Father's Day CORNBREAD!

When I first started Tracy Takes the Cake, I had in mind that the blog would be mostly about food; the recipes I love and the ones I want to try.  My kitchen would become a gathering place. I would grow the fruits, vegetables and herbs right it my backyard.  The Food Network would certainly be calling. What the hell was I thinking?  I can't take a photo to save my life and I never have the ingredients I need so I always have to go the the store before I can finish a recipe. I don't have the patience to babysit you people every step of the way!!

When I cook or bake, I make a hell of a mess.  I don't lovingly select my ingredients, lay them out on the counter (try to find a spot) and photograph them.  I'm usually rifling through the fridge or cupboard trying to locate the next ingredient. "Kids! Where's the butter??? I just bought some!  Is someone eating it straight from the fridge??" Hands dripping with batter or coated with flour, I'm opening cabinets with my foot or closing doors with my hip. It's hard to actually take a picture of the finished product because, while I'm off to find the camera, the kids are usually hoovering the baked goods straight from the pan.

I've learned that "I love to cook" doesn't necessarily mean "I can do a food blog".  I'll leave that to people like my friend Renee who is realllly good at it.

Once in a while, though, bad pictures or not, I'll throw a cooking experience at you.
It will usually be tied to a Meaningful Event.  Today's Meaningful Event is Father's Day and the star of the show loves cornbread.  This is mostly because it gives him a reason to shout "CORNBREAD!" in a really loud voice using his 'American accent'.  Think Yosemite Sam.

Neither of us grew up eating cornbread, it's not very Canadian at all, but I've made it a few times and it has become one of Norm's favorites.  It's for special occasions only, like Father's Day, due to the astronomical carb count. It's a sweet variety I've adapted from one or two recipes that I found on the interweb.  It's dead easy.  Read the frequently asked questions that follow.


 Norm's Favorite "CORNBREAD!"

• 1 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cornflour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/3 cup white sugar 
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup oil (I use grapeseed oil, but will try melted butter next time)
• 1 cup frozen peaches and cream corn kernels

Preheat oven to 400F. Mix flour with...mix dry ingredients.

Next add your egg, milk, oil and corn. Mix well. (Would you really have to say 'Mix well'? Would someone not actually mix it?  Recipes are weird.) Grease an 8x8 inch pan and fill with batter. Take an artsy picture with a tea towel and some measuring spoons.

Bake aprx 25 minutes or until edges are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm with butter, if you can find it.

FAQs

Q.  Can I make a healthier version of this?
A.  No. Just eat it.  You can run up and down the stairs later if you want.

Q.  This doesn't look like traditional cornbread.  Would you like to know how to make the
      traditional kind?
A.  No.  I'm Canadian and you're not the boss of me.

Q.  Can I freeze this cornbread?
A.  No.  There isn't going to be any left to freeze. Why would you want to freeze it when
      you can eat it?

Q.  Can I use all cornmeal instead of cornflour and do I have to put the kernel corn in?
A.  Well, you're all grown up now so I trust you to make those kinds of decisions yourself.
      God, you people are needy, leave me alone! 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO THE KING

See! I cut the top of his head off!

Happy Father's Day and Birthday, as well to my Dad, who probably wouldn't go near cornbread, but makes some of the best food you've ever tasted.

Tripping (and Falling) Down Memory Lane

I've been feeling rather nostalgic lately.  And by lately, I mean at least the last two years.  I've been slowly going through old pictures, and consequently remembering the days when my kids were little.  (Thank God I have pictures, terrible as they are, because I don't remember a damn thing.)   Let's just say, I'm not good with anything involving photos.  I did not label any photos with helpful captions, such as Jaxon, 1999.  If I had, I would be able to look at said picture and say, "That is Jaxon!"  Instead of saying, "I think it's the boy...which one do you think it is, hon?" "I don't know, is this one of ours?"

I made a scrapbook of my daughter's first year.  It was the most frustrating, labour intensive thing I have ever done.  I had to sit around a table full of Other Women.  You know these Other Women, the organized ones who documented every aspect of their children's lives:  "Oh, and this one is where I painted her little toenails for the first time!  I used my Cricut and some homemade glue to make my own little nail polish stickers!!!"   "Wow! Good for you, Pollyanna!  That's AMAZING!"  @#*#^!
"What did you do, Tracy?"  "Oh, well, I uh, I took an empty yogurt container and traced around it to make a circle out of yellow paper.  In terms of a background, I think it plays nicely against the strained carrot stain on whatshername's sleeper in this picture." 

The whole thing only served to remind me how disorganized I am when it comes to my family's precious archives.  Let me just say, first of all, WE WERE ROBBED.  Yes, robbed.  I had my babies before digital cameras were in the homes of every family.  See, we had to buy things such as film, and wrestle said film into the camera.  We snapped the pictures on a wing and a prayer, inevitably several seconds after the precious moment had passed, and had to send the film in to Godknowswhere to get developed.  When we finally got the pictures back, we were rewarded with 3 fairly good shots, 4 shots with a grainy fog hovering over the kids, and 5 shots of a linoleum floor tile.  Sigh. 

So, with minimal results from home photography, the popular thing to do was to go in for studio shots. Yeah, right.  More swell statements by the Other Women:  "Oh my goodness!  I hardly had time to buy the kids their Easter outfits this year before our seasonal studio sitting!!"  More swell statements from me. "  "Oh Sh!t, is it almost Easter??"    Seriously??  No one told me this was a mandatory part of parenting.  When I left the hospital with my babies, I remember them telling me that they might want to eat every 2-3 hours.  NOTHING about regular photos.  Certainly nothing about Easter outfits!

We did make it in for professional shots once or twice.  After arguing my kids into their "Special Outfits", and then jamming their snowsuits & winter paraphernalia on over top, I was in NO MOOD.  No mood, I say, and it reflects in the pictures.  But sure, why wouldn't I buy a package of 181 pictures of the same shot for $279.99???  Why wouldn't I?  Now decide which one....right now.

I know I have an old Anne Geddes picture somewhere.  One of the ones where they stuff the baby into a flower vase or something like that. (Real nice, Anne.  What the hell?)   Maybe I'll photo shop it and tell everyone it was just one of our many trips to the portrait studio with our perfect babies. 

My new year's resolution this year was to take more pictures.  So far, I've been doing that.  With my digital camera and my cell phone cam, it's really easy.  I still SUCK as a photographer but now & then I get the shot.  I swear I'm gonna make it up to my kids in their teenage years.  "Yes, that's your first zit!!  I used a yogurt container to trace a circle on red paper....."

Jordana (centre) Jaxon (right)