Baked With Love

I have issues with my kitchen. The floor is slanted. Remember the TV show, “Mad About You”? Drew and I consider that our show. We used to watch it together when we were dating and newlyweds. It was just so funny. Anyway, Jamie, the wife on the show, was always trying to convince the husband, Paul, that there was a slant to the kitchen floor. When we moved in here, Drew was actually the first to notice our slant since he lived here without us and without furniture for a couple of weeks before I and the kids were able to come out.

When he showed me the slant we both started laughing because he slid on it the same way Jamie does in the show and we both said, “This is what I’m saying.” You had to be there. You had to be a fan of the show to get it, I guess.

So, why am I blabbering about this now? I just made a cake for tomorrow night. We are having friends over, and I thought a lemon cake might be nice for dessert after an authentic South Carolina shrimp boil. (I’m actually having a hamburger. This Florida girl hates seafood. But that’s beside the point.) Anyway, I lovingly mixed the cake (from a mix – I’m not Martha Stewart), let Boo and J lick the beaters (of course J had to ask about raw eggs and salmonella – we don’t call him Monk for nothing….I told him I licked a ton of beaters as a kid and never got sick….but that’s beside the point, too), put the cake in the oven, and assessed the results once I took it out. The two layers are slanted. Just like my floor. I’m not making this up. My slanty kitchen seriously slants my food. It’s even hard to measure liquids because when I put the measuring cup on the counter, the right side of the liquid is higher than the left. It’s a leftward down slant in my kitchen. Go figure.

Anyway, my cake may not be the prettiest I’ve ever baked, but it was baked with love. I lovingly thought of my family and the friends who will share it with us tomorrow night as I baked it. I’m pretty sure that will be good enough.