Friday, December 17, 2010

The baking should start soon.....

I am intending to do some Christmas baking soon. It was supposed to be today, but the kitchen is still orderly and untouched by the dusting of powder it will be decorated with once I start. We can pretend it is snow. I have been doing Other Things.

How many days till Christmas?

7?

Piece of cake. And speaking of cakes, cinnamon cake and carrot cake are on the list. And mince pies. And custies. And peanut butter biscuits. And maybe gingerbread. And......

Tomorrow. I will start tomorrow. The good news is that I already have all the ingredients. I am just waiting for the baking fairy to touch my shoulder with her wand and get me going. I could also make a crumble, couldn't I...... and Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls. Mind you, I would have to quarter her recipe, I think. Or not.

My blogging friends appear to have been baking up a storm all over the world, and their photos are mouth watering. Such clever ladies! And everything looks wonderful. I want all the recipes, and then I also want to try them all out. And then, my friends, I will be a close relation of the Goodyear Blimp. But it is Christmas, so we will ignore that possibility.

I am reading a new Chicken Soup book right now. (For any new readers, the reason I love these books is that I can actually read them. There is a slight problem with focus and an inability to concentrate and a 2 page story is absolutely perfect at the moment.) Where was I ......... my new book. Well, it is a Christmas Magic one, with stories re Christmas. Perfect. And one I read last night (and remember, please note!) was about a cookie party. I have never heard of cookie parties. Guests are invited to bring a batch of homemade cookies to the hostess's home, and then everyone samples them, and then everyone is handed a bag, and they go around the room, taking a few of each home with them.

Now.

I think this is wonderful. What a great idea. The story actually revolved around one guest - the author - whose skills were of the basic level, and in the end, she crept in with a batch of her mother's chocolate chip cookie recipe. And amidst all the fancy selections, someone asked who made them, and then said the magic words - how simple, and how wonderful. They remind me of home, and my mother.

I have mentioned before that my recipe book is full of recipes from friends. And I am absolutely sure that somewhere in all of our baking - each and every one of us - there is at least one recipe which we always make, which reminds us of home, and mothers and grannies, and friends.

I made gingerbread for years simply because my Dad's Mum - my Moregranny - made it. I made it first for him, to remind him of his mother, and then I kept making it, even though not many of my family wanted it, because of the memories the sight and smell of it triggered in my mind.

This is such a perfect time to remember, isn't it. There is a chain, and we are simply the links. And now, my children are baking cinnamon cakes or custies, and maybe one day, their children will too. It will remind them of home. Of growing up. Of me, I hope. Of the love and laughter and of licking the bowl.

That is one of life's great mysteries, you know.....how do children know exactly when the bowl will be ready for scooping out the last dregs of the mixture? Mine, even now, appear at exactly the right moment!

Ah well, enough rambling on. I am going to go and ponder what I am going to bake first.......

10 comments:

Fran Hill said...

Please send the baking fairy round to me, too. She is not getting around her clients fast enough.

Vee said...

The baking fairy has not yet appeared here. The gifts are not bought. They aren't made either. I called in the elves, but they haven't shown up either. I told John that my one goal today is to get the table cleared off. That's about what I can handle.

I love the way you write. It's better than the book I'm reading by far. Write a book for me, wouldja please? :D

Crystal said...

It's more like a baking ant around here - working, working, working but going to and fro in too many directions! We have our Bible study group at our house tonight so I had to have some things ready. Another batch of poppycock is just simmering now - I've given away the other 3 batches already! The mulled cider is in the crockpot, the taco dip is in another pot and I just have veggies to prep. I always leave them to the last minute - they take forever, it seems to me! I'm at the point where "what gets done, gets done" - we have food in the fridge and freezer - we'll have fun together - and Jesus is coming!!!

And the memories - oh, the memories that the preparing brings! You've just written a lovely story - you should submit it for the next Chicken Soup book. Happy Baking / Reading / Resting - whichever it will be!

Stripeyspots said...

And I have plans for Xmas mince pies and black cake (Caribbean fruit cake in which the fruit is soaked in rum for a month or more) and I have Delia Smith's cranberry chutney in jars on the windowsill. But the thought of gingerbread makes me want to run out and buy and enormous decorative tin and make gingerbread AND parkin!

Olson Family said...

Our baking fairy is taking a break but will resume next week. But food and memories is strong. One of the ladies at Bible Study brought 'Cornish pasties' for our luncheon which I thought nothing of until I tasted it - my paternal Grandma. Immediately I was brought to a time when she would give us little bits of things and special treats at Holidays. While the predominate 'culture' was Sicilian due to Gpa, Gma was first generation English/German and many of the holiday treats came from that background - we just didn't know it. I hate it that things "get lost" over time but we do make our own traditions as well. Now I'm rambling.....Enjoy your Winter Wonderland and watching the WC Ski Jumping!

Midlife Mom said...

What a lovely post! I too have been baking up a storm and also eating up a storm which doesn't bode well with my weight loss program! I will hate getting weighed on Monday morning! :o( Oh well, it's Christmas and there is plenty of time after to get back on track.

Such a wonderful time of the year and yes certain things that I bake are things my mother or grandmother baked or my mother in law who passed on many years ago. Love the smell of the house when things are cooking and especially on Christmas Eve when I get the hot cider simmering on the stove. Oh my I do believe I am drooling! ha!

Again, such a wonderful post my friend! xoxox

Needled Mom said...

My baking starts this week too. We do have cookie parties here. Everyone brings cookies and copies of their recipe to share so you go home with the cookies AND the recipes. They are great fun.

Anonymous said...

By cookies are you talking American speak for biscuits?

Ann

Dawn said...

I don't bake any jore - it's sad. But I end up eating most of it and it's not good for me. Besides, I am way too lazy. I used to bake hundreds of cookies and bars with at least a dozen recipes. Maybe someday I will get my motivation back. I wonder. Cookie parties sound like such fun, but I've never actually attended one.

Linds said...

Yes Ann - biscuits to the rest of the world. It was an American book!