Flamingo birthday party!

So, the birthday party! I keep talking about it, it is about time I showed you some snippets. It was such a joyful day, we feel so grateful and humbled to have our dear girl showered by the love and presence of so many people. She was a delight, napping in the kangaroo carrier without any fuss, waking up as soon as she heard the word "piñata".

The day before was hectic and I wouldn't have been able to do everything I did without the help of Yu's grandma, who was here the whole day, taking care of her.

 The menu consisted of Mole-Poblano-vol-au-vents (pasteitjes, for the Dutch) and broodje Pom (a Surinamese oven dish*) to honour the girl's Mexican and Surinamese origins. There were also mandarin and grape flamingo skewers; forest-fruit yoghurt; lemon-raspberry muffins topped with white-chocolate ganache; carrot-orange-banana sugar-free muffins for the babies; keksi (a Surinamese fluffy sponge cake) and hummus and veggies to dip.

I made her a lemon cake filled with raspberries, white-chocolate ganache and lemon curd.

The poor girl did not get to try it, but she got a healthy muffin.

The piñata was a big hit... many people were not used to the tradition, so it was fun introducing it. Always a blast among the kids.

The day went by so fast, we were all exhausted by the end. I was expecting to  get very emotional**, but it didn't happen, this day was all about her and her friends, young and old.

We feel so blessed.





*  << Within the Surinamese community, in both Surinam and The Netherlands, Pom is the most popular and best known festive dish. From 1667 until 1975, Surinam was a Dutch colony, during this period the country became a melting pot of cultures and religions. Surinam’s high ethnic diversity is reflected by its cuisine which became a mixture of ingredients and cooking techniques of local Indians, colonial powers, African slaves and Asian immigrants. These include different ethnic and religious groups such as Amerindians, Creoles, Javanese, Dutch, Lebanese, Portuguese, Chinese, East Indians, Jews and French Huguenots. At present, for all Surinamese ethnic groups Pom is a festive dish, traditionally served at birthdays and celebrations. To indicate the popularity of Pom, if a Surinamese is asked to name his or her favourite dish, nine out of ten times the answer will be Pom. "Without Pom there is no birthday” is a well-known Surinamese saying. Many happy memories, emotions, stories and myths are also associated with Pom. Within the Surinamese community Pom is frequently referred to as a dish of Creole and/or Jewish origin. It was introduced by the Portuguese-Jewish plantation owners as the Portuguese potato ("pomme de terre") oven dish. Because the potato did not grow in Suriname and had to be imported it was soon replaced with the root of the tayer plant. Pom combines three central ingredients: chicken, citrus juice and pomtajer (Xanthosoma sagittifolium). Only the latter is indigenous, and although all plant parts are edible, only the underground part of the main stem is used as an ingredient in preparing Pom. The main stem or corm is most frequently designated as pomtajer or pongtaya (lit. the tajer/taya for Pom).>>

 **Ask me about the anniversary of the day my waters broke, though.