The Value of Writing About the Mundane They don't mention blogging but I've felt the value through all these years. The value of the mundane goes up a lot when it encompasses children's lives.

I made beef stew and ginger bread for dinner tonight. Someday I'll write a comparison of gingerbread recipes from the old Joy of Cooking and from the new Joy of Cooking. I'm enjoying old style recipes these days. Above Prune Cake from my Grandmother Julia's kitchen. I've modified it; I cut the sugar by 1/3 and substitute butter for oil. Rather than icing, I glaze the cake with her rum cake glaze: 1/2 cup sugar, one stick butter, 1 cup of rum. Boil and pour warm over hot cake. Zack Zimet asked if he could take a slice home from our Christmas party. As he cut about a third of the cake onto a paper plate he said, "this is so good and unlike anything I've ever eaten before." Which was high praise because he's a great cook and his brother is a famous chef. It pleased me bunches because this cake from this book is hugely sentimental. I feel the same about my gingerbread which is by way of Scott B and happy olden days in the shack, before the Joy of Cooking rewrote itself.