Two Cakes and A Fire - So Much Excitement!

All I wanted was to get a kilo of prawns this past Saturday. Alas, this plan was scuppered when I came out of the op-shop just after mid-day and was greeted by this...

That's right, smoke billowing out of a car! It was all so sudden - things were moving along normally, we went into the op-shop, came out 5 minutes later, only to be greeted by a crowd of people who were staring at something to the right of the shop. I smelt burning plastic, turned around, and was greeted by this sight about 100 metres away! 

It all happened fairly quickly, and no one was hurt, but it was probably one of the most exciting things to happen along that stretch of road in quite a while. The cops managed to cordon it off just after the fire started, and all the excitement pretty much died down within about 10 minutes, though there were still some gawkers lingering around, which is fairly understandable if you see the burnt-out carcass of a car in front of you.

And if you're wondering what this all has to do with me not being able to get some prawns...well, you see that yellow sign in the picture above that says 'Wing Tai...Daily Fresh Seafoods'? Yes, that was where I was planning on getting my prawnies from, and they were right in the path of the stinky smoke (if you look closely, they're in that blue box beside the guy in the apron holding a broom). I certainly didn't feel like eating smoked prawns after all that!

Still, the day wasn't a complete washout. I invited two friends over and we had a huge hotpot meal that stretched on for a couple of hours. There was a mountain of food (but alas! No prawns!) - lean, thinly sliced beef, oyster mushrooms, chewy egg noodles, two types of stock (spicy, and miso), and various kinds of fish-related products. 

The feast was topped off with not one, but two birthday cakes for yours truly. It's become a birthday tradition, and one I like very much.

This cake was a joint effort between The Mancreature and I. He'd actually baked one the night before, but the oven was stupid, and we ended up throwing it into the bin. So he work up extra early on Saturday morning to bake a whole new cake for me! It's just a basic cake recipe that we sliced in half. We then sandwiched some mixed berries compote in the middle, and topped it all off with a nice glossy layer of dark chocolate ganache (I made that!). Then some fresh strawberries to make it look pretty. 

The second cake was made by me dear friend H, with his grandmother's recipe. Doesn't it look delicious? You'd never guess he baked his very first cake only two months ago! I felt a bit like a proud mother when I cut into his cake, because only two months ago, he was calling and asking for help with his first cake, and now he'd baked me a birthday cake! 

So, all in all, a fairly exciting day! Now I'll have ridiculously high hopes for my next birthday, and a car will probably have to explode (showering bystanders with burning hot shrapnel) before I'll be satisfied.