[Ninja Baker] Birthdays

[Ninja Baker]

Play-acting as baby and mama bird five years ago, my niece Eliza and I flapped our wings and flew around the living room. Sometimes in mid-flight, we would pause so I could drop a cheese morsel into her mouth.

The sparkling sand in the hourglass has tipped back and forth many a time since that summer. Seems fantasies of fame and winning the X Factor have replaced my New York niece’s penchant for princesses and pretend time with Auntie K. Eliza is now eleven. In fact, she entered eleven-hood while vacationing on the West Coast with her parents and brother.

Posing in front of the Hollywood sign after stargazing on the Boulevard of Dreams. Pluto cap clad nephew, Adam stands next to his sister, Eliza and in front of his parents, Sharon and Steve Knode. (Yours truly next to her brother.)

Preceding the visit, I was armed with a list of preferred birthday cake-frosting combinations. Courtesy of an e-mail from Eliza’s own account. (When did you first type in a password for your AOL, Yahoo address?) 

Auntie Karen (in the white top) and Auntie K (in grey) with the Knode family.

Schemes to include Eliza’s San Francisco aunt and cousins in a family bash followed. After an unprecedented rash of correspondence between relatives, we settled on the Friday after Eliza’s birthday.

Pumpkin bundt cake with cream cheese frosting.

A baking frenzy ensued.   

A pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing for the smaller gathering on the actual date. The Ninja Baker’s niece was served a birthday bundt with star candles.

Blowing out candles.

Eliza gives a thumbs up.

And for the Friday family bash:

Mini chocolate on chocolate cakes with a string of letters to read, “Happy Birthday Eliza.” 

My nephew, A-D-A-M was also included.  Albeit the celebrated one is important, it is incumbent upon an aunt to shower as much equal attention upon the other sibling.

The cake recipe is from the back of the Hershey’s box. The crème is a Cordon Bleu concoction. The lettering frosting - Duncan Hines whipped up with a little powdered sugar to guarantee piping success.

My great nephew, Ethan enjoying a Ninja Baker cupcake. He's  the delightful two-year-old son of my other lovely niece, Jasmine. (My sister's daughter.)

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting were also on Eliza's wish list, so Auntie K naturally complied.  For those like my great nephew, Ethan, I also topped a few vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips. 

Nephew, Adam choosing his cupcake.

The Ninja Baker with her nieces, Eliza and Jasmine. (The birthday girl gets ready to snatch a lemon meringue tart.)

I also made lemon meringue tarts, which are faves of my San Francisco niece and sister. Turns out my New York niece and sister-in-law are fans, too. Fresh squeezed lemons are the secret to the scrumptious taste. The filling and the meringue recipes are from the May/June edition of Cooking with Paula Deen.  (Check out backissues.com for your own copy.) The Keelber elves get the credit for the magic of the mini Graham cracker crusts.

Assorted Ninja Baker cupcakes served at Eliza's eleventh birthday party.

I baked cheesecake cupcakes, too. Yet another Paula Deen recipe.  However, I substituted Ghirardelli raspberry chocolate squares for the recommended peanut butter cups. 

Eleven is important. In the Jewish tradition, it marks the last year of a girl’s childhood. At age twelve, the mantle of adulthood is accepted in the Bat Mitzvah ceremony. (Bar Mitzvah for thirteen-year-old boys.) Apparently the ceremony symbolizes a child’s agreement to follow the commandments. Jewish leaders recognize that children past age ten are old enough to choose the high road. From reading Rabbi Shraga Simmons’ The Bar/Bat Mitzvah Guide, my understanding is that the Kabalistic tradition believes that as the body matures, the soul grows closer to its divine self. Pretty cool.

In Latin based countries where Catholicism dominates, a girl’s entry into womanhood is celebrated at age fifteen.  Quinceanera or Quince rituals differ according to region. In the Dominican Republic, Mass is a must before the big event.  The universally regarded rule is followed: Pray, then party!    

Prevalent in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay is the term fiesta de quince instead of Quinceanera. A Tree of Life ritual is exercised. Also, called the Candle Ceremony, the birthday girl-turned-woman gives thanks to the fifteen people who have lit her path to womanhood.

In Mexico, recalentado (warmed up) party leftovers - are enjoyed by family in the morning.

Regardless of the nuance of the coming-of-age celebration, all Quinceanera and Quince incorporate waltz dancing and pink dresses. (Sometimes white with a splash of color is also worn.) Fifteen is also the age when Papa consents to dating, make-up and heels. (Some even include a Changing of the Shoes ceremony!) Hence, pink cakes, decorations and heels are hot items on Quinceanera web sites.

On the other side of the world, Shinto shrines in Japan sell long stick candies of pink and white celebrating children who have survived to three, five and seven years of age.  The devil was said to despise red.  (According to his stylist, it didn’t match his skin tone.) So, the color was used to guard against danger in ancient times.  Although red kimonos are prevalent at the Shichi (7)-Go (5)-San (3) Festival held in November; pink and white seems to be the preferred colors for the chitose-ame (千歳飴) candy. Roughly translated: Sweets for one thousand years of life.　

The celebrated  Shichi-Go-San ages are gender specific.  Three-year-old girls are no longer considered to be an infant and are allowed hair decorations. (Babies heads’ in early Japan were shaved.)  At five years of age, boys enter childhood. (Samurai presented their five-year-old sons to their feudal lords for the first time during the Edo period.) Traditional men’s wear called hakama is worn. And girls who are seven, wear ornate obi ties around their waist for the first time.

Secular celebrations supersede spiritual ones (since 1948) when a young person turns twenty in Japan. The national holiday is called seijin no hi – adult day. (成人の日)

Prefectures and city offices provide official ceremonies. The main courses of the events are the lectures. Many  twenty-year-old ladies will grab the opportunity to wear gorgeous kimonos.  And in more recent days, some fellows spice up the solemn speeches with heckling remarks and fireworks!  Boys will be boys.  Even if they are in a man’s body.

In fact, based on the sixty-year cycle of the Chinese calendar, at age sixty, the Japanese celebrate a man’s return to infancy. Or a chance for a second childhood. Again, red is worn to ward off the devil and a big brouhaha is cooked up. The sixtieth birthday is a joyous occasion and celebrated both in the work place and at home.

Maybe Emily Dickinson got it right: "We turn not older with years, but newer every day."

Wishing you rapture  with every turn of the hourglass.

The Ninja Baker   

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Posted By Ninja Baker to Ninja Baker at 5/08/2011 10:27:00 PM

[Sandra Gladney]

hey long time. I am just returning to work from meniscus surgery. was on LOA for a month. my don graduates on the 21 in malibu. I would love to spend some time with you on sunday evening or the following monday. Don will come home on sunday but I can hang out another day or two to meet up with you and do some fun things.   sandra --- On Mon, 5/9/11, Ninja Baker <kimwat...@me.com> wrote: