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Wednesday 7 November 2007

Happy Birthday!

Have you ever forgotten your own birthday? Whilst this has happened to me with other people's special days - luckily not too often - so far I was at least able to remember mine. However, it almost happened to this dear blog. Just by chance, I asked myself yesterday when its first anniversary would be. I quickly checked here and - oh my gosh - only one more day to go!

After one year, it's almost hard to believe that there was a life without food blogging. Not that I create something blog-worthy everyday - but all this thinking about food, making food, and photographing food turned out to be much more than a mere hobby. For some people, it might not look like a creative outburst having to wait for dinner whilst I'm busy taking pictures from all angles. However, it gives me an unexpected sense of inner satisfaction when one of my creations not only tastes good but also photographs well. And the best part? Lots of nice people, completely unknown to me, stop by, have a look around and sometimes even drop me a line. This thrill I get when I read new comments, still hasn't worn off. Whenever I'm feeling moody, all I have to do is looking at my stats and smiling at the idea that someone from the Maldives or Ghana or some other very remote place payed my little blog a visit... Nora, I'll always feel indebted to you for introducing me to this new world!

But back to the birthday - there has to be a cake, right? Being only one day ahead of time, I couldn't possibly make a layer cake, try my hands on macarons or do any other fancy stuff. However, I still wanted to do something I'd never made before. One idea popped up in my head that had been lurking somewhere for quite some time: financiers. They're quick to make but still have something mysterious about them. At least for me because in German cookbooks you would never see a cake that doesn't contain any egg yolks, almost no flour (let alone baking powder) but lots of butter, sugar, and almond flour instead. I was a little bit suspicious how such a cake should rise and brown nicely. However, I decided to go with a recipe I had found at Feeding my Enthusiasms - it's originally from David Lebovitz so I figured you can't go wrong with that.

And all my worries proved absolutely unnecessary. After very little work, these tiny cakes began to fill the kitchen with their almond perfume - and they looked so cute with their golden brown tops peeking out of the paper garments. They even made my boyfriend utter an appreciating "hmmmm"...

22 comments:

Deborah said...

Happy blog birthday! I've just found your blog - the photos are gorgeous!!

Warda said...

- What a great way to celebrate your blog's first anniversary with such a cute financier. I know what you mean by not remembering the days where there was no blog in our life. All we think about now is food, food and taking pictures. But it's so much fun and rewarding to come to know and appereciate the people behind the blogs. After all a blog without a soul is nothing.

Nora B. said...

Eva,
I'm so glad that you decided to this blog and that you got so much pleasure out of it.

I loved all of your beautiful photos, enjoyed reading your funny anecdotes about baking (esp sourdough) and Australia, as well as learning more about Bavaria (& the yummy food traditions there). I should also thank your mom for allowing you to publish some of her recipes (my top favourites are the ricotta crumble yeast cake and the plum cake).

I was trying to pick my favourite post, but i couldn't. Do you have a favourite post? Or maybe a favourite photo from the blog?

Happy Birthday Sweet Sins!!!!

xx Nora

p/s: thanks for sharing your birthday fanciers with me & Quikong. We enjoyed every crumb of it (seeing that I enjoyed it so much, Q gave me half of his!)

Eva said...

Thank you, Deborah, and welcome to my blog!

Exactly, Rose - it's really nice when people let you get a taste of how they live and cook and think...

Nora - I'll tell my mum how much you like her recipes, she'll be pleased!
It's hard to pick a favourite post or pic but I like the ones where I was able to tell a story instead of "that's what I had for dinner last night". However, this ability is directly related to the time of day I'm able to write something..;-) That's why I admire people like Melissa of Traveler's Lunchbox - she always comes up with something unique!

Glad that you like the financiers - I'll be making these again!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday Sweet Sins!
Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures and recipes with us, readers.
It is always a pleasure to read your posts.
I wish I had your talent with words and food presentation!

P.S. While writing my comment, I had the financier's picture on the right of my screen... It made me terribly hungry!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Eva,

Your blog is such an inspiration to all of us, my dear, it's always a great pleasure to see your stunning photos and delicious food!

Many more years to come!

Anonymous said...

Nachträglich alles gute - auf viele weitere Einträge, die sicher nicht nur optisch ein Genuss werden!

Eva said...

Emilie, so glad to hear that you're enjoying my posts! Although I would like to believe that I'm good at food styling (to improve that actually was one of my blog-related new year's resolutions...) - however, still have to go a long way..;-)

Thank you, Patricia, after reading so many inspiring blogs, I'd love to be of inspiration myself...

Vielen Dank, Petra, die Liste aller Rezepte, die ich ausprobieren will, wird von Tag zu Tag laenger...

tytty said...

happy birthday sweet sins hehe.

im gonna try to bake your choc crumble ricotta cake in this blog's honour

keep those recipes rollin!

Eva said...

Thanks Tytty, and hey, another fan of the choc crumble ricotta cake, wonderful!
I'll keep movin, I promise!

Katy said...

Happy blog birthday! I've never forgotten my own birthday, but I've definitely forgotten my (dating) anniversary nearly every year. My boyfriend usually gives me till 5 or 6 pm and then goes, "hey, do you know what today is?" Whoops!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Happy bloganniversary! Keep up with the great work!

Cheers,

Rosa

Schnuppschnuess said...

Happy Birthday auch von mir - die Küchlein sehen so gut aus, da hätte ich gerne eines. Na gut, ich nehme auch zwei!

Clumsy Cook said...

Happy Birthday! Your cake looks divine... is that blueberry inside?

Anonymous said...

Financiers -- a new word to add to my dictionary. They look fantastic, moist and full of fruity flavor.

Happy birthday, by the way.

bee said...

happy birthday to a beautiful blog.

Anonymous said...

I found you through Nika and I am so glad I did!
Happy Birthday!
Your photos are quite beautiful!
Cheers!

Eva said...

Katy, let me tell you that my boyfriend and I celebrated this year's anniversary for the first time (and it's our forth already)..;-)

Thanks, Rosa, I'll do my best!

Vielen Dank Schnuppschnuess - die Kuechlein sind allerdings schon aufgegessen!

Thank you, Clumsy Cook - it's blackberry but I'd say that any other tart berry would work just as well.

Christina - Isn't it wonderful that there is still so much more to explore..;-) In Australia, these little cakes are also known as friands so maybe that's the same in your country?

Thanks so much, Bee! *blush*

Startcooking - I'm just as happy that you've found me - thanks for stopping by!

Anonymous said...

Happy Blogging Birthday! (and love that little teapot, by the way)

Eva said...

Thanks Y! I love tea pots - I could just go collecting them. However, my kitchen shelves are full already...

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean! I seem to collect tea cups more than pots, but I did get a lovely handmade ceramic teapot while I was in Tokyo recently.

Eva said...

Oh yes, there are just too many cute things out there. Guess I just have to visit a cookware shop to get a quick fix for my addiction..;-)