Birthday French Toast

Avalon Airshow - Connie

March in Melbourne is always a busy month. Lots of festivals and major events seem to be scheduled for March – Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Moomba, the Avalon Airshow, the Greek Antipodes Festival, the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, and the Grand Prix to mention a few.

We didn’t do most things, but we did go to the Avalon Airshow. What’s that? You didn’t realise I was into planes? You thought it was just about the food?

Avalon Airshow - FA-18 Hornet

Well! The truth is that I’m not really into planes. But those of you who know Alastair personally won’t be surprised to hear that he likes them! We picked the worst day to go to the Airshow. It rained – A LOT – in fact the equivalent amount of rain fell that day as during the first two months of this year. And were we prepared? Hell no! We had one umbrella and one plastic backed picnic blanket between four of us. Fortunately the weather cleared for a couple of hours, so it wasn’t a complete washout. For anyone interested in planes and jets, the rest of the photos can be seen at flickr.

Apart from festivals and events, during March there is also Alastair’s birthday and our wedding anniversary.

Birthday French toast

Both were very quiet events this year. For Alastair’s birthday, we celebrated with Birthday French Toast in the morning. Bro and I bought him a joint present this year – an introductory helicopter training flight – a pretty freaking awesome gift for him, if I may say so myself!

Birthday lasagna Birthday lasagna

That evening, dinner was Birthday Lasagne. It’s a tradition – every year Alastair wants lasagne on his birthday. Since it’s easy to whip up, and only a little time consuming, I’m always happy to oblige.

You’ll notice that there’s no mention of birthday cake. I didn’t get around to it this year! Hell, we’re not that into cake anyway, so I figured the Birthday French Toast, awesome present and Birthday Lasagne was enough. (It was!)

Birthday French toast


Birthday French Toast

1 Birthday
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 pieces of thick white bread (preferably day old)
Unsalted butter for the frying pan
Maple syrup, icing sugar and bacon (optional) to serve

In a shallow dish, mix together the eggs, milk, caster sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract.
Melt a good sized pat of butter over medium-high heat in a frying pan.
Dip a slice of bread into the egg mixture, ensuring that the bread is well soaked through.
When the pan is hot, fry the bread on both sides for a couple of minutes or until crisp and golden.
Repeat the dipping and frying for all slices of bread (don’t forget to melt more butter in the pan and be generous with it! It is a birthday after all).
Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve with maple syrup and bacon.
Have a happy birthday!