Let them eat cake

By Mir
November 5, 2008
Category Woohoo!

Last night as dinner wound down (which is to say, everyone except Chickadee was done eating, because Chickadee eats with all the speed of grass growing, and I was starting to put things away), I realized I had some strawberries in the fridge that I’d completely forgotten about and were about to be beyond edibility.

One of the very warmest and fuzziest results of the meal planning thing we’ve been doing is that we have greatly decreased the amount of food we throw away. As in, trash night no longer involves pulling huge amounts of food out of the fridge and dumping it in the trash. I hate that. And now that I plan not only meals but the nights that will include freezing foods AND nights we’ll have leftovers, we’re pretty good about using up everything… which makes me feel warm and fuzzy and causes cartoon deer to come to my window and sing me little songs.

So the strawberries, you see, were a problem.

Throwing food away pains me, but the strawberries were an even BIGGER issue because I KNOW. Strawberries in November! Blasphemy! It’s like I completely bypassed the carbon footprint issue and just flung myself down on the ground and flailed around, making a carbon ANGEL four times as big as I am. I repent. Truly. But I was shopping and they were cheap and looked delicious and the kids love strawberries, so I broke all of my own rules and bought produce totally out of season. I AM A BAD, BAD WOMAN.

I can cope with being a bad woman. I cannot cope with having damaged the planet in my badness and then THROWING AWAY the result.

So I decided to make strawberry buckle.

I set about slicing the strawberries and Chickadee hovered, asking what I was making and if she could have some.

She’s had this weird malaise thing for days, you know. The stomachache-with-low-fever-blahs, so I told her that she could not have any because strawberries aren’t a good idea on an icky stomach, and besides that, it wouldn’t be done before they went to bed.

Both kids asked if we were staying up to watch the election returns, and we said we were. “Tell me first thing,” Chickadee said, as I turned out her light and pulled her door closed. “Tell me first thing in the morning who won.”

I said I would.

Otto and I stayed up too late, flipping back and forth between various networks, following comments on Twitter, generally holding our breath and watching and waiting. I cannot think of another election year in my life that has felt this way—so full of hope, so dangerous and wonderful all at once.

For what it’s worth (because I’m totally your go-to political source, right? HA!), I was impressed with McCain’s speech. THAT was the McCain who might’ve won, if things had been played differently. The folks in the audience who booed at the mention of Obama’s name… well, I was surprised, and I guess that means I still have some idealism. And my idealism has decided to believe that those people have the political equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome and just can’t help it. I mean, hey, believe whatever you like. Free country, and all that. But don’t be a classless dick. (I’m putting that on a bumper sticker. I think it’ll go over REALLY WELL here in Georgia, don’t you?)

We ate some of the buckle and I put the rest in the fridge before we went to bed.

This morning Chickadee came creeping into our bedroom, and we talked about whether she felt well enough to go to school (she did) and I sent her off to take a shower. As she headed back upstairs I called after her, “Hey Chickadee? Obama is the next president.”

“YAYYYYYYYYYY!” she replied, then ran off to get ready.

I got up and went into the kitchen and pour milk and orange juice, and took out vitamins and medications, and started packing lunches. And I set out two enormous slices of the strawberry buckle for the kids to have for breakfast—after I warmed it up in the microwave.

“What’s THIS?” asked Monkey, in disbelief, when he saw the plates sitting on the table.

“It’s CAKE!” responded Chickadee, with great glee.

“Cake?” he repeated, looking from the plate to me. “For breakfast?”

“Yep!” I gave him a squeeze and dropped a kiss into his hair. “On the morning after the citizens of the United States have elected themselves their very first African American president, there is cake for breakfast. Is that okay with you?”

“Yay! Yes!” he said, doing a quick little dance before sinking into his chair and fairly planting his face into his piece.

I hope you had cake for breakfast, too.

67 Comments

  1. Kate

    Too hungover from the champagne. Cake, ewwww…..

