Our toddler left us. Or at least he did until Friday. Over the past 2 3/4 years we’ve had the occasional chance to get away for a few days without our baby. We return well-rested and smiling gritty at the bottom of our suitcases traces of whatever had plagued us before we left deliciously hollowed out of memory and almost giddy with excitement to be scraping spaghetti from the bottom of the high chair again. But this is the first time — with barely a “Sayonara!” as he runs out the door or an occasional “I wish you were here!” postcard from the road — that Jacob has gone off to lazy places without us. He’s spending a week at the mountain resort of Camp Grandparents where he’s forced to endure petting zoos baby baths vast expanses of fresh air nonstop adoration and no doubt all the ice cream he can coax them into.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 smitten kitchen | 2021-06-30 12:00:05 |  102,789 Views |
The 'I Want Chocolate Cake' Cake | Smitten Kitchen with Deb Perelman
Meanwhile Alex and I have been left to do our daily chores and realize how incredibly boring this place is in the morning without a toddler buzzing from room to room at the crack of dawn tugging at our earlobes to announce “I’m awake! WAKE UP!” and serenading us with the alphabet on his guitar. We’ve also learned that we have different interpretations of a week’s vacation from parenthood. For example I thought that freed from the daily whirlwind of tight schedules tantrums irregular sleep patterns and spontaneous song-and-dance-and-march parties that life with a toddler requires we could finally catch up on things that have been neglected for the past 2 3/4 years. My to-do list for this week includes such tempting tasks as “Have the apartment painted!” “Rearrange furniture and paintings!” “Clean out closets!” “Meet at the gym every day after work” and “Back up and replace laptops.” I also thought we could read and discuss "War and Peace" every night before bed but I didn't want to be too ambitious. Alex's relatively modest list includes such bold suggestions as "Get lots of sleep have a few drinks with friends watch TV with the sound on and the subtitles off and do very little else." Yeah who would you rather party with? It's okay I won't take it personally.
Which version of our week off will prevail remains to be seen but for the weekend at least free time won. Shortly after Jacob set out on Saturday (armed with eight books Ernie Bert two monkeys a soccer ball and a set of glockenspiels just the basics) I set out two sticks of butter picked through all the berries I’d bought at the market and left lying around all week and baked what must be the most perfect embodiment of summer a buttermilk bundt — bronzed with a slight crunch around the edges soft to the point of pudding-like in the middle and welcome wherever you take it. It’s studded with collapsed berries marbled with streaks of pink and purple and covered in a thick tart lemon glaze. And if that’s not summery enough consider taking it to a housewarming party on a beautiful night with the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Then you don’t have to nervously check your watch for the babysitter’s bill because nobody cares when you get up the next morning. You can have long uninterrupted conversations with friends about life itself. Just imagine that if the cupboards have been neglected for so long it wouldn’t hurt to do without them for another week.
One year ago: Blueberry yogurt multigrain pancakes Two years ago: Strawberry rhubarb pie improved Three years ago: Chocolate yogurt snack cakes Four years ago: Zucchini strand spaghetti Five years ago: Lemon risotto and strawberry chiffon shortcake
