A Delicious Birthday Gift

Last week I celebrated my birthday with red velvet cupcakes, a sushi dinner, and a food blogger potluck.  Thanks to everyone who made my birthday extra-special- but two contributions are especially blog-worthy.

My sister-in-law got me the neatest cookbook collection from Octopus Pulishing Group.  It's called Sugar and Spice by Keda Black and contains 16 mini books, each one about one or two sweet and spicy ingredients.  It has books on old standbys like chocolates and fruits, and well as more unusual ones like flowers (violet, rose) and things like nougat.  It comes in this fun hatbox and just looks cool.  This makes a fun gift for friends who love to bake (or for yourself!)

P also made me a lovely birthday cake using Martha's recipe for yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  He decorated with a stencil he made himself.  He worked very hard on it, and it was not only delicious, it was cute too, so I must display his efforts here.