As a college kid, I know that Hallmark holidays can get expensive. For instance, Mothers' Day is crazy for me because in addition to a mother and two grandmothers I have a step-mother and a plethora of aunts- all of whom have taken part in raising me. When you have that many women to honor (with almost as many men to think of on Fathers' Day in a few weeks), it makes sense to do it en masse. I don't want to sound cheap, but I think holidays are more about spirit and family than knick-knack gifties. So, I felt that a tea party would be the perfect event to show all of my "mothers" how great they are.
I suppose not all women are into that sort of thing, but we are a tea-drinking, scone-eating family. We got out the good tea pots, fluffy hats, and clotted cream. We had almost as much fun setting up as we did at the party itself.
No Mother's Day tea is complete without a delicious-looking cake, right?
I made a two-layer yellow cake with lemon glaze. Unwisely, I decided that whipped cream would be a good filler between layers. Not so. The top layer slid off of the bottom layer and crashed a little. We caught it before it hit the floor, but the "after" was somewhat less impressive than the "before." It tasted fine though.
I had always wanted to make a big, beautiful, layered cake- like they do in all those cake shows on the Food Network. I love watching them plop the fondant on, being so careful to hold their tongues the right way. In March of last year, I decided to take on a layered cake with fondant decorations.
This happened:
But it got better:
And then:
It still leaned in a way I wasn't entirely comfortable with, but it stayed standing long enough to be eaten.
I count it as a success. Partly because it showed me what I could do, but also because it showed me how much I have to learn.
When I was 14, I heard Jimmy Buffett's song "Fruitcakes." I immediately fell in love with it because of the verse about religion:
Wheres the church, who took the steeple Religion is in the hands of some crazy-ass people Television preachers with bad hair and dimples The gods honest truth is it's not that simple Its the buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me Its the muslim in him, she's catholic aint she? Its the born again look it's the wasp and the jew Tell me what's goin on, I aint gotta clue
It seemed profound. Until that moment it hadn't really occurred to me that I didn't have to subscribe to the same religious views as my parents did. 8 years later I'm still in love with this song, but for a different verse:
Fruitcakes in the kitchen Fruitcakes on the street Struttin' naked through the crosswalk In the middle of the week Half-baked cookies in the oven Half-baked people on the bus There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us
Comparing people to cake? What a fantastic metaphor! The idea that we're all fruity/nutty, that none of us are done "baking" makes a lot of sense. People are crazy. And thank goodness that we are.
Here is the music video for Fruitcakes. It's more than a little entertaining. Plus Jimmy gives a little nod to Mark Twain.
In a nutshell, this song has inspired me to bake. Making food and then sharing it with others is incredibly intimate. I'm excited about exploring my own interpersonal relationships, but also the relationship between food and family and history. I have very little experience in the kitchen and even less if you count "made from scratch" recipes. But I am majoring in sculpture where anything goes, so "Keep baking baby. Keep baking."
