The birthday of Louisiana well done with the homemade birthday cake | Inspired Louisiana

I spent 17 years as a planner of professional events. I know how to organize a party. A long time ago, I let my husband take down. Planning and organizing a party is not its thing.

If I want a party for my birthday, I organize it. He goes to the nth degree to help, but I am the engine. After 31 years of marriage, we settled in our roles – not because we owe it, but because we understand each other better. We know everyone is happier this way.

For example, last year for my birthday, I threw a big one. I hired a group and a caller, and we had a contra -dance with more than 60 people.

This year, I decided to mitigate it. No party. Just a day with my family.

At the end of March, my two daughters came home for my birthday so that our whole family can be together. I had to be at my office for the afternoon, but even it worked because my daughters worked together when I left to prepare one of the most beautiful pleasures of life – a homemade cake, just for me.

I am in favor of fully appreciation of things that make life more beautiful. I learned the value of recognizing and savoring the small joys that life offers. A homemade cake is one of them.

Rejecting the homemade cake as a pure indulgence is madness. We spend so much time in a world that tells us to do more, to eat less or to hurry.

From time to time, doing the opposite is exactly what we need. Do less. Eat more. To slow down.

In the world in which I want to live, a homemade cake is not an extravagance, it is an occasional necessity.

Regarding cooking, none of our daughters has needed my help for some time. The softness of the cake went beyond the cup of sugar involved.

Few things bring such a simple and undeniable joy as a homemade cake. My daughters could have worked for weeks on something much more complicated, but would we have won so much pleasure? I doubt it.

To add to the delicious, my husband prepared my favorite meal – homemade chilic rellenos with black beans, Mexican rice and guacamole. Although he does not plan a party, he will roast peppers and rellenos with cheese and beef. Then, he coats and strikes carefully each and loose them individually. Despite all that, they are light and incredibly delicious.

There is something deeply good in the food made by the hands of those we love.

I recognize that days like this are ephemeral. Sitting at the table that evening, eating a delicious meal alongside the people I love most in the world, I wanted to put this feeling.

I realized that it is not the main parts or the big gestures that count the most. Instead, two sisters are making a cake for their mother’s birthday on a Monday afternoon. Yes, I still like a party, and that does not mean that I will have no other soon.

There will be time for that.

But for the moment, the best gift is time – time in a hot kitchen, at a full table, with the people I love most.