I've been very slow and neglectful about posting things on my blog lately. I blame the wedding season. And the fact that I simply couldn't post because I was recovering from my death bed by going to see my grandbabies. I was on my death bed because of the wedding season.
The weekend before I left for Michigan, I had six weddings. I came close to forgetting about one of them because most of the time I thought I had five weddings. Then this bride sent me an email about her final payment and I did a head bonk and added her desserts to my baking list. Whew! That was a close one!
Not only did I have six weddings, my boys were at the county fair showing animals for the first time. These events combined to nearly kill me. And what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, right? Or it makes you so exhausted that what didn't kill you now, will kill you later.
The day after fair ended, the exhibits came home and I washed the last cake pan, I started thinking about packing a suitcase to leave for the fatherland. I was planning to leave the following day. I'd take one day of reprieve to water my dying flowerbeds, weed the vegetable patch, do some laundry, sweep the floor and take a breath.
Then my daughter called me. "Mom!! Are you getting dementia?!?!"
Well, yes. But what of it? "Mom!!!! You're flight is tonight!!!!"
What? No, it's tomorrow. "No, Mom!" (I think if she had been here she may have given me a really hard shake.) "Mom!! I'm looking at your ticket right now. You leave tonight!!"
Well, that changed everything.
Long story short, we made it and when I got there I slept for two days, waking occasionally to kiss a grandson. We spent a great week together, not doing much, which was a good plan. The boys are staying with their big sister for the month of August, pitching in and living the country life. I am home with my new baking schedule. Only five weddings this week. Should be a piece of cake.
Here are the events that almost brought my demise-
An anniversary cake for this lovely couple celebrating
70 years of matrimony. They spent their whole lives in the same community, raising fruit and building a fine family. I had never heard of anyone reaching such a prestigious milestone and was privileged to be a small part of their celebration.
This sweet little cake is representative of this year's wedding trend- mussy, swirly,
rustic icing with simple garden flower decoration. I think there are a million of these on Pinterest and I wouldn't be surprised if my cake has ended up there too. Every week I am doing a cake in this style.
Conversely, I had a couple from Hawaii that wanted this very traditional style with lots of lacey piping. This cake took considerably more time to do than the previous one so thank goodness for new trends.
The wedding I almost forgot was a dessert buffet. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Cakes, pies, cheesecake, tarts and cupcakes. By itself, no problem. In combination with county fair and other weddings- painful sleep deprivation. Do I need to say that I have learned a lot this wedding season about my capabilities?
Another smallish wedding that deceived me in to thinking I could handle one more. The treat was that it was held at a venue I had not visited before and it was beautiful. I will write a blog post about that...sometime.
One reason that I managed to finish and deliver all these events on time is that my daughter, Alyssa, was home from her European adventure. She not only coached her brothers to blue ribbons at the fair but she helped out by getting a few things done in the Fleur Cakes kitchen, like making tart crusts. She also made this fondant logo for a groom's cake with a theme of the groom's favorite football team, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Now I'm baking for this weekend's weddings. I baked twenty-one cakes yesterday of varying shapes and sizes. Today I'll be baking 150 strawberry shortcakes, doing errands and picking up flowers.
But, I'm stronger, remember?
