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  12.20.00 I once watched an episode of Martha Stewart when she had a guest on
to make a Barbie cake for a girl's birthday party. The cake itself
was easy-the trick was the decorating. Well, the guest was a Mom, not
a chef, so hers looked fancy, but, well, Mom-like. Martha's,
meanwhile, looked fabulous--she had a Gone With the Wind Theme
look going for the skirt, complete with frosting flowers, lace, etc.
That image stands in my mind as the quintessential rude host
behavior: never perform your guest's skill better that she can. More
important, it's overkill.
Thank You for reading.One of the problems with a cake like that is that there is no way your child can help you with it and still produce a decent cake. I like plans that are somewhat simpler, especially when a concern is sharing the time with your child. I've got a holiday-specific recipe idea in this issue, tailor-made to let you get some time together with your and make a great-looking, fun dessert.
This issue offers you advice about several ways to spend time with
your kids. I hope that you find them useful. Sincerely, Betsy Boyd Editor, ParentingDay
Let's Go Fly a...Plane?
One of my readers asked me to take a look at his site and include it. I'm happy to do this when I like what I see. Alex's Paper Airplanes is such a site. I love the idea of sitting down with your kids to do something as simple and entertaining as making paper airplanes together. The site offers plans for many different planes for free. Check it out, and get folding! Thanks Alex, for bringing it to my attention. www.paperaireplanes.co.uk Journal Together Try keeping a journal of your child's life together, that talks about the days that pass. It's like the concept of a baby book, but lasts longer than that. If your child is very small, you can have him tell you what to write. As he gets older, you might give him prompts until he is more used to the idea. Then he can write for himself about how his day has gone, or a good thing that happened, or a problem he's facing. You can write about milestones, or things you learn about your child- even when you've had a terrible day and have to struggle to think of something good to say, this can be a great exercise to pull you out of that and make you remember the good things. A fight can translate to "She's really showing her stubborn streak, just like me." As years pass, your child may decide to start keeping the journal on her own. But it's a good habit to begin together, and especially early in her life, it can be time you share at the end of the day. |
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 I decided to hunt around for a "recipe"--it's really not hard to cook. All you need is a 9x13 (33x23x5 cm) cake pan, and a standard cake mix. When it's baked, it's important to remember to let it cool 10 or so minutes before you turn it out of the pan. Resist the temptation to pull it out too soon, because if the cake breaks, it will be much harder to assemble. (Tip for the nervous: don't panic if you do have breakage--almost anything can be fixed with frosting). Let cake cool completely on a rack. You will need: 1-2 tubs of white frosting, tinted green if you like. (If not, make green pine needles out of green decorating gel). Take the frosting out of the tubs and mix it in a bowl with the tint until you get a uniform color you like. Add the food coloring slowly, so that you don't suddenly end up with frosting much greener than you had intended. To make the tree shape, you need to get the cake out of the pan, and cut it into three triangles from the center of one short end, to the opposite corners. The two smaller triangles, you'll turn and line up straight sides back-to-back, and that forms the bottom layer. Frost as you normally would, then place the larger triangle on the top. Be careful when frosting the cut sides to try to keep as few crumbs as possible from getting into the frosting. (But don't panic if it does...it's charming). You can decorate it however you like, but try to keep it relatively simple--that way your kids can help. We used red sugar crystals and poured them like a tinsel garland on the cake. Silver balls and red hots make good decorations, too, or even M&Ms to look like ornaments. We also laid tiny candy canes on the cake top. For the trunk, you can use half of a chocolate bar, or more candy canes. Enjoy making this. It should be a memory that lasts a long time for your kids. |
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