Friendships are the true gifts in life!
I have three close friends who celebrate their birthdays on the 23rd, 26th and 29th of December!
Five of us have been friends for over 35 years, our age spread is 10 years from the youngest to the oldest. Four of us lived in the same apartment building when young and single.
We have held each others' hands through the ups and downs of life...including one divorce, (new husband of 12 years already is wonderful); one separation (marriage is now stronger than ever); two breast cancer suvivors and one husband cancer survivor. We have four wonderful childeren among us (one childless couple); one couple's grandchildren, several children's weddings. One couple's made major change of religious affiliation, which also created a major lifestyle change. We've had some many mostly minor tiffs and much love and support for each other.
I am a May baby, and the other friend is an October baby. We two usually host the luncheon for the December birthday girls. We don't always manage to celebrate the December Birthdays in December...due to family obligations and schedules we have occasionally moved the celebration to January.
This year we were able to plan the get-together on December 30th! The September girl doesn't enjoy decorating her home for the Holidays, but as you can tell from my posts....I absolutely love it! Therefore she cooked a fabulous lunch and I made the dessert and set the table.
Dutch Appel Taart - Oma's secret recipe!
We enjoyed a delicious poached Salmon, salad of fresh baby Spinach leaves tossed with Pesto, fresh shaved Parmasan Cheese and toasted Pine Nuts, accompanied by a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and/or Sparkling Water with a slice of lemon. Dessert featured Appel Taart with coffee/tea and home made truffles.
My Dutch Mother made the best Appel Taart in the world...at least my friends thought so. They begged her for the recipe, which she claimed to be a family secret. The secret part was that she didn't have a recipe...she just put it together and it always came out fabulous.
I tried to write it down once while she was preparing it...the result was a miserable failure! Before she passed away I did manage to get it down on paper correctly and have become the standard bearer of this cake, which is now referred to by all as
Oma's Appel Taart! Unfortunately the picture shows only one slice...! I will put the recipe in a post sometime in the future...promise!
Friendships which last a lifetime are truly the best gifts!
a charming porch entry to the dining room 
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