  2. Jennifer Suarez

    I believe in some sense we all had cake this morning. I am SO very proud!

    PS – The people that boo’d really bothered me too. First thoughts that came to mind were “Are you KIDDING me?!?!” and “GROW THE F-up!!”

  3. Lily

    I did- and I’m not even a citizen of your country. Congratulations to you and your fellow Americans.

    L

  4. RuthWells

    Carbon angel made me laugh.

    We’ve been taking about the election a LOT with our kids, so it seemed only just and right that we let them stay up much too late to watch the returns. What an incredible evening.

  5. Ariel

    Does a mine kitkat count?

  6. Ei

    I had espresso for breakfast (sooo…tired). But cake is a good idea too. Yay.

  7. Fold My Laundry Please

    Cake! Why didn’t I think of that? And here I had cinnamon toast. Bummer.

    Oh, and I’d buy that bumper sticker!

  8. Leandra

    I didn’t get to hear McCain’s speech but I read parts of it. It reminded me of the McCain of old, a good thing.

    I didn’t have cake for breakfast, but Starbucks started serving their Gingerbread Lattes yesterday (coincidence? I think not!) so I had one of those instead.

  9. laurie

    and no one booed when THE NEXT PRESIDENT mentioned McCain in his acceptance speech. And also worthy of noting that McCain’s audience was as mono-cultural looking as it gets.

  10. Jones

    Congratulations to you and your fellow Americans from a Canadian who’s extremely bored with the politics in her own country. Yours is way more fascinating. Obama’s speech was in itself a memory. Cake is a good way of celebrating something amazing, good on ya Mir!

  11. amanda

    I had Oreos. Almost as good as cake, but without requiring any actual effort. Today’s a good day.

  12. Carla Hinkle

    I think “Don’t be a classless dick” needs to be printed up in bulk bumper stickers RIGHT NOW.

    I am so teary this morning, your post made me cry. Yes, cake!!!!!

  13. exile on mom street

    It’s a beautiful day here & I just can’t stop singing, “The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades!”

  14. Mom24@4evermom

    I had Hope for breakfast. I cannot believe how lighter-than-air I feel. Anything feels possible.

    PS, I too was shocked by the booing. Totally bad form. I also agree that McCain’s speech was wonderful and a completely different side than we saw during the campaign.

  15. Crisanne

    You’ve gotten me thinking we need a celebratory dessert tonight. But what will it be??

  16. Erin

    I’m taking myself out to lunch, but the feeling is the same.

    And this entry gave me goosebumps and made me tear up.

    And…I totally agree w/r/t McCain. I think if he’d run as what I do believe is probably the real McCain, he might’ve won. I’m not sorry to say, though, that I’m glad he didn’t. (Run, that is.)

    Cake for breakfast, indeed. That’s certainly my platform.

  17. elizabeth

    I would so totally put that bumper sticker on my car. (and it would be the only one on there too)

    I may go off and make my own carbon angel with that buckle recipe, sounds so good.

  18. joanne

    I literally had a chocolate eclair for breakfast with my coffee, and felt no guilt whatsoever! Nothing has ever tasted so good!

  19. Kemi

    I thought the boos were horrible during McCain’s very gracious speech. I also noticed that no one jeered McCain in Obama’s speech.

    I have to say, I’m appalled at the commentes I’ve seen on Facebook and Twitter today about future President Obama. Since when has it become okay to speak out so disrespectfully? Vehemence I can understand, because it’s passionate. Disrespect is less tolerable. And sad. It’s just sad.

    I think you could make (more!) buckets of money by printing off those bumper stickers…

  20. Half Assed Kitchen

    Oh, I wish I’d thought of cake for breakfast. They’ll have to settle for pie for dinner.

  21. annette

    I didn’t boo, but I may have cried a little bit. And it isn’t because Obama’s black. I could care less if he was purple. Maybe that keeps me out of the “classless dick” category. Perhaps I am just classless. Perhaps I am a dick. Either way, I will still pray for the President-Elect.

