"Cash in Advance. No refunds EVER!"
You know it's Christmas when... people
start bringing out the fruitcake. Sometimes fruitcake gets a lot of bad
press, but for me and Rick, a generous slab of rich homemade fruitcake
paired with a fragrant cup of Earl Grey tea is a perfect way to enjoy an
afternoon break around Christmas time.
Heather, a long time good friend and a member of the Birthday Club to which I belong, gave us a porcelain fruitcake bakery for Christmas one year. It's a long standing joke about how she despises fruitcake -- it being an awful addition to any self-respecting buffet table in her view -- so we love to share fruitcake jokes and hunt for zany fruitcake cards for us to giggle over.
I don't know if it's clear enough, but if you squint really hard, you
may see the sign in the very first picture. Notice what it says about
shopping at this particular fruitcake bakery: "Cash in advance. No
Refunds EVER!"
Fretta's Fruitcake Company, North Pole Series, Department 56
Now, I would be most interested in your feelings about fruitcake. Is it an integral part of your larder or is fruitcake banned from your Christmas celebrations?
Curiously yours,
Brenda
well since I no longer eat sugar-fruitcake is out. I never did like it, although my mom loved to make them every year. They were too sweet...but they make for funny jokes ala zucchini jokes in my culture. there's an idea add zucchini to fruit cake and it will be more nutritous. lol.
ReplyDeleteFor a second, I thought the cake was real. Scary, especially with the lifetime guarantee sign! Really, fruitcake isn't too bad. Never baked it myself but always enjoyed my mom's. She used to make a dark one (had molasses in it, I think) that she kept adding rum or brandy to every few days. Quite moist and tasty, but when I was a kid, my brothers and I were never allowed more than a little taste at a time. She kept it under surveillance. That woman had eyes in the back of her head when we were growing up!
ReplyDeleteHa ha Lin... Love the zucchini addition. Heather will love it!
ReplyDeleteWalk2write... Chuckled at your comment about the lifetime guarantee! We never added rum or brandy to the cakes, but they were wrapped and stored in a huge tin pail for ripening (and don't you go in there, kids!)
A friend told me her mom bought a new dishpan every year in which to mix the huge batch. I think we used something like that too as the recipe was massive.
I'll always remember the excitement as baking day arrived -- Mom and Grandma would prepare the ingredients together. It was fun hanging around the kitchen so we could sneak the occasional cherry or raisin or nut.
And ohhhhh....the spicy fragrance that wafted through the house as all those loaves baked. Nothing like it.
Brenda, you should be careful about the fruitcake that you and Rick are eating. As I understand it, there are only about 100 fruitcakes in the whole world, and they just keep circulating as "re-gifts."
ReplyDelete:D
Hey D -- Ewwww...thanks for the warning! (smile)
ReplyDeleteMy father-in-law loves a really good fruitcake too. I don't think I've ever had it so I can't say whether I like it or not.
ReplyDeleteCindy