blue cherry meringue tart and thoughts of 35

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This week I turned 35 and with it I thought I would write down 35 thoughts that have flitted by.

1/ Spending a weekend with loved family members that you don’t often see is a pretty wonderful way to kick start a birthday.

2/ Never underestimate the soul filling value of spending hours and hours talking to your brother in a busy cafe.

3/Coffee tastes better with great conversation.

4/ Actually, everything tastes better with great conversation.

5/ Nothing wrong what so ever in decorating your own dining area in a celebratory birthday kind of fashion the night before.

6/ Decorating said area, ensures that come birthday morning when there are school lunches to be made, washing to be put out and and nappies to be changed that this will not be just another ordinary day.

7/ Forget that, I don’t think there are any ordinary days…ever.

8/ Bunting really is well worth the effort.

9/ You don’t have to be a kid to get squealy happy, hand clapping on opening a birthday box.

10/ Husbands need big thank you kisses for giving squealy happy hand clapping birthday boxes.

11/ There is a lot of joy in seeing your eldest child finally shake off a hideous virus, just in time to eat a man size slice of blue cherry meringue tart.

12/ In following days, there is also a lot of joy in left over blue cherry meringue tart with a quiet coffee, a great book and a little quiet time.

13/ Said quiet time is brief these days, VERY brief.

14/ Italian meringue I never knew you were so good! I really didn’t. I scoffed at the seemingly kitchen faffing that you needed in order to get done- The faffing is so worth it though, and I will never do meringue the regular way again…promise.

15/ A good book…is truly wonderful.

16/ A good chiropractor is also wonderful.

17/ Jumping into the world of lenses, aperture, ISO, and bokeh are ridiculously exciting.

18/ Waking up and thinking about lenses as your first thought of the day… does that warrant geek status?

19/ …hopefully.

20/ Asparagus season, I do love you.

21/ Cherry season, I think I love you even more.

22/ Getting a book like Mend it Better is not a whim action, it’s an investment. Little Monkey wears out knees like…well, like a lot.

23/ This time of year makes me think of my grandfather a lot.

24/ It looks like I’m starting a meringue tradition for my birthday, Berry Meringue Tart and A Rather Tall Birthday Cake in the last two years before…I can deal with that. Especially as now I know about Italian Meringue.

25/ I really do like grey overcast days.

26/ I also really like the idea of owning an organic olive farm.

27/ I could sit on my verandah watching the sun set over my olive trees. Dusk cockatoos would fly over head, screeching to each other as they went to seek food elsewhere. (My trees would be carefully netted against said cockatoos- who said day dreams couldn’t be detailed.)

28/ I wasn’t sure how 35 would feel.

29/ Turns out it’s fine and feels remarkably like 34.

30/ Eating homemade sourdough for breakfast never gets old.

31/ The breakfast idea that is not the sourdough. Sourdough does get old and stale eventually, then it’s perfect for making bread crumbs. Supermarket bread goes mouldy, home-made bread just gets turned into something else (pangritata being my favourite at the moment.)

32/ Being able to read is truly a joyful experience, escaping into a book. A story that transports you…

33/ Or just reading about lenses…again.

34/ There are so many wonderful things to do in this world. Learn about, read up on, discover and enjoy. Precious moments that will never, ever be repeated again…

35/ In my 35th year, I’m not going waste one little one of them.

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Blueberry Cherry Meringue Tart is adapted from this recipe. All I did was change the fruit around from Rhubarb and Raspberry, and made up the mixture in a pot rather than oven baked. After six months of planning to make it, and two days of putting it together, (instalments was easier) was it worth it?

Oh my sweet goodness, yes! Recipe here.

28 thoughts on “blue cherry meringue tart and thoughts of 35”

  3. Happy Birthday Brydie – sounds like it was a good one! Loved the idea of 35 comments for tuning 35! I totally concur with comments 1, 4, 7, 9, 15, 21, 29, 30, 32 and 34!!!

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  6. Happy, happy birthday! It sounds like you’re having a wonderful day. That tart sounds absolutely delicious. Now I’m all hot to trot to try Italian meringue. Have a wonderful year!

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  7. Wha a joyful post Brydie – happy thirty five. I think a good aim for life is to get to the other end without regrets and preferably with my cheeks bulging with something yum such as this beautiful tart.

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  8. I love the way you celebrate, girl! 35 is a great age to celebrate and I love all of your 35 thoughts! I’ve been making Italian meringue for years and thought it was fluffy white cooked icing!
    My sister, Robin, loved this icing and I always made it for her birthday cakes. I haven’t made it since she died- I think I’m going to make some for a Thanksgiving tart.
    Thanks for sharing, Brydie, you always give me the best ideas!

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  10. Happy birthday! It sounds like a really wonderful one – and I love these thoughts. Beautiful tart and I am glad you got some snippets of quiet time, even if they weren’t long enough 🙂 Books and coffee and photography sound like a splendid mix to me.

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  11. happy birthday darling! may love surrounds happily and blissfully you and your beloved ones every moment! thank you for sharing with us your joy of life! Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ (✿◠‿◠)  ♥ ♥ gina!

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  12. Happy birthday Brydie dear! Right, it’s official, I am old enough to be your mother. 35-40 are brilliant years, when you’re done with those, I’ll tell about some other brilliant ones.

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  14. Oh happy birthday Brydie. You are still so young with so much ahead of you – I’m sure the citygirl will turn hippyorganicolivefarm when the time is right. Look at me – early fifties and we own not one farm but two!! It all takes time and your time will come.

    You’ve outdone yourself with your luscious meringue tart. What a gobsmaking bunch of photos you have there; you really ought to be taking photos for a foodie magazine and getting paid for it. No joke.

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  15. What a delicious and pretty tart – I think there is much wisdom in saying that 35 feels a lot like 34 – birthdays are like that – just a number change but life doesn’t change that quickly – yet I think celebrating in style is important or you will look back and realise you have never marked change because it happens so quickly.

    Reading is indeed a great activity – I finished my book today and feel a little sad as I often do – would love to read the william mcinnes and sarah watt book – though am sure that would make me sad too

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  19. Happy birthday Brydie! And 35 is very young from where I am! And what a gorgeous fruit meringue tart. Love how you piped the meringue. Glad you had a wonderful birthday. I never had to worry about my kids wearing holes in the knees of their jeans because before that happened, they were too short in the legs – my children all had rapid growth hormones and that’s very expensive! xx

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  20. Happy 35, Brydie. That seems so young from the vantage of 61! I love your list and I’m glad you took the time to write them down. The tart looks really good and I will have to investigate Italian meringue.

    Hugs,
    Sharon

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  22. Happy 35th! Sounds like it was beautiful, and I’m glad I’m not alone in being very happy to bake my own birthday cake! The faffing looks like it was absolutely worth it – that meringue looks incredibly good. Love your list, and I was nodding along with most of them. Have a great weekend.

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