  22. Katie in MA

    I was *going* to say you should traipse outside and bury the strawberries in your yard during the dead of night, thereby returning them to the earth. That would bring cartoon deer to your windows. And probably some real ones, too, to thank you for the snack.

    But Buckle is so much better.

  23. Visionsister

    Friday is usually my “treat” day and I go to Tully’s for breakfast. I went this morning! The barista asked why I was there on a Wednesday. It’s celebration day, and oatmeal is too boring for breakfast today!

    Maybe I’ll get some cake for lunch…

  24. lmerie

    Ahh go for it – I think Georgia can handle it! hehe (speaking as a Georgian).
    I had concerns about both candidates but have stressed to my children (teenagers) that our leaders are too be respected and prayed for. I did not see the speech, but it infuriates me and embarasses me that grown people behave so. I saw a video of older McCain supporters hollering horrible things at Obama supporters a few weeks ago. I could not believe they thought that was right?!!
    Its a new day and I am ready to see what Obama will bring for us . . .I hope it puts to rest all the viciousness of the last months/year.

  25. Summer

    I haven’t had cake yet, but once I get my energy back (I was up til 1 last night… had to watch the victory speech, then wind down after that!) I would very much like to make a red velvet cake in the shape of Florida, and slather it in blue icing. Mmm, blue Florida!

  26. Jenni

    I wish I had waited. I too bought some of those cheap out-of-season strawberries. Mine were also getting to past the point of edible this morning. I, unfortunately, threw mine away already because I didn’t know about Strawberry Buckle. If I had just been lazy and left them in the fridge another day then I would’ve known to make Strawberry Buckle. :(

  27. Em

    “Edibility” and “Classless dick”. I learn so much here! LOL!

    I tried to have a bit of humble pie for breakfast today. Not because I wanted McCain to win but because my husband did. I tried very hard to keep my happy dance on the inside. I did enough gloating about what a great president he was going to be before he won. Now, I’ll just try to let it sink in and not boast (too much).

  28. dad

    In the midst of all the excitement, you doubtless missed my gracious concession speech. The dad/monkey ticket was trounced. We didn’t get a single vote and the candidate for VP had to go to bed hours before the polls were closed.

    To add insult to injury, there was no cake for breakfast…just relief and a touch of pride. As the President-elect said so eloquently: “today no one can doubt that this country is a land of opportunity.”

  29. liz

    I sprung for Dunkin’ Donuts today. Seems like it was a day to splurge a little. :)

  30. Deborah P

    My Mother brought me up right – we often had cake (or pie) for breakfast – at least after I got into the teenage years. You can bet Chickadee and Monkey will remember this election, if only for the Sonic and cake parts!

    I agree with the others about McCain’s concession speech (and the booing). What’s been a little surprising to me is the reaction of people from other countries that I’ve seen on the news and on a scrapbooking blog I read. Apparently there was a big sigh of relief in a LOT of places.

  31. Charise

    Recovering from too much sparkling wine to even think of sweets for breakfast after far too few hours of sleep.

    And I said the same thing last night about McCain’s speech – THAT is the man that should have appeared in the campaign, the eloquent, we-are-all-americans-and-need-to-work-together, “gracious” (as the news liked to keep saying) moderate. not the angry accusatory man running the negative-attacks-style campaign.

  32. Susan

    I want one of those bumper stickers too. Cake for breakfast. Genius!

  33. Heather

    I liked his concession speech too. I’ve never disliked McCain though; I didn’t even think he’d make a bad president (though Palin would for sure) but I just thought Obama would be better. And now he has that chance! Yay! :D :D :D
    I should’ve had cake for breakfast ;)

  34. AnandreJenn

    Jones, your comment brings to mind that old curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

    I had hopes that if McCain won he would revert to the McCain of the year 2000, before he started positioning himself for the presidency. Still not a great thing, but more reasonable and respectable. I am very grateful I don’t have to be proven right or wrong on that matter.

