Breaking The Rules of Dessert

My books are here. He who encourages me to write asked how it felt to have been published. No different, really. Kind of like someone asking you how it feels to be a year older on your birthday. You know that it is happening and are expecting the day to come, but really don't feel the newness of the age.

I do admit that it is exciting to see my name on the cover. You know, like I am suddenly somebody.

I never set out to write a book. It was just a way to try to make Gavin feel better about losing his puppy. Then Wall-E's personality came to life and it was just fun. Still nice to look at a stack of books and see my name over and over again.

I mailed one to my Dad and was shocked at the price of postage. Costs $5.00 to send the book. And that was after the postal clerk figured it several different ways. I had thought it might cost $2 or $3. I think it might be cheaper to ship UPS, but I would have to sign up and pay a weekly fee just for the privilege of using their services. That might not be worth it.

So, as I am pondering shipping costs and making jello with peaches from my tree to go with dinner tonight, I suddenly wish I had a cake.

When I was child, a cake meant a special occasion. My dad would make a German Chocolate cake from scratch. Mother was more of a cake mix baker. Nothing wrong with a boxed cake mix. I like to bake from scratch when I have the time. While shopping at WalMart last week I found that they had all 4th of July stuff on clearance. This included the cake mixes with red, white and blue funfetti.

Being the virtuous and thrifty shopper that I am, I snatched up two of the cake mixes and two of the icing in the tub. I mean, if winter comes and finds us in dire need of nutrition, I can always say, "Let them eat cake." My pantry is full and those cake mixes are right in my line of vision on the counter. Since there is not enough room to cram both into the pantry after I rearrange it, I baked one.

There are only two of us here in this house So I baked it in the jelly roll pan (took less time, saving electricity). So there sits a cake on the counter cooling. I have not iced it yet. For a lot of people, the icing is the best part. Not me, I like the cake.


There were rules I grew up with concerning dessert. You could not have dessert unless you ate everything on your plate. You could lick batter from the beaters to your hearts content, but you had better not touch the cooling cake, nor the iced one until it was "time". When I grew up and started my own household, I used the same rules. I don't know why. Cutting a piece out of the cake did not make it taste different. 


After the initial cut, that cake was then fair game. No more "time" rules. The cake could be a snack or even a meal ........ but only after the first serving had been served. These were RULES, people!


Today, as the cake sat cooling, I grabbed a knife and cut a chunk out of the cake!! No icing, just plain cake. And I ate it!. It wasn't "time"! It was still warm, my plain chunk of white cake with red white and blue funfetti streaks. I enjoyed it immensely with a tall glass of fresh iced tea.


I waited a bit to see if I might be transported straight to hell for breaking the rules of dessert. But nothing happened. I guess those rules no longer apply, what with me having a book published and all.