A Belated Birthday and Tiramisu eggless

 

Early last year, I assured my younger son Imp Jr, that he could have a Pool Party for his birthday. It would have to be in June, three months after his actual birthday, because it would be too cold before then.

We opened the Pool in June, and we thought we could go for the party soon after. It did not turn out that way. The Pool people advised us to top off the water in the Pool. We filled it to the brim. The water quality degraded, and we struggled with balancing the PH and the chlorine levels of the water for a while. Turned out there was excess water that we needed to drain, and we needed more salt.. Also, the weather remained much too cold for our liking.
Another month passed, and then we started with the vacations, and lots of fun time with visiting family and friends. The summer flew by in a jiffy, and we had so much fun that the Pool Party promise was all but forgotten. School re-opened, and a plethora of extra curricular activities ensued. Some home front issues cropped up too, and it was a busy time. Before we realized it, September was onto us, and it was almost time to close the pool.

 

 

“My Pool Party??” was the immediate reaction from my little fellow, and quick on the heels came tears. “You promised” wailed he.

More tears.

We reasoned, and tried to make him understand that it did not work out this time, but we will surely do it next year. It was like talking to a wall. A crying, very animated, and a distressed wall. Our pool water was now threatening go up an inch with the amount of tears he was shedding everyday.

It soon became obvious that it would be much easier to have a Pool party than to reason with him. So we went ahead with the party. I quickly made a list of kids that I would invite over. Being as young as they were, I could invite no more than 4, else it would be impossible for me to keep track of them in water and potentially dangerous.

Shortlist made, I sent out email invitations, complete with reasons for a 6 month late party. The weekends did not work out due to weather, so it was one Wednesday after school that the party was scheduled. My condition was that only the kids his age from the neighborhood could come, and no school friends.

 

 

However, I knew John, from his class, was his best friend, so I arranged for him to come and kept it a surprise.  “Can I at least invite John?’ he asked expectantly. “No, you cannot, and you cannot invite anyone without my permission. So no, you cannot invite John.”

Morning of the Party, I received an email from his teacher:

Good morning,

      So you are aware:   Imp Jr announced in front of the whole class this morning that all were invited to his pool party….then he looked at one child and told him he was not allowed to come.  It was very embarrassing for the child, and I had to tell  Imp Jr that it was inappropriate to publicly exclude one person.   Perhaps you could discuss this with him again when he returns home.

Thank you,
Ms. Class Teacher

He had not only invited the WHOLE class, but also managed to upset the teacher at the same time. Aghast, I quickly scrambled to do some damage control. I wrote back to her:

Ohhhh Dear!!!!!! 

I am so sorry for that……

Actually, if I am not wrong, the child he spoke to is his best friend John. Am I right? You see, John IS invited to the pool party. This pool party is a belated birthday party for his very close friends. But I decided to keep John’s invitation a secret from Imp Jr as a surprise. I also asked Imp Jr not to invite anyone without my permission (as you can see, he has a tendency to do just that ), even if it’s his best friend…..I had no clue it would turn out to be like this 🙁

I will talk to him about this.

Meanwhile thank you for letting me know. I must also talk to John’s Mom about this in case there is a confusion.

Phew!! I knew the rest of the class would not come because, thankfully, none of them had an address! That settled, I went about arranging for the party in the evening. The kids were to arrive at 4.30pm, and the Moms had collectively decided that the kids would finish their HW before joining the party.

 

 

At 4pm, my neighbor called. “Minnie, didn’t you tell me only Goldie is invited? Because Silver is already to come, and she insists Imp Jr invited her.’

While I was still on the phone with my confused neighbor, my Cell rang. This time it was my other neighbor, harried because her younger son was all set to come with his older brother (who was invited) and he would not take no for an answer, because, of course, Imp Jr had personally invited both of them.

Turns out, all the siblings, at that very moment, were monumentally upset with their Moms because they were all convinced they were invited to the party and it was their evil Mom who was the bane of their evening of fun.

Finally, the girls were persuaded that it was boys only party. Being ‘boys only’ party, the siblings who were boys all came. Eventually, all the Moms, who dropped their kids off, understood that this was a much bigger crowd of kids than I had bargained for and stayed back to help out. We all nibbled at chips and soda, cribbed, laughed and shook our heads at the rigmarole our kids put us through on a regular basis.

 

 

Have you ever thought how much effort actually goes into organizing a simple Birthday party for that little one of yours? It takes significantly less amount of effort to create this Tiramisu, though it can sure boast of a lot of drama of its own.

 

Normally, Tiramisu calls for eggs, that too raw. Much as I adore eggs, I draw a line at eating them raw if I can help it, even in a recipe as fabulous as Tiramisu. So this recipe works out perfect.

 

Adapted from Food.com