happy birthday wandile

on wednesday my little brother wandile turned 10. my responsibility for the celebrations was was to bake a birthday cake. usually my family just buys birthday cakes, which are expensive, and not nearly as good as homemade cakes anyway.

so when i got home from work on wednesday, i could see the black column of smoke rising from the stove pipe as i walked down the lane towards the house. it was ridiculously hot - the temperature was such that starting up a wood stove went against all instincts of self-preservation. nevertheless, there was a task ahead, so it had to be done.

the first minor panic came when i realized that the baggers at shoprite had neglected to include the small packet of baking soda in my grocery bag the previous day. but never fear, the birthday boy was dispatched at a run to the neighborhood store to buy "cooking soda" (after we established that this term did, indeed, refer to a fine white powder that made things fizz). the second, more severe panic, came when i discovered the lack of measuring cups. and then the distress only intensified when i realized that we did in fact have a measuring cup, only it was in milliliters. how to convert? thanks to my handy-dandy agenda (those lists of weights and measures in the back are actually useful in some instances, like baking a cake in swaziland!) i discovered that one cup = 240 ml, and after some quick mental math, i was able to proceed.

so i mixed the ingredients without further ado and then the real test came: how to bake a cake in an oven without temperature settings? as i realized, it's simple. this is what you do: start the pan on the bottom shelf for "a little while" (translated into numbers this means about 10 minutes) and then move it to the top, and simply keep checking and sticking a match in the middle until it comes out clean. no problem! both the cake and the cupcakes turned out beautifully.

while the cakes were cooling, my sister zinhle whipped up some liphalishi on the stove - usually in hot weather we cook in the outside kitchen over an open fire. we also fried up some boervos (afrikaans for spicy sausage - delicious and a staple at any braai, or barbeque). by the time our birthday feast was ready, it was 8:30 pm!

we sang happy birthday and took lots of pictures and just had a really fun time celebrating together. the funnest part was the process though, with all the kids in the kitchen peering over my shoulder as i baked and eagerly waiting to lick out bowls - which is the best part of baking, by the way. it just felt like such a special day and i was struck by the importance of taking time to celebrate the important things in life.

during our nightly prayer, as got down on our knees and all spoke our prayers out loud at the same time, i thanked god for this special time of celebration with my family and asked him to bless wandile and this next year of his life, as he continues growing, learning and loving.