a Golden Apple Writer blog created for WDC's 21 Birthday Bash Blog Relay! |
Team Golden Apple Writers ready for some Bloggin'! And this, of course, is where mine is gonna go. |
Monday, July 12, 1936 On Friday, the seldom seen Nikola Tesla emerged from hermitage for his annual press conference and his eightieth birthday celebration, gray of hair and dressed smartly in a black business suit and sensible tie. True to years past, a smorgasbord of food and drink was set up in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel New Yorker, which even included delectable dishes created by the man of honor himself. The ballroom was adorned with Mr. Tesla’s inventions; the centerpiece in the ballroom, his large plasma lamp. As they had for his seventy-fifth birthday, many pioneers in the fields of science and engineering sent their congratulations and well-wishes, some even making surprise appearances at the event itself. Members of the press rubbed elbows with New York’s elite and world renown scientists such as Einstein and John Rockefeller. As Tesla's plasma lamp crackled in the background, he began the evening with a press conference, where he discussed his most recent inventions, regaled in past exploits, and made fantastic claims about some of his new ideas. Amongst these claims was the statement that had finally found a way to transmit wireless power. Reporters questioned Tesla on the progress of a technique he had announced the year before called telegeodynamics, to which Tesla stated that it would be used to locate mineral deposits underground through the transmission of electrical energy from the surface, making it easier to find caves and other subsurface formations. Guests were treated to a dinner of roast fowl and vegetables, while Tesla dined on his customary bread, honey, and vegetable juices. Following dinner, Albert Einstein led the toast to Mr. Tesla as hotel staff carried in his birthday cake; a three-tiered confection of honeyed cakes iced with a simple white frosting. The soirée lasted until approximately midnight, at which time Tesla excused himself in order to return to his workshop. Word Count: 318 Golden Apple Writers - Just LeJenD' |
Day Five: MUCH ADO ABOUT CAKE Having cake on one's birthday is a fun concept. Something sweet to eat to go along with the gifts and well wishes of friends and family. But sometimes, it seems the people buying the cake for the birthday person don't take into account the tastes of the person they are buying for. Then there are those outrageous cakes that look like they aren't cake at all, the fondant blanketed creations almost look like plastic replicas of cake all dressed up and are too pretty to eat. Which was the case with my oldest daughter, Kat. Once my girls were old enough to tell me, I would ask them what kind of cake they'd each like on their respective birthdays. My youngest, Lucy, was always easy. She, like me, likes simple not too sweet cakes such as strawberry, carrot, or plain vanilla. Lucy would tell me whichever one she was in the mood for right before her birthday and I would bake it for her, easy-peasy. Kat was a little more difficult for a while. When Kat was little, she always wanted those fancy cakes with all the decorations and inches of thick icing so sweet it made your teeth ache, she didn't care what flavor the actual cake was as long as it looked pretty. And I bought them for her - but she never ate much of any of them. The cake would sit, all the icing and fondant melting with each passing day until it was hard to make out what it was supposed to be decorated as, and we would have to throw it out to the chickens. One year, my nephew asked for a cookie cake for his birthday. Kat took one bite of her piece of his cake and decided right then and there she would have cookie cake for her birthday every year. At Twenty-five, Kat still gets cookie cake for her birthday, only now her boyfriend buys them for her. But this term, cookie cake, there's nothing cake about it except for the icing they use on top of it to write the birthday wishes. It would make more sense to call it a cookie pizza (that's what it looks like), or even better yet, a giant cookie. But hey, that's my opinion. Like I said, Lucy was always easy to bake for. One year, however, Lucy decided she wanted to have a tie-dye party for her birthday, with tie-dye balloons and decorations and an activity where her guests could tie-dye their own shirt to take home. She also wanted her cake to be tie-dye. In case you aren't familiar with how to make one of these masterpieces, you use a general vanilla cake batter and separate it into a few different bowls where you add drops of food coloring, different colors for each bowl, so you end up with a few bowls and a rainbow of colors. Then you pour a little of each into the cake pan at a time, alternating colors, until you have placed all of the batter into the pan, then place it in the oven like any other cake. This was the messiest cake I have ever had the privilege of baking! I would have been cleaner if I had actually been tie-dying pieces of clothing. But we had fun and she loved her cake - and the memories totally made up for the mess. When Lucy first became engaged, we pretty much adopted her fiance into our family and I began the birthday cake tradition with him as well. The first year, I asked him what kind of cake he would like and he was surprised that someone would ask. His mom always bought him chocolate cake for his birthday every year. So I asked, "So you want a chocolate cake?" He looked uncomfortable and then told me, "No. I don't like chocolate cake. I think my mom just buys it because it is her favorite. I'd rather have a carrot cake." So I made him a carrot cake. He said it was the best birthday cake he'd ever gotten. I'm glad that he enjoyed it. But whichever direction you choose to go when acquiring a birthday cake for someone, it always helps to remember that the cake is for them - even when they want outlandishly decorated fondant creations. It is about helping them celebrate their day with cake and goodies and friends and family. The cake isn't what's important, after all, the person you are there to celebrate is. Live, love, and celebrate life's milestones. Word Count: 768 Golden Apple Writers - LeJenD' ** Image ID #2254180 Unavailable ** |
Day Two Prompt: WORST PRESENT EVER Author's Note: ▼ She thought they'd be together until their dying days. It never crossed her mind they could, at some point, part ways. Head-over-heels in love she was and thought the sentiment returned blind to the possibility that one day she might get burned. He left one day on business and for weeks did not respond to any call or message; with her heart he did abscond. Then, on the morning of her birthday there came a knock at her door she was handed divorce summons for he felt their love no more. Such a horrible birthday present to leave one in lonesome tears. A tragedy for a heart open to love to realize all she feared. Thank goodness she has friends on which she can rely. They'll see her through the heartache 'till her heart again can fly. Poetry Entry - 24 Lines (27 with drop-down included) Golden Apple Writers - Just LeJenD' |