IT WAS good!...and it is GOOD and it's gonna BE good for a VERY LONG TIME!
you are viewing an "historical masterpiece" here. ... no.... it's not Botticelli's Venus-( although there are similarities in the seashell theme ) ...this was very own, very DIY wedding cake from our wedding last year. and this past Saturday , the husband and I found the time to do what we had needed to do for the past 3 weeks after our 1st anniversary. We participated in that most questionable of all American wedding traditions- we each ate a slice of the top of it..... a year .....and 3 weeks after the fact....(logistics having interfered with the actual date...) and I'm alive to day to tell you -believe it or not- it WAS.....good! In the US, we have this weird tradition of saving the top layer of the wedding cake to eat a year later on your anniversary - for luck- an upset tummy- or a trip to the hospital emergency room -whichever of these comes to pass - .... all supposing that IF you survived it, that you will indeed go on to be blessed with a fine marriage for the remainder of your days..... fortunately, i have at least now concluded that with a VERY NICE bottle of champagne, even a year old cake can taste good...and thus insure wedded bliss for the future..... oddly enough, this was not a tradition that the hubbie was very much looking for ward to participating in. But I had him convinced that for the sake of our marriage- this is an activity that HAD TO be done. Now he'd had a year to think on it and warm up to the idea. The cake top itself has been a challenge to keep. It has made a round-trip back and forth across Sweden - survived 3 moves, a boat ride, a ferry ride and a year of threats to "pitch the damn thing" at least every other week from the hubbie who has managed to cram ,shove, hide, loose and kick punt the poor thing around in the freezer for a solid year. now.....being married prior to an American, I had participated in this ritual once before- many moons ago, on the terrace of our apartment in Manhattan overlooking the New York City skyline. I think one taste of the Rancid Slice - we both spit it out in the general direction of the Empire State Building - and that was that. divorce followed ....inevitably --- 14 years later ... - blame the CAKE... So believing all of my own mental malarkey and attempting not to repeat errors of the past - I was convinced that we were going to have to do substantially better..... and down a whole slice of it-EACH... We had a glass of the Veuve Cliquot to start- and then the moment that I thought my husband was going to say- "this American thang has just really gone too far!"..... we both took a bite( yeah, yeah,w e even did that cheesy "feeding each other bit"- to try to lighten the scene a bit) "ummmm,..ummmmm..! o-KAY!- in that adorable way Swedes can say that phrase- o-k A Y ! but - it seriously-tasted .....really good... and so it came to pass that we each ate our own darned slices- without a problem.....( save the increasing giggles from the champagne on my part...) and without the desperate threats that I feared I was going to have to throw out.... OK- the cake wasn't PERFECT-a bit damp-ish- I won't even say soggy.... but ....to draw upon the obvious analogy- what marriage is perfect either ? no our marriage isn't perfect........but I have to give it a very high mark- like the 1 year- 3 week cake slices. I found a really great guy in that cellar bar at the hotel in Gurgaon, India . And although we will both admit to fighting occasionally, most of our fights..... end up in laughs, because we both realize how hard we are TRYING TO actually FIGHT- ( as if we are trying to re-enact that primordial dance of arguing with one's spouse that we both had drilled into our marital behavioral patterns during our first Attempts at Wedded Bliss.) Like the cake was on the day we got married - and as good as it tasted Saturday night- It's all delicious, even of it's a bit "less than optimal" at times.... Lesson for the Soul- This is one to take to the bank.-there's a reason why you believe in silly traditions! And...... I think it was OK- but,the rest of the cake top was summarily DUMPED in the trash the next morning....( there were no traditions on that at least.) Swedish word(s) of the Day- Det var bra.......det är bra och det kommer att vara bra under en mycket lång tid! IT WAS good!...and it is GOOD and it's gonna BE good for a VERY LONG TIME! .........this time around at least- i know it all was done right!! |
