Saying thanks

Here is the picture I should have had yesterday when I was talking about how much stuff will be put in the kitchen. It actually doesn't take up as much room as I expected once they finished bringing it all in.  My poor dog is very puzzled about the new look of our living room!  The next room is beginning to be full of all the contents of the kitchen as it gets ready to welcome its new look!

With my Mom in the hospital, I have been able to observe just how hard the medical staff works and it is so impressive.  The local tradition is to bring boxes of chocolates or thank you cards, but I feel they deserve so much more.  So I grabbed the very last chance to bake cupcakes in the soon to be retired oven.  Just basic Betty Crocker milk chocolate cake mix and ready made chocolate icing.  I had to squeeze myself between and around all the action in the kitchen as Alan frantically filled in holes and removed cupboards.  I must have been desparate to get these baked and felt really good about bringing them in to the well deserving staff taking care of my Mom.  The chocolate/chocolate was really boring looking, but Alan managed to locate sprinkles and that helped a bit.  Too bad we could not locate the mini cupcake tins, that would have made so much more.  There are a tremendous number of people working on this ward.

Growing up in the US in the 50's, I don't think many women actually baked from scratch. All the women I was aware of only used cake mixes.  So when I moved to Scotland, I was amazed that this was not the done thing.  Eventually I learned to make a sponge cake from scratch, but for years, my Mom had to bring me Brownie mix.  I never even considered looking for a brownie recipe!  Not until one day while visiting my Dad and Stepmother in St Louis did I realize it was even possible to make brownies from scratch.  A dear friend of my stepmother gave me her recipe, and the highest praise possible here - it looks, smells and tastes just like a mix!!  Someday when I am able to bake in my new oven, I will look that recipe out and share it!  In fact, that would be a good thing to make the staff at Station 10 for next time. 

Only I hope Mom continues to improve and there won't be a "next time". 

You can say this for ready-mixes - the next generation isn't going to have any trouble making pies exactly like mother used to make. ~Earl Wilson