Sweet Sixteen (almost)

Hannah is almost sixteen. A birthday dinner was in order. Since Grandmanita will not be here come Monday, tonight was the celebration. We had a yummy supper; Charcoal Chicken, potato salad, green tossed salad, chuka soba, and watermelon. (Yes, the chicken is supposed to be black. That is why the brush sauce is called "charcoal.")

There were candles to make the back porch fancy and festive. Plain white votive candles dropped into shapely stemware made a plain table pretty. I didn't even use a tablecloth. Why have I never done this before? Now that I am a little bit wiser, I shall have to add this beautiful touch to future festivities. They would be so pretty at Christmas!

There was Canadian Contraband... (I wonder how that got here?) The chocolate eggs were readily devoured and nobody choked on the carefully concealed prizes inside. (Mine was a miniature "Lightening McQueen!" I was quite pleased as I usually end up with something less than impressive.) The "Cars" prizes were the best. There were several different vehicles including "Tow-Mater." He was pretty cool too.

Finally, there was dessert. Hannah is not a big cake fan, but for this party I decided to go for the cake. (She can have an entirely different dessert on Monday if she'd like.) Strawberry cake baked in flat bottomed ice cream cones with vanilla frosting and lots of sprinkles (I turned them over and dipped them), and sixteen candles. Everyone also got an ice cream sandwich. Easy cleanup and though we had both fancy plates and birthday napkins, we really didn't need them.