Take a Walk on the Sweet Side: My First Cakewalk

 

Until this week, my only knowledge of a cakewalk came from one of the Junie B. Jones books that I used to read over and over again to our youngest daughter.  In the story, Junie B. skipped around with other children until the music stopped and a number was called.  The numbered square she was standing on just happened to be the winner, and Junie B. proceeded to choose a cake from the table.  There was one rectangular cake wrapped in shiny aluminum foil, and that was the one she insisted on taking home.  It turned out to be a fruit cake.  A very dense, heavy fruit cake that her parents tried to dissuade her from picking, but she insisted.  It turns out that she didn't like fruit cake after all, but it was so sturdy that she used it as a booster seat at her kitchen table, so all ended well.  

 

Our children's elementary/middle school had a Back-to-School Picnic last evening and one of the activities was a cakewalk.  Another dynamic mom and I co-chaired it because it sounded like so much fun.  She had cakewalk experience, unlike me, so she knew what to expect.  She and I both did a little bit of baking (the cupcakes, mini-cherry cheesecakes, and brownies above were mine,) but she was bold enough to ask for donations from a couple of the local supermarkets.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures until we were almost finished, but I think we started out with 21 different containers of cakes/cupcakes/cookies/brownies and some boxes of Skittles for those with nut allergies.  There were no fruit cakes though.  I don't think most of the children there had ever done a cakewalk before, so we initially had to practically beg kids to start playing.

 

But once children saw that they could walk away from our table with free cakes, they started lining up to play.  We duck taped numbers on 12 circular stones, and placed a child on each one.  Once the music started, they hopped, skipped, ran, and jumped in a circle from one stone to the next.  One toddler marched to her own beat and repeatedly wandered off the path, but she always ended up on a number once the music stopped.

 

My friend's husband drafted children to help him call out the winning numbers, and each winner came to the table to eye up the loot.  The younger ones were reluctant to choose anything without a parent's input, but the pre-teens jumped right in there with no hesitation.  Interestingly enough, they chose all the store-baked products first...and the Skittles.  Go figure.  After about 70 minutes, we ran out of cakes, so we called it a night and finally got to go mingle with the other 350 school family members who were there.  I would call it a success, and it was definitely a lot of fun.

 

I have to admit though, that I had my eye on this cookie dough cheesecake that our grown son baked from scratch and donated.  It was very tempting to keep it at home in my refrigerator, but I didn't think that would be very charitable.  So instead, I persuaded my youngest two to play the cakewalk over and over again.  

 And I kept the cheesecake under the table in a cooler with ice. 

Because it was almost 90 degrees out, and I didn't want it to go bad, you know.

And my 10-year old son actually landed on the winning number during the first half hour of the cake walk.

So he really did win fair and square.  Honest.

...and he just so happened to choose that cookie dough cheesecake over the Skittles and the numerous store-bought cakes on the table.

So guess what I'm having after breakfast this morning?

 

Mom's Cookies and MeeMaw Muffins as Comfort Food

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies (They're not what they look like!)

     Even though our children had a great first week at their new school, it was still an adjustment.   We all had to get used to waking up each morning by 6 AM since it is a 45 minute drive to school.  Dozens of papers were filled out and signed; four lunchboxes were packed in the morning; and there was a frantic shopping trip to numerous stores for book covers which seemed to be sold out everywhere (we ended up getting the last remaining ones at Staples.)  They were introduced to new teachers, made new friends, and adapted to a new routine.  Our youngest was such a proud first grader with real homework each afternoon that she eagerly tackled as soon as she got home.  They even made it through a week of humid, ninety degree days in a school with no air conditioning.

     By Friday, I wanted to have a treat waiting for them when we got home from school to celebrate their first week.  Although I love to bake cookies, it was just too darn hot to heat up the oven for an hour.  So I quickly cooked up a batch of chocolate no-bake cookies.  I still remember making these annually in home economics class in middle school, and they were one of the first treats I learned to make.  Okay, maybe they're not the most attractive cookie (I won't mention what my boys said the above photo looked like,) but they are yummy.  They started the weekend off right.

No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal

Mix the sugar, milk, cocoa, and butter in a pot.  Cook on medium heat and keep stirring until it boils. Remove from heat and let cool for one minute.  Add the vanilla, peanut butter, salt and oatmeal.  Stir well.  Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper or parchment paper.  Chill in refrigerator, and if it's hot like it's been here this week, store in refrigerator too.

MeeMaw Muffins

     Our weekend continued to get better with the arrival of grandparents from out of town.  Life is always a bit of a celebration when they come to visit, and they know that our children also look forward to their grandma's big red tin of "MeeMaw Muffins."  No matter how busy she is before they leave their house, she always finds time to bake a variety of breakfast muffins: strawberry, blueberry, chocolate chip, cranberry, and brown sugar & cinnamon.  This time she surprised us with banana nut muffins for the first time along with blueberry ones.  I won't disclose her secret recipes here or they won't be exclusive MeeMaw muffins anymore.

     These particular muffins held special significance as comfort food when our weekend took a sad turn. When we awoke Saturday morning, we discovered that our tiger-striped "barn cat" had died unexpectedly in the night.  Life on a farm means we are exposed to both new life and unexplained death from time to time.  With the livestock, we expect these occasional losses, even though every life lost is mourned here.  However, it is rare for us to find one of our cats or dogs lifeless on the back porch.  Many of our cats have gone off into the woods to hunt here on our mountain only to never be seen again.  This young kitty, however, rarely left our porch because he always wanted to be the first one to be fed throughout the day, so his passing was quite a shock.  Such a seemingly small loving touch of leaving homemade MeeMaw muffins on the kitchen table actually brought some comfort to our younger children upon their sad awakening and made the morning a wee bit better.  While food alone certainly can't bring solace and heal all sadness, special foods made with the intention to share our love with others can truly be comfort food.

Any food can be comfort food if made and served with love.