SPELLING BEE

Time

“The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world and people keep sending it to each other”. Johnny Carson If there really is only one fruitcake in the world, a lot of people have been misinformed. I know that a fruitcake gift has become the last thing a lot of people would like to get. Since I do run off the beaten path now and then, I am one of those GOOD fruitcake lovers. That means not all fruitcakes are created in the manner that I enjoy. The dry, mostly batter with a touch of some plastic fruit in a tin does not make it to my wish list. The fruitcake business does appear to be alive, doing well, and getting good money for their products. Just check out the internet and you will see all kinds of fruitcake offers. A large number of them are from religious places so that must mean something. Maybe God gave the good recipes to certain people?

I have my non-recipe fruit cakes baked and they are aging for eating in a few weeks. I started out with having all the fruits and nuts spend about 6 hours in a blackberry brandy bath. I like a dark batter so I added a bit of black strap molasses and an assortment of extracts. After a low temperature bake, the completed cakes were ready for a pour or two, (or a bit more) of Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey. These liquor choices happened because I did get around to going through the liquor cupboards and I came across these 2 favorites of Husband Larry. Actually the Phillips(it had to be Phillips) brand was a favorite of my dad also. It was kept in the refrigerator for health treatments which could vary from season to season. Of course you know who would try it once in awhile just to see why it was supposed to be so important. Time went by and I learned that Husband Larry also liked only the Phillips brand but he did not keep it in the refrigerator. It had been years since I had a taste but I thought I could have a big sip and handle it. Wow, I must have been one tough kid as I almost got set back on my butt from that somewhat big sip! Maybe it was the refrigeration.

My whiskey consumption is very low so I thought a good way for me to use it up was in baking and soaking my fruit cakes with it. I did put a good dent in the bottle and I think Husband Larry would be in a bit of pain of how much I took out of his bottle of the good stuff. May Husband Larry and my fruitcakes rest in peace.

My number one fan of my fruit cake was my first cousin, Father Dick. He said he could almost, almost miss mass so he could eat the fruitcake. He would shop the online fruitcake business and have a different fruitcake sent to me each year in return. That is why I found out so many religious orders bake and sell fruitcakes for fundraisers. It was with a heavy heart that we learned he was ill and passed away in January of this year. I was getting ready to send him a huge cookie box for Valentine’s Day so he could wait by the mailbox to pick it up. He would “sample” on the way back to his office. I am not sure how I am going to deal with the loss of the “fruitcake gift” from Father Dick this year.

How did all of us Twin City people like that 6 inches or so of snow we got last week? It appears a whole big batch of us have forgot how to drive and move around in the white stuff! Hopefully we brushed up on winter driving as I am sure we are going to get a lot more to deal with. We will be getting the “good snowman” snow and also the “can’t get it to stick together” snowman snow. It is fun to see the variety of snowmen that are created each year. Oh boy, I am going to say snowmen and not snow people just for old times of the past.

Warm hugs to all my wonderful loyal readers! Stay warm & safe.