Last night we had a fun and festive birthday gathering at our home for two close friends, Megumi (pictured above with Olivia, photo taken by Owen!) and Claire (with the chips and mango salsa). Megumi (Mimi, as our kids call her) is a tent-maker English teacher who lives about 45 minutes away, and has been our friend for 8 years or so. She is like family to us- she often spends the weekends, and has provided babysitting services on occasion so we can get out. Claire- is one of our co-workers, and I am sure that our children have no idea that Auntie Claire is not really closely related, because she and her husband Bobby are very much part of our family. For real.

So, the challenge of course with a combined birthday party like this one is: what kind of cake do you make? I imagined if it was just for Megumi making some kind of make-up-shaped cake or perhaps a cake of “the Hatch” because she still hasn’t season Lost Season 2 yet and is dying to know what’s in the Hatch!… For Claire- I thought of doing a gold car, since they now own our old one… or a bathtub with a goop of hair in it (April Fools 2006- Claire has recently shared with a friend that she hates stray hair in bathrooms…. Eric and I go over for a visit, clean out our hairbrushes at home, sneak a pile of hair into the bathtub, and leave… one hour later her mother-in-law comes to visit- they are ALL rather shocked by what they find during the tour of the apartment… can’t figure out HOW it got there. They start wondering if someone snuck into the house and used the tub – it would have to be a VERY hairy person. Only later when we confessed did they realize.)

But none of these ideas would work because it was a party for BOTH of them. We finally thought of something that they both have in common –something that they both love but isn’t easy to come by in Japan. We love you, Claire and Megumi. Happy happy birthday.

(Yes, it’s a macaroni and cheese cake. Only much sweeter than you’re used to.)