Friday, January 15, 2010

Birthday in Doha

Since we were flying back to Doha on Nick's birthday he actually lost 9 hours of the special day! Having a birthday close to Christmas is rough as it is but loosing hours...no fun. Especially since we didn't acknowledge it that day. All that being said I decided to have our neighbors/friends and their families over for an impromptu dinner in honor to give Nick a little birthday attention. We enjoyed Mexican food and some great fellowship.

That particular afternoon Nick took the boys to join our neighbors at the Singing Sand Dunes. I opted to stay home, enjoy a quiet house, grocery shop and bake his birthday cake. Apparently I missed some serious action. Nick drove his Toyota FJ Cruiser up to the top of the dunes and drove down, without the boys, I might add. Turned out to be a great birthday thrill for Nick. He enjoyed every bit as well did the group who they were with.

The Coordsens (pictured below) are great friends and our next door neighbors. Not only that, Brian is Nick's boss. Might sound a little sticky but these incredibly kind people have been a huge blessing to us. They are Doha experts and lots of fun. We've enjoyed getting to know them and their boys very much and love living so close. They gave Nick a free round of paintball for his birthday. To say he's excited is an understatement!

Sure wish our kitchen made for a better back drop but it doesn't. The water dispenser, deep freeze and fire extinguisher are quite the compliment to our tile kitchens. (so sorry I made everyone stand in such an awkward pose) We actually had a very casual fun dinner...this looks so strange.


Notice the cake toppers...Malcom and Karen (our other great neighbors and friends) just on a whim brought these toy SUVs...representing Nick's extra curricular sand duning activities from the afternoon. They were super cute and especially perfect considering my icing!

I made a homemade red-velvet cake (Nick's absolute favorite) and the cake turned out successful. BUT the icing did not! I made cream cheese icing which is pretty simple if you're using cream cheese made in the United States of American! Cream cheese sold in Doha may be called Philadelphia but its actually from Saudi Arabia :) Turns out its very watery compared to American cream cheese. I've used it many times in dips and cooking but not baking...this was a first. SO...we didn't get away without a Doha memory and special touch to Nick's birthday. The icing was literally running off the cake which turned out to be a perfect fit for the SUV's representing Nick's car that day. We all got a good laugh. At least it tasted good.


2 comments:

Shannon said...

Happy Birthday to Nick! You are such a sweet wife and the cake is wonderful! I loved the SUVs!

shannonmichaelis said...

Love the SUV about ready to take off down the dune - and it still doens't bring back fond memories! :-) Great wife to make your hubby THE red velvet cake. Looked like fun!