Saturday, November 23, 2013

Every Birthday Begins With A Spark


When Mom asked me what I wanted to do for my 17th birthday, I didn't have to think twice. I wanted to go see Catching Fire at the movie theatre, and I wanted to have one of our famous themed dinners at home. 

In a house full of artists and writers, we are always looking for an excuse for a themed dinner. In honor of the start of school one year, we had a cafeteria style dinner of tater tots and other frozen entrees and ate on cafeteria trays. Mom even wore a hairnet. After my mom and stepdad returned from Italy, we had an Italian dinner of pasta, Caprese salad, and gelato for dessert. Grease dinner is a favorite of ours. You can never go wrong with burgers, french fries, milkshakes, and a record player.

The Catching Fire dinner was by far the best one yet, though. Considering that the Hunger Games arena in Catching Fire is by the sea, I didn't expect much more than fish and a decorated tablecloth. But I should have known my mom and stepdad...


Ranging from game from the woods to fish of the sea, we had quite the array of options. I'm just glad it wasn't a themed dinner for the first movie. We would've been eating squirrel. 


Lane snapper, straight from the sea. Just like Katniss would've eaten it. 



Shellfish from District 3. I had never had crab legs before. They taste really good in a sweet mustard dressing. The lobster was from my Pepere. It's a yearly tradition, and it fit perfectly into the themed dinner.


Roast duck. It was surprisingly flavorful. 


Nightlock berries or blueberries? Wrong choice, and "you'll be dead in a minute." But nightlock berries do come in handy when you feel like defying the Capitol. 


We may not have had the roast pig, but we had the apple with the arrow. We may not have shot it with the bow, but I would still give this a solid ten for effort.


What would a Hunger Games dinner be without the Mockingjay pin? 


And, of course, the cake. I think even Peeta would've been impressed with the cake decorating (at least maybe he would've been before most of the raspberries and chocolate truffles were eaten from around the cake). 


This painting that my stepdad did is one of my favorite parts, though. "Every birthday begins with a spark." Every birthday gives us the opportunity to start over. It gives us a spark. It is up to us to help that spark catch fire.