This past weekend was a whirlwind of pink, glitter and sequins. Barbie meets Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
My daughter's BFF's birthday is in January and since the former was on the other side of the pond when she turned five, far from all her friends, BFF's mom and I teamed up to organize a joint birthday bash. For obvious reasons, like my daughter already having a little party in NY, I didn't want to get caught up in the craziness of party organizing and entertainers. We decided to keep it small, quiet and as simple as possible. We planned to do it at BFF's house, to invite just the few five year old girls of each class and to spice it up and make it a little girly, we called it a princess pizza party. big deal for someone who asked the world to abstain from giving pink presents when she found out she was expecting a girl.
So anyway, going along with the totally casual feel of it all, I printed out some free printable invitations with a crown on it, handwrote the info (smiling at the thought of the hours usually dedicated to photoshopping the perfect invitation) and hand distributed them at kindergarden. BFF's mom had some peel off nail polish from the States, she ordered a pink cake, we ordered some pizza, I rented the pinkest, girliest Barbie movie I could lay my hands on (because we envisaged total mayhem with 12 girls and no specific organized activity), I bought some pink princess paper plates and napkins and we were set. Ready to roll.
Well, girl after girl after girl showed up and with them - totally unexpectedly - crown after crown after crown. Some had blonde wigs with platinum highlights attached, others had buttons on them that lit them up. There were wings and magic wands. There were party dresses and party shoes. There was a lot of twirling and checking each other out and looking into mirrors. There was squealing and sighing. When the nail polish came out it was total frenzy. First came hands, followed by shoes being scattered around and panty hose being torn off. My friend and I became the most sought-after manicure and pedicure stations in Milan and little brothers got involved and painted too. Even the tomboy of the group, who was a little horrified when she arrived, succumbed and had her toe nails painted. One of my daughter's presents was a Princess dress, a triumph of polyester and plastic, ruffles and frills. It never came off for the rest of the week end, and neither did the nail polish. Until last night. Ugh.
However, the party was a success, my little girl was happy and so was I.
So when I decided to bake I craved something that was a little more grown up, with NO pink or frills. And guess what? The kids loved it. So did we.
As you may have noticed by now, because I do not have time to flip through cook books at home, most of my recipes come from you these days. And what a lucky girl that makes me! Thanks to Magda at My Little Expat Kitchen, her lovely photo tutorial and detailed instructions, I managed to make my first really exotic dessert! I am no expert but they tasted pretty authentic to me.
