Food and Childhood

"There either is or is not, that’s the way things are. The colour of the day. The way it felt to be a child. The saltwater on your sunburnt legs. Sometimes the water is yellow, sometimes it’s red. But what colour it may be in memory, depends on the day. I’m not going to tell you the story the way it happened. I’m going to tell it the way I remember it."
— Charles Dickens (Great Expectations)

Do you remember it? The day, the smell, the taste. Maybe it is, as Dickens says not the way it took place exactly, but you do remember it. There is, for you, something.

I remember being a child and standing in the kitchen on a chair with my mother, watching her bake as she was taking decorating classes at the time. I was fascinated by how something so good as cake could look like my favorite cartoon characters. When I was 4, my parents had a party for me and there was Mickey Mouse in frosting. Amazing.

One day I remember vividly as the first time I ever did anything in the kitchen by myself. So here goes my memory. I hope it makes you smile at the thought of your own.

It was summer I think. I was old enough to read, maybe 6 or 7, but I was out of school. My Mom was at work and I was home with my Dad. Someone stopped by, an older friend of my family and He needed to speak about something, so they went into the office and I was left with free reign of the tv. Every kid's dream. I do though have to confess to being a very active child.

So, there I am watching tv, and I don't know. Maybe I saw a commercial, maybe I was just a kid, but all of a sudden, cake sounded like a great idea. It still is a great idea come to think of it. So I pull a chair out from the table, go to the cupboard where I knew all the baking items were, and I pulled out a box cake and a can of frosting. I was able to follow the directions, heat the oven, crack the eggs, pour the milk, and with some difficulty pour it into a pan.

A few minutes later, with the smell of something baking, my Dad jumps up and comes running into the room to see what was going on. After I explained myself I got a firm talking to about how I shouldn't be climbing on chairs, let alone turning the oven on without an adult. Then two men stood there puzzled. "You baked a cake?" "Yeah, but I think I'll need help with the frosting", and when it was done I got my help and the three of us sat down and had a piece of my creation. It was a rainbow cake, white with the sprinkles baked in, and a white frosting.

From then on, whenever there was a gathering, my parents had people for dinner, or something like that I was allowed to bake a cake and got help decorating. That's a memory that is special to me, it was my first experience and it made me comfortable in the kitchen. Something that has obviously stuck with me to this day.

So, you can imagine how I felt the first time I saw my neice standing on a chair next to my mother in the kitchen. Being told to keep her hands away while the mixer was going, but being able to lick the batter off when it was done. That's my memory. It may not be a perfectly perfect memory, but its mine. You have one too. Food is life...life should be good.

Enjoy!