Fruitcake

He-Who-Mows cracked enough pecans that I had a quart of pecan halves once they were shelled.

This year I left out coconut and only used a half pound of candied pineapple because that was all I found at the store. It was chopped more finely than what we used to buy, which came in little wedges.

My fruitcake consists of a pound cake batter using a cup each of sugar and butter, 5 eggs and 2 tablespoons of pure vanilla flavoring and a cup of flour.

The other fruits are a cup of golden raisins and a pound of candied cherries.

Mama used to use a similar recipe except that she used dates instead of raisins.

In previous years I 've added spices and different flavorings like lemon and rum extracts. I like a purist fruitcake: simple fruit and nuts with batter to hold it together.

Because it is more than 2 weeks before Christmas, we will likely have eaten the whole thing by Christmas. I have enough pecan pieces to make a Chocolate Sheet Cake for Christmas Day.

Gingerbread

Imagine a small boy sniffing the chimney of a gingerbread house and saying it smelled like Christmas.

Gingerbread conjures all kinds of memories. Mama used to make gingerbread using locally made sorghum syrup, dark and rich. One year she served us gingerbread squares with sliced bananas and whipped cream. I asked where she got that idea. 'Good Housekeeping magazine.' I'd skimmed past the elaborate dessert with piped swirls of whipped cream as too much trouble. Mama reduced it to its lowest terms: gingerbread, bananas and whipped cream.

Things That Last

We're shopping for a new food processor. The old one just quit. It worked and the next time it didn't. He-Who took it apart and it was not fixable, so the motor base went into the garbage and the bowls and cutting parts and tops are still here.

I want a sturdy one with a strong motor so I could knead dough and shred cheese if I took a notion. I haven't made yeast bread in years and years and I usually just grate a few shreds of cheese using a hand grater as I need it.

We've looked at the ridiculous to the sublime. The very cheapest does not have a slicing disc, one of the things I use most. I love uniform carrot slices.

The most expensive I saw has a long-term warranty. I could use it worry free until I was 97. If I don't live that long, somebody would get a real bargain when my family put it in the yard sale after I'm dead. "This old thing? Five dollars," they would say, eager for a quick buck and ignorant of the original price of four  hundred. Guess we won't buy that one.

Maybe I can wear out a less expensive one, slicing, dicing, grating, kneading, chopping shredding. I was reading a review where the user said she'd received her new machine that day and already used it 5 times.

Coming back to reality, we discussed whether a Cuisinart is still THE food processor or whether a Hamilton Beach for a third the price, with high wattage motor might be a better buy.