While anxiously waiting for his friend to come over to play, my three-year old helped me chop apples for the cakes that Jackie and I were about to make together. You see, Jackie and I both needed a dessert for a holiday dinner and decided it would be more fun to make them together — a play date for our little ones and a cooking date for ourselves.
When Jackie and her youngest son walked in, my littlest one threw down his plastic butter knife, took his friend by the hand and ran for the playroom. I continued to prep the apples while Jackie jumped in and began mixing the flour. For fifteen minutes or so, we mixed dough, stirred apples and cinnamon and created the filling for two bundt pans.
The sweet smells of autumn began filling the house as the cakes baked. Jackie and I sipped coffee and nibbled on warm breads made a few cooking dates ago. Afterwards, we sat on the playroom floor with our sons, playing games and catching each other up on our busy weekends.
Just as the timer went off, it was time to take the boys to pre-school. Jackie left her cake with me to cool. I inverted them onto cake plates and sprinkled the tops with powdered sugar. They sat beautifully on my dining room table, souvenirs of a nice time with a friend.
Ah, but edible souvenirs; the best kind!