Aunts

Kids need to bounce in and out of their aunts houses while growing up.

I did.

I was thinking about it a few nights ago when I made my aunt Claudia's Yum Yum Cake recipe.  I told my kids it was my aunt Claudia's recipe.  They know her vaguely...she's the one that lives across the field from Grandma and Grandpa.  Braeden asked me if I saw her much growing up.  

Yes.

I stayed at her house with my cousin Catherine.  She braided my hair in tight french braids.  She made Swedish Pancakes for breakfast that her kids called "Squeaky Pancakes".  They usually had a cat.  Their cat, H.I., named after the character in Raising Arizona, was a sort of crazy cat and would run headlong into a closed door, ricochet off and then try again.

I saw my other aunts a lot too.  I still remember the way their houses smelled.  I remember the "Ewe's Not Fat, Ewe's Fluffy" sign in my aunt Pam's bathroom...it was complete with pictures of fluffy sheep.  I remember the cake she made every year for my mom's birthday.

I remember staying with Leslie.  I remember how much I loved their house which my aunt Nancy had transformed.  I remember Nancy's omelets which I have tried to recreate but cannot.  I remember her letting Leslie and me make chocolate chip cookies and eat them while watching Jaws on a long and lazy Saturday.  I remember her inviting us in with a flourish when we were Christmas caroling at their house.

I remember visiting my aunt Olivia.  I remember thinking she cooked like our Grandma.  I remember feeling welcomed and loved.

I remember staying with my sisters at my aunt Lynn's.  We were young and she was our glamorous newly married aunt.  She made us finger steaks for dinner which alarmed me until I realized they were really just beef (phew!). 

I remember my aunt Mary cutting my hair (whenever I wanted her to) in her salon and letting me dye her hair one fateful day when I didn't do such a great job.  When I was a teenager, my aunt Mary was the very best ally known to man.

My aunts reflect in my collection of recipes:  besides Claudia's Yum Yum Cake, there's my aunt Mary's chocolate chip cookies and my aunt Launa's wedding cake.

Some of my aunts:

First, an oldie...from Marianne's wedding (I know, what a beautiful bride!)

Nancy, Drew, Pam, Fred, Lynn, Warren, Robert, Marianne, Mary, Steve, Launa, Richard, and my sweet Grandma

A more recent picture (from last summer...notice my dad and his brothers in the background, at least notice their belt buckles).

Jennifer (my aunt, not my SIL), Claudia, my other sweet Grandma and Olivia (my aunt, not my great grandma, sister or niece)

How will my nieces and nephews remember me?

The crazy one that rolled around each summer with kids that didn't know how to ride horses or wear anything except shorts and sandals?

As a remote aunt I have something for my nephew Luke.  Luke who Mark is still in awe of because of his Star Wars like name.  Luke who's allergic to eggs.

Yum Yum Cake has no eggs.

Think of me when you eat it.

Your aunt that loves you.

Yum Yum Cake

3 c flour

2 c sugar

6 T cocoa

2 t baking soda

1 t salt

10 T vegetable oil

2 T vinegar

2 t vanilla

2 c cold water

Measure dry ingredients in 9 x 13 pan.  Mix.  Make 3 holes in dry mix.  Measure oil in one hole, vinegar in second and vanilla in third.  Pour water over all of the mixture and stir until well blended.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

(This is how the recipe goes but I just put everything in my mixer which is easier I think...also 30 minutes wasn't long enough.  Is it my oven?  Is it a difference in altitude...although I think that works the opposite way...I don't know.  It's good though.  Really.)