My partner, Debra harbors secret fantasies of becoming a 50’s housewife. As a result, she is convinced she needs to finally learn how to cook. Her efforts started out innocent enough. A little pasta here, a fancy salad there. No big deal. But, things got out of hand last week when she told me she was determined to bake a cake. From scratch.
Lucky for us, we have the world’s best neighbors. No really. They really are the best neighbors in the world. And, some of the best people we know.
The Bishkin’s are an over-achieving bunch. When on a tour of their home, they nonchalantly pointed out all of the elements of their home that they either designed themselves or built themselves. This included cabinetry that they milled in the backyard and perfectly proportioned furniture they designed and built by hand. Needless to say, Type A is an understatement when it comes to the Bishkin family.
So, clearly we should have known better than to share with them Deb’s desire to bake a cake. Marylin leapt at the chance to help and invited us over for an evening of baking and friendship. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but honestly, had a wonderful time.
Did I mention this was from scratch? There was a lot of sifting and measuring and mixing. We were completely lost, but Marylin, Steve & 11 year old Zach guided us through the entire process flawlessly. I’ll admit, it was sort of embarrassing that Zach had to explain the process of zesting a lemon to two grown women, but we pushed through and accomplished an amazing feat. After 3 ½ hours of neighborly fellowship and lots of laughter, we marveled at the most beautiful cake I have ever seen. And, thanked our lucky stars that we have the best neighbors in the world.
Dori
