My Mother's First and Favorite

My mother loves mahjong and gambling.  Growing up every weekend we would drive to my aunt's house in Oakland so my mom could play.  It was pretty fun as us kids would always get to stay up late and the adults would not pay any attention to us.  I got away with sooo many things because of this (washing my cousins hair with soda, pouring boxes of mix cereal on the floor and stomping on it)

Anyways, my mother's birthday was coming up and it was close to a big one.  So I thought, why not surprise her?  Since her big birthday was next year she probably wouldn't suspect anything.  My brother and I decided to have her surprise dinner at PPQ Dungeness Island.  My mother also LOVES crab and I had been trying to take her here for months.


The Cake:
I was inspired by the following cake, but knew I didn't want to use orchids or make the cake this tall.  So I took this idea and appropriated it a little by changing the character and flowers.

                                          Source: kakestudio.blogspot.com via Cari on Pinterest

I'm an ABC and know very little Chinese, so I reached out to my amazing cousin to ask her what should be written on her cake.  My cousin sent me pictures, examples of how to write the characters and the order of each brush stroke.  Here's a series of diagrams that she sent me.  Thanks so much Karen!

This is the traditional character for "Long Life" (after Karen realized I was going to put mahjong blocks on the cake, she said she should have told me to use "Wealth" instead)

I went online and started looking up what flowers would best be used based on chinese beliefs/symbolism.  I wanted a balance between a pretty flower and something symbolic.  I really like what the Citron represented (luck and happiness), but have you seen what they look like?. . not so pretty.  So I went with peonies as they are a symbol of nobility and value.

1. Peonies

2. Character Topper

3. Mahjong Blocks
(To poke fun at my mom . . she has a GREAT sense of humor)

4. Gold Trim
(I ran out of time and only did the top layer)

Surprisingly, this was actually my mom's first birthday cake (so she said).  When she told me this on the way home, I was in disbelieve and then I thought about it more.  My mom had never wanted a cake before saying she didn't eat cake and always told us to just save our money.  I felt a little bad, knowing that she had to wait so long for something so simple.  At least her first cake was a pretty one!

But I later recalled, that I did get her a cake circa 1998 or 1999.  I reminded her that I went to the local Lucky and bought her a snickers cake because that was her favorite candy bar at the time.  She then remembered and started laughing.  (That's right . . I'm not an ungrateful child!)

My mother actually used to decorate cakes herself, so some of the techniques I learned were from her.  She told me that she actually made her father's first birthday cake too.  And jokingly said when her father said thank you, she thought "I'm still waiting for my first birthday cake from you!"

Happy Birthday Mom!  Thank you for being an amazing mother and giving me an amazing childhood and a life with limitless possibilites.  I'm truly grateful.