Halloween
Last week I was struck with writer’s block, lack of inspiration, and plain old laziness. I could not think of one thing to write that someone might want to read; but today is Halloween. There are two things my children remember about me as a parent. The first incident involved Carol who was way too old to do this. We have a relative who traditionally “cooked short” for the number of guests who were invited. On this particular occasion a baguette had been cut in slices and then the slices in half again. There were 20 guests. When the kids lined up for dinner at the serving buffet, she said to the great amusement of her cousins, “Yum, croutons.” She tells me that is the only time she ever remembers getting the shut up stink eye from me—and she was at least 19.
The second thing my children remember is their fighting over candy after Halloween. They would trade, insist that a Butterfinger was worth two gumballs, and ended up in a screaming match. I had warned them repetitively to “Knock it off or they wouldn’t have any candy at all”. They continued, and I gathered the newspaper from that day and lit a fire in the burn barrel, scooped up all of the candy, and threw it in the fire a piece at a time while they stood by screeching like a couple of ghouls. If they fought over their candy again, it was not in my presence. This they remember.
I always ask them if they remember my sitting through teacher’s conferences to hear about how much potential Jim had, but he was distraction to other kids for 12 solid years and was in the Principal’s office too many times to count? Do they remember that Carol took fresh cookies I had made to the Biology teacher for “extra credit”? How about that college tuition? How about not maiming or injuring them during those adolescent years?
Last Thursday I prepared and served the desserts for the Potter’s House which is the homeless shelter. I made my pumpkin sheet cake which everyone at my household loves even if they don’t like pumpkin. I dressed up in a black leotard and wore the net cape I had purchased years ago from A CHILD’S WORLD.
I made six of these sheet cakes mixing one after another, decorated them with orange coarse sugar, and served them on a Halloween plate. They were a hit and there was one cake left for the 300 people for whom lunch is served the following day. Personally I would like to cook 100 times too much rather than be short one serving. There will be another treat for our hungry. Tina Dickson donated 200 pounds of Idaho Russet s—the likes of which most people in the south have not tasted—that baking fragrance that only comes at harvest.
I thought about a costume today but caught a glance of myself getting out of the shower in the mirror this morning, and I decided seeing myself naked is as scared as I ever want to be.
Ann’s Halloween Pumpkin Cake
Beat together:
4 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
1 15 ounce can of Libby’s pumpkin
2 cups of sugar
½ teas. ground ginger
2 dashes of ground cloves
2 dashes of ground nutmeg or a few scrapes of fresh—but keep this light. It can overwhelm the flavor.
2 ½ teas. Cinnamon
Beat in :
2 cups of flour
2 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
½ teas. salt
Pour batter into a parchment lined sheet cake pan (I always spray the whole works with PAM) and bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes. Allow to rest 10 minutes, then turn out on a cutting board and remove parchment. Allow to cool and then frost the cake as if the bottom of it were the top with the following
Grandma Ann’s Best Cream Cheese Frosting
½ cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 ½ teaspoon of vanilla or vanilla paste
4 cups of powdered sugar
Cream or half and half
Beat softened butter and cream cheese until light, add vanilla, powdered sugar and beat again. Add by a teaspoon cream to make the frosting the consistency you like.
