day during the week, such a cake lasted about half an hour. Usually on a Sunday afternoon.

Cards from grandchildren, with personalised interiors. The kitten went on to feature at reference 1.

The gilt bronze candlestick used to be a feature of my mother's parents' festal meals in Montreal. Arriving here at a time when we were all getting excited about dangerous baggage on aeroplanes, but it seemed that this sort of thing, disassembled, was fine in hold luggage. The third candle, that is to say the one at the back, took a while to get going, but eventually I realised that it had flooded. Breaching the dyke made by the not very combustible gold wrapping paper solved the problem.

Napkin from the Linen Store, lately of Great Castle Street. Napkin ring a BH family heirloom.

Matches from Swan Vesta. Not, I suppose, the business it once was when so many more people smoked.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/09/series-3-episode-vii.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/09/cakes-and-ale.html. Possibly the last occasion on which we had a seed cake. For the record, for the search, the seeds being caraway.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caraway.