It’s true, my personality does not allow me to bake. I am a
fly by the seat of my pants type of girl and this is not conducive to baking.
All of that measuring and precision is not for me. However, I do recognize a
good cake when I see one. My cousin is a great baker, a temperamental baker,
but a baker nonetheless. She usually makes all of Gracie’s birthday cakes and
they are always amazingly clever. But what you have to go through while she is
baking the cake makes it almost not worth it. Almost. Why are bakers always
like that? They are probably just frustrated with all that measuring and
precision but just won’t admit it, so it just festers inside of them and they take
it out on unsuspecting cake eaters. But we still eat the cake so we are the
enablers. I learned all of this from my friend Tom; he’s a therapist. We
literally speak for hours a day about everything and nothing and solve all the
world’s problems and wonder why everyone isn’t perfect like us. But anyway,
back to cake and The Art of Entertaining.
To finish off a party, bringing out a cake, is just
glorious. Just glorious! I prefer a homemade cake with homemade icing. It’s
always a good idea to add a little “pièce de résistance” to your cake. Flowers,
fruit or a supercool cake topper. Yes, I said it… Cake topper. There are some
chic cake toppers believe it or not. Look look look…
And don’t forget the cake plate! Look look look…
If you want to see more fabulous cakes, cake toppers and
cake plates, check out my Have Some Decorum Cake Pinterest board HERE
So on Saturday, we went to that fancy antique show I told
you about. I have been to about, without exaggeration, 4 to 5 billion antique
shows in my lifetime. This was one of the best. It even smelled good.
My husband and I got into a bit of a
tiff/argument/discussion because I told him that I had heard that the antique
show had so many valuables that it was insured for $50 billion. He disagreed
and said, “Not 50 billion. Maybe 50
million.” My friend Tom, the therapist, always says to me, “Ellie, do you want
to be right or do you want to be happy.” I want to be right so I said to my
husband, “No, it’s 50 billion, douche
bag.” When we got to the antique show, we went through the Graf jewelry booth
and saw numerous flawless 50 carat diamond rings, in addition to Picassos,
Mirós, 17th century boiserie, Boulle furniture and Roman statues. My
husband looked at me regretfully and said, “You were right. It’s probably $50
billion.” It’s so good to be right AND happy.
Here are
a few photos.
Stay tuned for the final installment (for now) of The Art of
Entertaining. Hint: invisible tape.
*Thank you so much to everyone for their comments on
something that we don’t know about each other! It’s fun getting to know
everyone. What I really mean is that I’m glad we all hate the same things. Here’s
something you don’t know about me. I never ever ever allowed Gracie to lick the
cake batter because I was afraid of the raw eggs. Gracie learned the words “salmonella
poisoning” before she could walk. She still hates me for that. My response: “Well
guess what Gracie? Thanks to me you’re still alive.”
