Make a Cake

How does one set up a new kitchen? 

This has been my fun problem over recent days. Our remodeling is 95% done, with only a smattering of small tasks – the infamous ‘punch list’ – remaining. I have tried to be slow and patient in my arrangement of the new space, so that everything is placed in the most functional and efficient location. Sometimes, I admit, this thinking and planning goes on too long – I am simply paralyzed. (What’s that work expression – ‘paralysis by analysis’?) My spices, for example, are in shoeboxes in the front room of the house, where I have had them since the remodeling began – I am thinking too long and too hard about where they would best be placed. 

The work of setting up my new kitchen took one giant step forward this past weekend when I decided to bake a cake for a small backyard gathering at a neighbor’s house. 

Here ensued my remodeling/new kitchen version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie  –

If you decide to make a cake,

you will remember your dear neighbor Leta and her yummy pumpkin cake…

you will search for the recipe
you will hold it in your hands 
see her handwriting
remember, remember, remember
how Leta and Joe would be outside 
early morning when it snowed
shoveling our shared driveway
my goodness, they were shoveling into their 80s
oh, how she tended to her garden  
divided up plants in the autumn
shared them with us
how they loved our boys
how kind and generous they were
such great neighbors 
it seems like just yesterday
though it has been more than fifteen years 
since they lived next door 

Then you’d know, YES, you have to make THIS cake.

When you decide to make this cake, you are going to need to find your mixer…

which means you’ll have to go up in the attic crawl space 
work your way through box after box 
things stored for the past many months
which means you have to change clothes
put on your grubbiest ones
because you will be walking on your knees
and while you are in there
you need to make sure you don’t 
open any of the memory boxes 
you will start reading and devouring and 
never leave the attic crawl space 
time’s a wastin’ 
so stay focused
please be sure to watch your head 
you don’t need to smack yourself on the low ceiling.

Even though you promise to stay focused, you will find so many other treasures that you really should bring downstairs, too …

there’s the rest of your plates and bowls 
oh my, more drinking glasses 
yes, let’s bring these down
wash them up while the cake is cooking
don’t forget the mixing bowls 
measuring cups 
stirring spoons
more

Gather all these treasures …

you will make countless trips 
up the stairs and down the stairs 
alternating between standing and crawling and 
bending like Houdini 
you will decide that this is your exercise for the day
you will feel tired
though 
you haven’t even started to bake the cake 
or wash any of the items

and as you begin to bake and wash…

you will collect dry ingredients from the front room
where they’ve been stored since the remodeling began
you will realize that you shouldn’t put them back there
it is high time 
to put them 
on shelves, in drawers, in cabinets
which means 
you should measure and cut the shelf liners 
you bought earlier in the week

As you begin to measure and cut the shelf liners …

you will see 
your neat, sterile, brand new kitchen 
now covered in a melee of things
the flour and sugar
the bowls and mixer
the scissors and liner
there is barely a free spot and 
it is awesome 
to be here all by yourself
singing
planning
moving
creating
playing

When the cake is mixed, you will realize you never retrieved the bundt pan…

which is in that darn attic crawl space
so there you are again
bending crawling finding
up and down those stairs
washing drying oiling the pan
pouring in the batter
the oven will be preheated
the cake will begin to cook
the kitchen will smell like autumn
you will smile 
as you work to corral 
all that still needs to be done 
in that busy new kitchen
and see
you have everything you need to set up a baking corner

As the cake is cooking, you will realize in horror that you don’t have the cooling rack…

…so it is back up those stairs one more time…

…into the dark crawl space…

and finally, finally, finally, you don’t need to go up there anymore today. Though, there are more things you’d like to bring down for your kitchen. No, not today…you have made giant strides in setting things up in the new space, and you can leave the rest for other days.

When the cake is cool, you will frost it and slice it …

remembering to make 
a special plate for the fabulous neighbors 
who now live in “Leta and Joe’s house" 
so that they might savor 
a bit of 
this neighborhood memory and magic. 

you’ll bring the rest to the backyard party 
everyone will share their memories
your heart will be full

If you decide to make a cake…

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