After decorating the Christmas tree, our family held its annual fruitcake assembly and baking party last night. My son Paul mixed pounds and pounds of dates and nuts and candied fruit in a big new gardening bucket I bought for the purpose. After much discussion, raisins and apricots were left out but dried figs were added. We have used the same recipe (from Mrs. Benziger of Knoxville, Tennessee) all of my life but the particular mix each year varies by the taste of the cooks. Everyone wore a tea cosy or Santa hat for the event.
My daughter Jessica and mother chopped and measured and mixed and discussed modifications. We baked one of the cakes in a rose-shaped Bundt pan this year. The tips of the petals are dry but otherwise it worked well. My daughter is brushing honey on the top now to moisten it. There is one big round fruitcake but the other 6 are loaf shaped. The last 2 loaves are in the oven now. They take over an hour to bake and no one wanted to stay up past midnight for two more to cook.
Today we visit the Dickens’ Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Jessica has assembled a costume of sort-of Victorian clothes since she likes to dress up. My mother is looking forward to sitting down with mulled wine and listening to sea chanties and bawdy songs in Mad Sal’s Alehouse. I plan to spend some of my fair time shopping and some listening to the songs or maybe watching a play by Gilbert and Sullivan.
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