Another Year, Marked in Meals and Moments
I have a complicated relationship with birthday celebrations; growing up, my parents lost a baby on her first birthday without prior warning. One minute we were celebrating, the next minute, there was a swarm of bees in the front corner of the house roof, and by the time the bees were smoked off, she was gone.
Her name was Titilola which means ‘forever will be wealth’; no warning, no sickness, just total shock. Ever since, birthday parties have held little to no appeal for me although I always take the time to celebrate myself in my own way.
For my 40th birthday, I proudly bought myself a brand new BMW car and each year since, I curate my own birthday experience not leaving anything to chance. The odds of throwing myself a party would most likely always be zero as crowded events have never been my style and especially one where I am the supposed centre of attention.
This year, I decided to take my birthday week off but the celebration started the week before with my work mates surprising me with a decorated desk, a bottle of wine, box of truffles, and Colin the Caterpillar cake from M&S.
Tucked between the weekend and my birthday was Mother’s Day celebration with a meal out at Oliveta Harrogate, a Mediterranean restaurant. The lovely meal started with juicy prawns in a tomato sauce followed by a grilled platter comprising of smoky cuts of meats and flatbread. I finished my meal with a beautiful Tiramisu and a complimentary shot of limoncello.
On my actual birthday, I kept things simple and easy by cooking myself what I felt like eating as I wasn’t keen on eating out two days in a row. I spent the day responding to heartwarming birthday messages.
The following day, I attended the First Nidderdale Feast and got to be part of the launch of a three year initiative to firmly put Nidderdale on the food map with focus on sustainability, production of nutritious food, collaboration between farmers and chefs to support seasonal cooking and reduction of food waste.
This was a brilliant opportunity to be in the same room with the heroes and giants of the Yorkshire food scene including farmers, producers, chefs, estate owners and entrepreneurs. This is my kind of celebration – being in the same room with like minded people and when the feast is curated by Yorkshire Culinary royalty, Frances Atkins, you know you’re in for a great time.
The king of Catering – Ian King – from Pavilions of Harrogate and Great Yorkshire Show caterer was a real delight and Stephanie Moon, an amazing and respected chef gave the opening speech. The feast was delivered by a line up of talented chefs and you can read more about them in my post for The Stray Ferret.
I chilled out on the Wednesday ready for our evening out at Rudding Park on Thursday. I attended the pre-opening and opening of Fifty Two at Rudding Park and decided a few weeks back that I would celebrate my birthday there; interestingly, they won their first Michelin star less than two weeks after my booking.
As expected I had a brilliant time with precise dishes delivered to exceptional standards and the bonus was connecting with other diners on our shared table.
Fifty Two feels like home and I was glad to celebrate my birthday there with my mister.
I can’t do a birthday recap without touching on some of my gifts which included a Hibachi grill from my boys, a belated Christmas gift that somehow arrived a day before my birthday was a Ninja Shark that hoovers and mops at the same time, next was a treadmill (unsure what this is really saying), a generous voucher to order pyjamas and lounge wear from Desmond and Dempsey and loads of beautiful crockery for my upcoming chef’s table.
A gift to myself was a macaron making class with none other than Florian Poirot, a master pâtissier who became the UK pastry champion in 2017 and won the Best Sugar Showpiece prize at the World Pastry Cup in Lyon. Making my own almond cake and macarons was the perfect way to spend Saturday.
I capped this with a Sunday afternoon visit with my brother in law and his wife which meant home cooked dinner without me lifting a finger.
I am incredibly blessed to celebrate my birthday in the way that matters to my food loving self – eating and writing - and I will take this over a million birthday parties. Here is to another amazing year filled with love, light, hope, joy and health; and of course great food and fantastic collaborations with like-minded people.
I have indulged for a week and it’s now back to the hustle – thank goodness, it’s what I love doing and I am on the countdown to my next Chef’s table at The Cook’s Place in Malton on the 18th of April.