Things to be thankful for...

As an only child I was infatuated with large families, The Walton’s in particular.  We had close friends who were an Irish Catholic family with five kids and I loved nothing more than to hang out at their house.  Their dining room table had bench seats like a picnic table and no matter how many kids there were there always seemed to be room for one more.   There have certainly been times in my life when I wished more than anything to not be an only.  I look at my cousins; three girls who despite the occasional quarrel seem to be the best of friends, and wish I had that camaraderie. 

However, I learned early on that there were certainly perks to being an only child; one of them being that you never had to share the beaters.  Whenever we baked my mom and I would divide the leftovers; one of us would get to lick the bowl and the other would get to lick the beaters.  I remember asking my mom, with a great deal of concern in my voice, what kids with brothers and sisters did when it was time to lick the bowl.  It was a legitimate dilemma in the mind of a seven year old.

My daughter, The Short Person, is starting to learn that sharing isn’t always fun.  It’s a difficult concept to teach to toddlers who see the world as revolving around them.  This week I initiated my daughter, a third generation only child (she, like my mother, has a half brother 21 years her senior) into the glory of licking the bowl. When that little hand went into the bowl and she licked the gooey goodness off I couldn’t help but smile.  She paused for a moment, then pulled the bowl away.  She had staked her claim.

It was a busy week in the kitchen.  I tried to make a chocolate peanut butter cake in hopes that the peanut butter swirl would be creamy enough to serve as icing.  Unfortunately, the cakes were a little too dense.  I did, however, score big with the Tollhouse pie and the chess cake, which I shared with my family at Thanksgiving.  I think those two recipes will make the short list.

Two packages of cakes went out on Friday, one to Marisa and one to a friend in New York.  We’ll see if they are willing to share when it’s time to lick the bowl.

The Chess Cake has been a hit with everyone who has tried it.  These short jars are so cute.

Chocolate peanut butter.  This was adapted from a brownie recipe and although they tasted good, the texture was too dense.