A Most Unusual Birthday

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Birthdays and birthday cake. They pretty much go hand-in-hand here in America, right? Well, sure—if the birthday person likes cake, that is.

Who in the world doesn’t like cake, huh?

Well, in our house, some family members could just as well do without the sweets. So that naturally parlays over into our birthday celebrations too. Forget the double- or triple-layer delight—all they would really prefer is a hearty, filling meal. Sans the sweets.

Now, that sure isn’t me. No matter the meal, I appreciate a little touch of sweetness to end the culinary adventure. And daughter takes after me—especially in the chocolate department. But hubby? A whole ‘nother story. He just loves those salty, tangy, bitter flavors but can pass by the most decadent streudel, pies or pastries and not feel a twinge of pain (Hard to believe, eh?).

So every year when it’s birthday celebration time, we attempt to think of something new (and creative)—and not too sweet.

It just so happened that we hit pay dirt after picking up a copy of a unique cookbook, Roald Dahl’s Revolting Recipes by Roald Dahl, Felicity Dahl, Josie Fison, and Quentin Blake.

Doesn’t that title sound like something most kids would delight in? Yes, the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame (among many others) actually has a cookbook that creates the intriguing delicacies and creations that have been a much beloved part of his stories.

What could be better than actually getting to experience a Snozzcumber snack or Stink Bugs’ Eggs? Or, just think: a Fresh Mudburger could grace your table tonight. It was in flipping through these pages and giggling at the outrageous and fun creations that we stumbled upon Mr. Twit and his beard full of food.

He was such an eye-catching sight with a pea-studded potato stick beard, mushroom ears and hard-boiled egg eyes. Oh, we had never seen the likes of such an intriguing fellow. And the best part: He was a meat-and-potato lover’s dream come true. The entire base for his head and beard was made from homemade mashed potatoes, with those smokie links (or hot dogs) tucked into to make a very interesting mouth.

We had hit pay dirt. After inquiring with the kids if they’d be interested in helping to re-create this delicious monstrosity for dad’s birthday, I made copies of the book (minimize library book kitchen muss and wear-and-tear), and made a list of the necessary ingredients to pick up at the grocery store.

It didn’t look like it would be too hard to assemble once the mashed potatoes were made, and I set out little bowls of each ingredient to make the actual assembling go smoother.

Now, depending upon how many people you have actually assembling, you may want to divide up tasks differently, but here is how we did it:

• Mom peeled, cooked and mashed the taters.
• Daughter help do some mashing and piled up Mr. Twit’s head and beard on the tray, and placed all the facial parts: eyes, ears, mouth, etc.
• Mom and daughter both placed potato sticks into his head to create a mustache and hairline.
• Brother finished placing lots and lots of sticks to create the spiny bears and then added all the drips and drops (peas, cheese, etc.) to form Mr. Twit’s vacuum-able beard.

And before we knew it, a delightful new birthday cake was born. Only this one had no sugar and could easily pair with meatloaf, burgers or ham steak.

And best of all, dad loved it. With just a tad of re-heating in the microwave, Mr. Twit not only provided a fun birthday change-out but also provided some new and innovative ways to get adults and kids actually playing with their food. Another success in the name of Roald Dahl.

And all in the name of a birthday!