I hope you like pet pictures!
Today was my cat, Patch's, 18th birthday.
"We should have a party for her," I joked. "You know, if that wasn't totally lame."
"We should have a party for her!" Mom exclaimed, and proceeded to call my cousin and invite her, her three kids, and my aunt and uncle over for a birthday dinner before I'd really even realized what was happening.
"Now you need to make a cake," I said.
"It's a cat," my dad scoffed. "It doesn't like cake. It would like a hamburger."
"Ooh," I said, suddenly getting excited, "We could make a meat cake."
So we did! It doesn't look nearly as nice as our inspiration, the Black Widow Bakery meat cake, but it was fun. It's just two layers of meat loaf with mashed potato "frosting" and a (messy!) ketchup glaze.
We made spaghetti, too, and garlic bread shaped like cats:
And a real cake, so as not to disappoint the children.
Of course, we made all the animals wear party hats. The birthday girl stared plaintively at me until I took hers off:
Allin was laid back, as always:
Biber looked mildly annoyed:
Scout rolled around and tried to knock the hat off his head, but when he couldn't, he just looked resigned:
And Jade decided she'd rather eat hers.
It ended up being a fun little party, actually -- the kids (aged 5, 3 and... um, a baby) had a good time, even though the older ones were more interested in the food and balloons than the cat. My uncle scoffed at the whole thing ("If I'd known about this a couple days ago, I could have bought her a card," he said sarcastically), but seemed to enjoy the food. The meat cake tasted pretty good, and the real cake (a pound cake with almond buttercream frosting) was good, too. I just found it all funny because Mom hasn't spent this much time and energy on anyone else's birthday in as long as I can remember!
We'll totally have another one when she turns 21. Anyone have suggestions for cat-themed cocktails? ;)
"We should have a party for her," I joked. "You know, if that wasn't totally lame."
"We should have a party for her!" Mom exclaimed, and proceeded to call my cousin and invite her, her three kids, and my aunt and uncle over for a birthday dinner before I'd really even realized what was happening.
"Now you need to make a cake," I said.
"It's a cat," my dad scoffed. "It doesn't like cake. It would like a hamburger."
"Ooh," I said, suddenly getting excited, "We could make a meat cake."
So we did! It doesn't look nearly as nice as our inspiration, the Black Widow Bakery meat cake, but it was fun. It's just two layers of meat loaf with mashed potato "frosting" and a (messy!) ketchup glaze.
We made spaghetti, too, and garlic bread shaped like cats:
And a real cake, so as not to disappoint the children.
Of course, we made all the animals wear party hats. The birthday girl stared plaintively at me until I took hers off:
Allin was laid back, as always:
Biber looked mildly annoyed:
Scout rolled around and tried to knock the hat off his head, but when he couldn't, he just looked resigned:
And Jade decided she'd rather eat hers.
It ended up being a fun little party, actually -- the kids (aged 5, 3 and... um, a baby) had a good time, even though the older ones were more interested in the food and balloons than the cat. My uncle scoffed at the whole thing ("If I'd known about this a couple days ago, I could have bought her a card," he said sarcastically), but seemed to enjoy the food. The meat cake tasted pretty good, and the real cake (a pound cake with almond buttercream frosting) was good, too. I just found it all funny because Mom hasn't spent this much time and energy on anyone else's birthday in as long as I can remember!
We'll totally have another one when she turns 21. Anyone have suggestions for cat-themed cocktails? ;)