Had most of the family over for a belated birthday dinner for my niece, Kimi, who recently lost her teenagenicity and turned twenty. My sister, Beata, started things off by bringing Kimi a dozen beautiful roses. Then the evening took a freak show turn when Kimi showed us how spray from an squeezed orange peel can ignite in a flash when exposed to a flame. The photo looks a lot worse than the actual event. Nobody was burned. After the science demo we sat down for a fantastic dinner of pörkölt (beef) with nokedli (home-made noodles) that my mom had made which was then followed by chocolate birthday cupcakes with single candles for everyone. Topics of discussion, as usual, were all over the map, often at the same time.
Birthday roses
Pre-orange flame
Orange burst
Most of the fam
Beef and noodles
Chocolate cupcakes
Cupcake with candle
Kimi’s wish
