Carrot Cake Memories

#sol17- Day 9/31 March 9, 2017

Today I am preparing for my unbirthday cake sharing. My birthday was a week and a half ago, but on a Sunday, so I could not share cake at school I had a student who shared my birthday and another who celebrated on Monday, so I did not want to eat triple cake (or teach students who were that sugared up), so I told my students that I would surprise them another day. It turns out I could have done it on the Monday as neither student brought cake (but my lovely teammates brought in a cake).

So tonight is my night to bake. As I pulled out the recipe for my favorite carrot cake I was transported. The recipe card is handwritten and dates from June 5, 1993. Paula, the woman who passed it on was hosting a baby shower for me. Curtis, my second son, had been born a week and a half earlier at Adventist Hospital in Hong Kong, and somehow we were there being celebrated by some friends (none of whom I have seen since moving from Hong Kong in 1994). Thinking back as a mom with a newborn and a nearly two year old how I even got out of the house amazes me. This recipe card has traveled with me as I moved to the US, to Poland, to the US again, to Germany, India, Germany again, and now is here in Malaysia. You can see spatters and stains on the card, scribbles as I translate US measurements to the metric packages available. It is my go to cake (or more often cupcake recipe) and it seems to be foolproof- bake them a bit shorter or longer and they still taste okay. The frosting really makes me drool. I could (okay, might have) eat it by the spoonful. I usually leave the cupcakes unfrosted and bring the frosting, since I know not everyone loves as much frosting as I do.

 I measure and mix and the many other times I have made this recipe come rushing back to me. My life has changed so much over the life of this recipe card, (I had a husband and two young sons, for instance) but the taste of the cake remains the same. This cake has celebrated other births, birthdays, book clubs, crunchito (our school’s voluntary Friday treat share), holidays, friends, no special reason, and more. It is a simple treat that has converted people who turn up their nose at carrot cake (and some students just will not try it because carrot is in the name, so more for me). The mere smell makes me nostalgic, but

Tomorrow the cupcakes will add a sweet interlude to a week full of busy and I will add another memory as I share the cupcakes with my lovely class to celebrate my unbirthday. The cupcakes are cooling so off to make the frosting (there may be some eaten before I get to school in the morning).