Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One-Hundred and Twenty-Two (A Restraining Order to Protect Cake Batter - Happy Birthday O)

Turning 9 is monumental, especially if you were just 8 the day before.  Yesterday, I let both my kids play hooky.  It was supposed to be a stress reliever for all of us in honor of O's birthday - and the fact that Grandma's ER visit and brief stay at a nursing care facility the day before taught us what Dorothy learned some time ago "There is no place like home."

O had the privilege of going to her favorite Japanese restaurant and dragging her mom to Chuck E. Cheese for some 9 year old madness.  Spencer got to skip school in the name of making a cake for his sister's birthday.  My dear friend Kitty was relegated to Grandma watch duty - due to Grandma's sprained ankle.

Perhaps, Spencer should just give up school and start a restaurant.  He has contracted kitchen fever.  No longer is he the secondary sous chef or the kid who gets to crack the eggs. He is the 13 year old man in charge of the kitchen - reeling orders at anyone who dares to cross his path.  "Kitty, get me the onions please - time to make dinner."  "Mom, the cake pans please?"  "Olivia, outta my way....I'm in charge."  This sometimes does not bode well for the now 9 year old who also wants to be in charge.

I can't even guess the recipe Spencer used/created for Olivia's birthday cake.  It was a stunning ALL NATURAL red velvet spelt cake with real butter cream frosting (no confectioner's sugar here....I was completely baffled that he made frosting with granulated sugar...but it was awesome.)  I do know that after Spencer made this wonderful cake, we ran out of butter, sugar, and are now low on Vita Spelt.

Somewhere in the making of this grand cake, the intentions got lost....Olivia wanted a swipe of the batter on her finger: Spencer insisted that the only hands in the bowls would be his; I ran to my third floor office for cover, locking two doors behind me.  Alas, to no avail.  The kids know how to break in, and Olivia came up crying about the cruelty of not getting to eat batter, and Spencer followed later demanding a "restraining order" against his sister so the cake could be finished, or else there would be no birthday celebration at all.

A "restraining order" regarding cake batter?  Has this lawyer, turned baking entrepreneur had too much influence on her kids?????  Have we lost the meaning of the cake???

As the madness ensued, I attempted to maintain some sense of semblance as I was making business plans regarding something or other....I felt for my business partner on the other end of the telephone line, as I bounced between the concept of supermarket orders and the need for a restraining order to protect cake batter.

Olivia's Red Velvet Spelt Birthday Cake created by Spencer

Somehow, without a restraining order, the cake did get baked, and I managed to grocery shop for birthday fare, and make grilled chicken, seared steak, Spelt Right pizza and fitayers, salad, salad dressing and rice (thank you Kitty)....just in time for our expected guests - Kitty, Donna and her two kids and our unexpected guests, my brother and his adult daughter, Caitlyn.   My friends were in awe at the amount of food I made...."Way too much," they said..   I knew better...especially with Spencer, the chef, and Alan my brother in the house.   The dinner was devoured, plates wiped clean.  Thank goodness for the loving dad, spouse, son-in-law, brother-in-law and overall good mensch Tim who made the kitchen spotless after the celebration and all the shenanigans.

The Birthday song, along with the beautiful cake, topped off the evening, and reminded us the meaning of the cake - a family's love for a NOW nine year old girl with a little batter on her finger, and no retraining orders on her record.

Happy Birthday Olivia.  We love you.

The sweet end to a raucous day