Snowflake Dream Cake

Thursday, 15 June 2006

Tonight was our wards quarterly HFPE. The theme, Family Reunions (family history, genealogy, etc.). I volunteered to bring a dessert and earlier this week came upon the idea to make and take one of my Grandmother's signature desserts. One of the desserts she prided herself on, a dessert she took to EVERY function... reunions, church socials, family dinners, etc.

As a teenager, whenever Grandma would send me a letter or card, she'd include some handwritten recipes. Most were things she made all the time - carrot cake, fudge, rolls - but some were just things she'd found or seen and wanted to pass on. I put these long thin slips of green paper (undoubtedly scraps from Uncle Mike's print shop) in a file box that's still at my parent’s house.

In hopes of finding the recipe, I emailed the extended family, and then called my mother. Mom spent the next hour sifting, first through my little recipe box, and then through her recipe drawer... a dresser drawer stuffed with recipes. Within the drawer, just as my father walked in the door from work to see a kitchen that had exploded with recipes, she found the card with the recipe written out in her beautiful script. Hurry! Thank you Grandma!

At one point during our search my mom suggested a few other dessert options. We both got a good laugh at my reaction.. "Mom I can make a dessert, I have lots of dessert options, the point is to take Grandma's dessert!"

It's been over 10 years, possibly even 15, since I last made this cake, and she was right at my side making sure I did everything just right. She'd make the cake in a metal cake pan and serve it chilled. Grandma's cake was a melt in your mouth, could easily sit down and eat the entire pan, kind of cake. It's gonna take me a little bit to get my cake to that standard, but my first solo attempt wasn't a bust. I even put the coconut and walnuts on top, just like she did.

Side note: Grandma put walnuts in and on just about everything and as kids we didn't like nuts - no crunch for us thanks - she and my mother seriously wondered how we were ever born into this family... but she humored us when ever she could and would even leave out the walnuts in our batch of Christmas Fudge.

Eight Years - A trip down memory lane

Proof we were skinny before we had kids:

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This anniversary also marked the departure of our most untilized wedding gift... the Vornado my Mother gave us as a wedding present. This fan faithfully kept one of us (mainly me) from out of frustration and sleep depravation sleeping on the couch for the last eight years, running daily and in many cases, non-stop every night we've slept in our house... and whenever possible it's gone on the road with us. On the 3rd of June it finally met it's maker and a less efficent replacement was acquired until our local Bed Bath and Beyond gets more Vornado's in stock.

The Library Tradition

Tuesday, 6 June 2006

Yes it's true, today was the first time I took my children inside our local public library. This coming from the woman who's mother took her and her siblings to the public library DAILY from the time she could walk to the time I entered school, and once I got in school we still went to the library as frequently (if not more so) than church.

We have a really good public library that puts on amazing story times and other activities for children and young adults of all ages. Today happened to be story time when we arrived, so the kids wiggled their way into spots on the carpet and listened to a handful of books and then got to make a sun visor. We spent nearly 3 hours at the library listening to the stories, making the craft and then playing on the computers.

Sam and I picked out some books for us to read for the summer reading program - some Rebecca can read herself, a couple classics from my childhood, and a few new ones.

During story hour, I discovered I was standing in front of a good size and diverse selection of young adult literature on CD. I decided to give this medium a try for our bedtime stories. For our first book on CD, I choose Charlotte's Webb. I went for something a little safe and somewhat familiar ... Rebecca's going through a phase of being leery of unfamiliar media - movies specifically, and I guess for her books on tape/CD are in the same category. And although I'm still getting a bit of resistance from her, she's listening to the story, and hopefully enjoying it. Emily and Sam seem to really be enjoying the story as well.

I'm really looking forward to making this apart of our weekly summer routine.



After our visit to the library, at the request of the children, we went to lunch a Wheatfield’s, a restaurant they love to go to for breakfast. I should have just gotten everyone a cinnamon roll or cookie and gone home to make PBJs, but they really wanted to eat lunch there and after looking at the menu, I thought I found something safe ... a turkey and Swiss sandwich on country French bread with apple slices. I purchased two sandwiches for the four of us to split and got everyone their drink of choice. We ate at the stools facing in the big picture window and 20 minutes later, I wrapped up three sandwiches in various stages of being dissected, and off we went.

Note to self... next time, forget that it's technically lunchtime, and the kids should eat something nutritional, and order the cinnamon rolls.