Double 18 Birthday for Phil - 18th April 2012

I haven't posted for a really long time, I'm sorry about that. I've been trying so many different things lately that the blog seems to have taken a back seat. The thing is, it's important for me to keep this up as when I look back on it in years to come, I'll be able to remember our time in Sydney in more detail than if I was to just try to sift through my memories. To quote many a school report, "must try harder."

It was Phil's birthday a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it landed on the Easter weekend so we had four days of birthday celebrations and the weather was glorious. We ate lots, drank too much and by the end of it I felt like I'd been on holiday and was ready to go back home for a rest and to fall back into my usual routines. I bought him a few presents - chocolate covered strawberries, a book that he wanted (plus two that he already had, oops!) and I also painted him a picture of the Justice League.

It's the third picture I've painted since I started a month ago and despite the fact that I'm a perfectionist, overly critical of everything I do and can find a million things I'm not happy with, it actually turned out ok. I also made him a Mojito cake. Phil loves rum and he also loves cake so a Mojito cake was just perfect. I made a white sponge, admittedly from a packet - I'm a busy girl don't you know, I poked the whole thing with a fork and then poured over a rum, sugar and water glaze that I'd boiled for about 3 minutes. Once it had cooled I whipped some cream with a bit of rum in it and served it with some lime zest sprinkled over it and a sprig of mint. It was so delicious!!

The cake stayed really moist for the three days it took Phil to eat the whole thing because of the lovely glaze.

I'll post again soon x