\u201cSo, where you want me to buy your birthday cake?\u201d I asked my wife earlier this month. On such things, I don\u2019t just do whatever I want. I get advice. I\u2019ve learned the hard way. You don\u2019t take risks when it comes to birthday cakes. Countries have fought wars over less. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, don\u2019t buy it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you both make a cake.\u201d <\/p>\n
Make \u2026 uh \u2026 wait a minute \u2026 make a cake?!? Is that even a thing? And if it is, why would you wish such a thing upon us. My daughter and me. And mainly me. <\/p>\n
Because here\u2019s the thing about me in the kitchen. I like things a certain way. By which I mean, I don\u2019t like when stuff gets everywhere. By which I mean, my daughter tends to get things everywhere. By which I mean, I make a big \u2018ole deal about it, freak out because the cocoa powder spilled and start screaming about how she ruined Christmas \u2026 and it\u2019s not even Christmas! That\u2019s how crazy baking cakes gets for me. It\u2019s not a good way to start a birthday celebration. <\/p>\n
\u201cOr, I could just go buy a cake,\u201d I said. \u201cYou know, we do need to support the economy and all. Don\u2019t want another recession.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, dad,\u201d the kid chimed in. \u201cShe wants us to BAKE a cake. Don\u2019t worry, I know how to do it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Whenever a kid tells you not to worry, I reach for my hard hat. And HAZMAT suit. And phone number for a real estate agent, because I just know we\u2019re gonna\u2019 need to sell the house quick after this one. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m haunted by memories of baking things with my daughter when she was younger. Wonderful bonding experiences and unforgettable memories, marred just slightly by the horror of what looked like a pretty faithful recreation of Mt. Vesuvius blowing its top. Every time I get up on the ladder to dust the kitchen fan, I find bits of chocolate icing from those early cake baking adventures. <\/p>\n
But she\u2019s 12 now, and when she says, \u201cJust let me lead the way,\u201d I\u2019, starting to realize I can hesitantly step back and say, \u201cOK, but remember that if there is a real estate bubble, we might not be able unload the house as quick as weed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then off we go \u2026<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t tell if I miss the old days, with its exploding puffs of cocoa powder and semi-melted butter flying in every direction. How we once accidentally almost used mayonnaise in a recipe. <\/p>\n
But the new ones sure come with a lot of benefits. Someone who knows the right blender speeds. How to pour the boiling water into the batter. Who I can trust pouring the boiling water into the batter, especially because it scares the heck out of me. <\/p>\n
Incredibly, it all went pretty according to plan. The cleanup was minimal. The cake itself was pretty darn incredible \u2014 no major chunks missing and even enough icing to cover the whole thing. And we had a lot of fun. <\/p>\n
There are many times as a parent when you come to miss the old days. But I\u2019ve found at least one where I sure don\u2019t mind the growing up. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cSo, where you want me to buy your birthday cake?\u201d I asked my wife earlier this month. On such things, I don\u2019t just do whatever I want. I get advice. I\u2019ve learned the hard way. You don\u2019t take risks when it comes to birthday cakes. Countries have fought wars over less. \u201cNo, don\u2019t buy it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you both make a cake.\u201d Make \u2026 uh \u2026 wait a minute \u2026 make a cake?!? Is that even a thing? And if it is, why would you wish such a thing upon us. My daughter and me. And mainly me. Because here\u2019s the thing about me in the kitchen. I like things a certain way. By which I mean, I don\u2019t like when stuff gets everywhere. By which I mean, my daughter tends to get things everywhere. By which I mean, I make a big \u2018ole deal about it, freak out because the cocoa powder spilled and start screaming about how she ruined Christmas \u2026 and it\u2019s not even Christmas! That\u2019s how crazy baking cakes gets for me. It\u2019s not a good way to start a birthday celebration. \u201cOr, I could just go buy a cake,\u201d I said. \u201cYou know, we do need to support the economy and all. Don\u2019t want another recession.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573,561,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-nutshells","category-family","category-parenthoodandchildren"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1807,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions\/1807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nutshellcity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}