Mom & Me Three Archive

...delivery to happen in a week and a half or so. The only minor argument we had was over the color. I leaned toward black, since black appliances make our tiny kitchen look larger along with the dangerously dark cabinetry. Also, as I discovered with the purchase of black stove element pans some months ago, black looks cleaner when it's not clean than white, bisque or stainless steel stuff. I held my ground and Mom finally gave up, saying, "Well, you're the one who's going to use it."
    True.
    As usual, Mom was very animated while conducting business. The sales associate understood, though. She looked to be about my age, maybe a little older, and familiar with the circumstances surrounding doing an elderly parent's business while allowing them to feel as though they're doing their business.
    Last night, in our first anticipation of using a reliable oven, Mom and I began a very stringent holiday baking list:

• Molasses-Ginger Snaps;
• Gingerbread with chile powder;
• German Chocolate Cake Cookies;
• Banana Bread
• Mexican Wedding Cookies
• A few candied fruit fruitcakes from my mother's recipe;
• a few more dried fruit fruitcakes from my recipe;
• Traditional Family Recipe Date Bars;
• Kolachis with dried peach and fig centers;
• Pound Cake to be soaked with Chambord
• Egg Nog Bread;
• Toffee Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies;
• Honey Bear Brownies;
• A lemon-oat-streusel bar using lemon curd;
• Some kind of bar using Robertson's Scotch Marmalade and dried cranberries;
• Peanut Butter Cookies;
• Spritz Cookies
• Oatmeal Apricot Cookies.

    We may add something to the above list here and there. We will definitely not be subtracting anything. I'm considering attempting to make fudge this year. My mother loves it and it would be interesting to try to make, although there is a local store on the square that makes extraordinary fudge to which I may resort. There will also be the regular baking, whose ante is upped around the holidays: extra pies, scones, cheesecakes, not to mention the roasts and pot pies that happen around this time of year.
    Later.