Hina was born on August 14th, 2019, the same day as my Lola. What a blessing and a coincidence. When I was planning Lola’s birthday last year, I was having thoughts about growing our family and in the process, was surprised to find out we were going to have a girl and that she would be born on the same birthdate as my beloved Lola.
Hina is named after a Polynesian goddess.
To celebrate Hina’s arrival, I threw a small gathering in mid July. I was originally hesitant to throw what most people would call a baby shower. It’s traditionally thrown by a friend or family member, but I just didn’t want that. I wanted to do something really beautiful in the spirit of who I imagined this girl to be, and reveal her name. With those ideas in mind, I planned to have a group of my female friends and family over to make haku leis and eat fruits and desserts.
The dish I was most excited about was an avocado, mango and orange salad that I’ll share a recipe for. Beyond that, here’s what ended up on the table: dried fruits–jackfruit and mangoes, macadamia nuts, coconut cashews, sesame seed crackers, baked brie with fig jam, pistachios, honey and dried figs, filipino seed candies, fresh grapes and blackberries and the cake–white chocolate mousse with guava mousse and fresh strawberries between whipped cream and Kirsch infused vanilla cakes.
All of these beautiful things were served on an assortment of plates ranging from Japanese ceramics to shells from Tahiti and shell plates from the Philippines.
You must be logged in to post a comment.