Last night after my family had left and Mom was sitting in her favorite chair, I decided to take the newest gingerbread goodies, a gift from my friend Karla, and fix up a magical gingerbread kitchen.
Karla gave us these pretty, tall gingerbread people, the pretty glass cannisters and the placemats that match.. Along with her ornamental cupcakes and candy, this corner of the kitchen reminds me of the window displays in St. Louis Stix, Baer and Fuller... We used to go once a season to see the Ice Capades and visit the shops with Santa and his elves...
The yellow tin is a perfectly awesome tin of Harney's tea blended for the Royal Wedding.... In the silk sachets are rose petals, blue cornflowers, and marigold... along with tea, or course... and vanilla pieces. It is one yummy cuppa tea!
Don't you love their happy faces?
On the north wall, we have a gingerbread village mixed in with Mom's flow blue dishware collection. I just bought the tall gingerbread girl and the lifelike popcorn tree and popcorn balls from my favorite Randolph Mercantile...
If I could imagine myself tiny and festive, I would walk along those streets and visit every shop to try to finish up my holiday gift buying... No black Friday for me!!!!
She looks real, but she isn't... Do you love gingerbread? I confess I haven't had much real gingerbread. I like gingersnaps from the store, and when I was young, my grandmother made Laura Ingalls Wilder's gingerbread cake... It was dark and tangy, kind of mysterious. We always mixed up a form of cool whip called Dream Whip from a box, and it often had a little runnier texture than Cool Whip... Gramma was a bit heavy on the vanilla, and that dream whip was food of the gods!!!! She poured it over this cake when Christmas time came, and I thought I was ON Little House on the Prairie!!!
One time Gramma offered to give me 100 dollars if I lost 50 pounds... I thought that was a bunch of money back then, so I accepted the challenge.. the very next night when I got home from school, she had made this gingerbread... (I think it was sabotage)---
Those pounds have long been lost..... and found again!!!! And I would love to taste this lovely concoction again this season... I found her recipe, so I may try it soon... Bake it as you risk because gingerbread isn't for everyone... I know my daddy didn't love it, and actually I'm not sure if I did or not... Tastes change, but memories stay beautiful...
Have a fun weekend... My vacation days have been fun, and the weekend isn't quite over yet... Hallelujah!
LAURA'S GINGERBREAD
1 cup brown sugar blended with
1/2 cup shortening.
1 cup molasses mixed well with this.
2 teaspoons baking soda in 1 cup boiling water
(Be sure cup is full of water after foam is run off into cake mixture).
Mix all well.
To 3 cups of flour
add one teaspoon each of the following spices:
ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Sift all into cake mixture and mix well.
Add lastly 2 well-beaten eggs.
The mixture should be quite thin.
Bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.
Raisins and, or, candied fruit may be added and a vanilla frosting adds to the goodness. |
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