You know what hurts? Realizing, after you’ve mixed the mix and baked the cupcakes, that the recipe calls for self-rising cake flour and Softasilk isn’t self-rising and what you now have are not so much cupcakes as flat, tasteless little cup-cookies.
(Yeah. Again with the self-rising flour. Only this time it’s self-rising cake flour. Would it have killed Nigella to include the measurements for non-self-rising cake flour and baking powder and salt?)
You know what hurts worse? When the daughter you’ve made said cupcakes for says, “The bakery makes better cupcakes.” Okay, sure, she’s right, but it still hurts.
(Btw: Sophia is going to be FIVE tomorrow. FIVE. I cannot believe this. Didn’t I just bring her home from the hospital? Best saying I’ve heard on this phenomenon of life with kids: “The days are long and the years are short.” Boy howdy, is that the truth.)
Did my brother (David Feldman) mention “the days are long and the years are short?” It’s one of our Dad’s favorite sayings and is it ever apt (not that he’s the only one who ever says it, just wondering). And it only gets more so, esp. since I am most definitely NOT 10 years older than when my oldest came home from the hospital. Not even close. I’ve only aged a year or two. Maybe three. Three at the max.
No, I didn’t hear it from David, I heard it from a woman I took the Illustrated Journaling class with a while back. I ran into her at The Container Store, where I had my two (and was exasperated) and she had her 4-year-old (and was slightly exasperated). It encapsulated a feeling I’ve had a lot since having the kids — there are days that never end, but then I blink and suddenly I have a five-year-old!
I’m told that it’s even worse from about 8th grade to adult (or at least out of college). What frightens me more is the idea that if my child’s years are going that quickly, so are mine…
My mother, having spent decades preparing for her grand-children is now dealing with the tradgedy that they have passed the point of her major preparations. The youngest grandkid is (at this writing) 10. She had enough toys and gifts for grandkids 2-8 for a family of 12.
My uncle advised me to ‘enjoy’ the childrearing years, that they’d pass too quickly, and in effect the empty nest years are much less full.
So, enjoy the 5 year old. You’ve got one year to savor it.
Since I don’t think you pride yourself on your baking skills, why should you be upset your daughter knows enough to appreciate the difference between your home-made cupcakes and the prettier ones in the store? You may want to let your daughter know that the store-bought ones have their own drawbacks: artificial coloring, hydrogenated fats, inferior ingredients. If your daughter starts telling you that you are no good at your profession or favorite hobby, then …