Giddyup.

Today is the birthday of Graham Kerr, of Galloping Gourmet fame.  Back in the late 60s and early 70s when Kerr whipped up his butter and cream and wine-laden dishes on television, the idea of a celebrity chef was a novelty.  Unlike Julia Child, the kindly but stern teacher, the free-wheeling Kerr was the crazy friend, the life of the party.  A car accident and his wife's misdiagnosis with cancer sobered him, converted him, both to Christianity and then to healthier ways of cooking and living.  Nowadays, he's promoting himself as a Galloping Gardener.

For those who don't know or remember, Kerr is British (or was, he's a naturalized U.S. citizen now), and his comical Spotted Dick episode is one of his most famous.

Spotted Dick, a favorite British dessert, is a pudding made with suet, a food product (pure animal fat, usually taken from around the joints) which we Americans generally think is for the birds, literally, as in bird-feeder material.

So, for a birthday celebration to honor the old Spotted Dick jokester as well as the current more earth-conscious chef, here's a link to an easy recipe for a suet bird feeder cake from P. Allen Smith's website:   http://www.pallensmith.com/articles/suet-cakes-for-birds

And here's the link to Graham Kerr's website, if you want to catch up:  http://www.grahamkerr.com/index.php/category/blog/recipes/

In any case, salutations, Mr. Kerr, on your 78th birthday!