... he was a King!



Happy Birthday, Helen! ; )

 Today is my boss's birthday, whom is also my very good friend, and I have been scrambling my brains all week on what to bake for her. Although she always requests a Chocolate Cake, this year she said nothing and to top it off, she started talking about eating HEALTHY!!! What are you people doing to me??? Don't you know that the joy of baking is in using Real products like Flour & Sugar? NOT whole wheat & Splenda!! lol... I will do it if I have to and dabble more and more in it, but You can't expect me to change overnight... so stop THINKING HEALTHY or no more goodies for you!! 



All wrapped up Pretty!

 Anyway, as I was saying... When I said to her, "No Goodies, then?" She looked as if I were the Crazy one. She said (almost to low to hear), "No Goodies." Of course, I didn't believe her, but I thought hard on another way for her to not feel that she was cheating. If I make her Orange & Nutty Chocolatey Chocolate Cookies then she could freeze them and eat them at her leisure and not all at once, like a Cake. Thanks Goodness, I listened to myself because when I told her 'no cake because you said no Sweets' she said, "AND YOU BELIEVED ME??" haha, what a nut. I know her better than she knows me! I could go on some more about her, but as much as I Love & Respect her, there is someone else I am thinking about.



 10 years ago today, I lost the only man who had a firm hold of my Whole Heart...my Dad. and just like the past nine years on this day, he consumes my every thought. There are no words to express how much I miss him and wish that I could just visit for a minute... of course, that would still not be enough. As you may have guessed, I  was a Daddy's Girl and so were my sisters. But, I'm the lucky one, I think, because being sooo ; ) much younger than everyone else, I got more at-home time with him and was maybe a little more receptive to his influence. Was that a good thing? Still, My memories are endless, from singing absurd country songs at a young age to eventually, as I got older, joining in with his teasing antics. Even though, he was just a man with imperfections, to me... he was a King!



Orange Sticks & Mixed Nuts...

How does this tie into baking? When I am asked where I got my baking skills, my standard answer is... I guess I inherited it from my Grandmothers, but if I really think about it... my Dad Loved to bake, too. He didn't do  it all the time, but you can be sure that when he did, flour was literally flying all over the kitchen. I guess I get that from him, too. haha. When I thought of my friends cookies, I wanted something to be about him, too. He LOVED candy. One of my favorite memories, as a kid, is our trips to Sears' basement where the candy counter was. He always got Orange Sticks and Bridge mix. He never failed to ask me what I wanted and guess what... those were MY choices, too!

Being a truck driver, he didn't exactly know how to treat us girls like Princesses, but looking back, now that I'm older and can appreciate it all... I think what we got was so much better. We learned how to stand up for ourselves, speak our minds & Swear like Sailors! He also had a great sense of humor... at least he thought so. I can tell you some horror stories that will curl your hair... wait... THAT could be why my hair is so curly!! Picking a time when it happened would be hard, though. Maybe the time(s) we would go to Gemco and he'd fall on the floor because he would trip over the door jam or any imaginary thing yelling for us girls to come back... or when he'd dilly-dally in the lobby and wait until the elevator doors were almost closed then jump in halfway as the doors closed and flail his arms while yelling, HELP, IT'S GOT ME!... or when walking around Bullocks dept. store with an empty Orange Julius cup, slurping the remains loudly as I reached behind me to wave my hand at him to shush, but he was so close I knocked it out of his hand and he cried while following me around... or he'd lay on the floor and yell, urgently, for me & when I went to him he'd tell me to Pull His Finger! Which I always did... or change the channel...  I was his remote control .... Explains alot about me, doesn't it?? I gave him my own, though... every time he asked for something to drink, I ran to him with a nice, warm cup of water and (every time) he'd take a big gulp and say, "Blah!! It's WARM!" hehe... I suspect he knew it was coming, but he drank it anyway!  He was a pain in my backside, but I never failed to tell my friends what funny things he did... he didn't know this, of course, could you imagine how much worse he could get if he knew?



Roger Camou 8/4/34 - 2/5/01
I Love You, Dad!

 As I got older and grew out of the trauma, my Dad became a Great Friend and was always supportive ... from the time he bought my first easy-bake oven and ate every cake as if it were gourmet, to the day he left us for greater things. I can still feel him, every time I'm in the kitchen baking, just standing over my shoulder with his hands behind his back and his face at my ear... asking, "Got any extra for me?"  Even if all he got were the burnt ones (yes, I used to burn a lot of things) 8}...he'd act like it was the best thing he ever tasted. I miss that. Unconditional. And I knew it was genuine. When he bought my Mom a huge, beautiful 6qt Kitchen Aid mixer (that I still use) and she didn't bake or need it for cooking, naturally it went to me. I like to (secretly) think that he bought it for me... how could he justify spending $500.00 on a Christmas gift for me and not my brothers or sisters? See, guys?? I Always knew I was his FAVORITE!!