    I would be all over Strawberry Buckle for breakfast!

  35. Randi

    Oooh – good recipe – I’m so doing that.

    All was celebratory in my house as well…although we had no cake for breakfast (we would’ve had brownies if I could’ve pulled myself away from the election coverage to make them), I did get to show my son what a gracious loser sounds like and to explain what a black person is (we live in Northern VT – in this area, color is not something we see every day).

  36. WaywardGoddess

    A week or so ago I was having what I thought was a reasonable intelligent debate with someone until they suddenly came up with the notion that Obama would win the election because it was biblical and marked the beginning of Revelations and Armageddon……crickets……blink…blink…..ARE YOU SERIOUS??? Unfortunately, she was, and since then I’ve met other people who think the same way.

    I was one of those undecided voters for a long time. I liked McCain and would have voted for him. Palin was a deciding factor for me. I could not, in good conscience, give that woman that much power. I was ELATED watching the results roll in. I have never in my voting years been this happy with an election.

  37. Lori

    Oh man, I wish I would have known that cake for breakfast is the protocol following electing our first black President. I would have totally planned ahead! I guess I’ll have cake for lunch. But it’s not the same…

  38. Amy

    I didn’t have cake for breakfast, but I did have a fried chicken biscuit with loads of honey, so I think it counts.

    Yea Ameria!

  39. Jenny

    Oof. I’m apparently too old to drink two bottles of wine and stay up until 2:00 AM, and on a work night, no less. I was too hung over to eat my cake this morning. (Cake for dinner!) Please sign me up for a “don’t be a classless dick” bumper sticker. I mean, honestly.

  40. The Other Leanne

    No cake, but I did have Starbursts because life is sweeeet!
    (and they were left over from Halloween.)
    The only thing I can say about John McCain is “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

  41. Jill W.

    I din’t have cake, but I had pie– apple pie of course!

    I was very moved by McCain’s speech and felt that it was the first time he seemed like his old self. He was gracious and respectful (and also clearly annoyed at the poor sportsmanship shown by his audience). I hated the way he ran his campaign this time around. It seemed so out of character for a man who, whether you like him or his politics, has spent the majority of his life serving the country in one way or another. So it was good to see him back in that statesman mode.

  42. ImpostorMom

    I celebrated with a gingerbread latte of my very own. A big one too. Then I tried to stop the tears that kept welling up in my eyes because I’m just so dang proud of this country right now. I’m still working on that one!

  43. Kelly

    I voted for McCain, but would never have boo-ed Obama’s name. Please remember that there are some McCain lovers without class, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who voted for McCain hates Obama. I think Obama will be a good president and I will respect him as such. I also would like to remind those who said that no one boo-ed McCain’s name when Obama gave his speech…he had just WON the election. If he were giving a concession speech, I bet you there would be a few bad eggs who would have boo-ed McCain’s name. Let’s try to remember that the vast majority of the U.S. just wants a strong, united country, regardless of who they voted for. I promise not to bash Obama and those who support him and I hope those who voted for Obama wouldn’t slam those who didn’t because of a handful of people at a concession speech. Go USA!

  44. BethRD

    I actually DID have cake for breakfast. Pumpkin cheesecake to be exact. Viva la cake!

  45. Jodi

    I too was very disappointed with the booing. But I chalked it up to an over zealous crowd. I am optimistic that those who voted for McCain will step up and be supportive of Obama now that he is America’s choice for president.

    And cake for breakfast! Works for me! (I sadly only had Halloween candy for breakfast.)

  46. Karen (from Our Deer Baby)

    Not only was this my first ever presidential election to vote (just got naturalized in July) , but Obama won AND today is my oldest son’s 17th birthday!

    Wow!

    Life rocks!

    And it’s nice and sunny outside too ^^

    Karen

  47. ~annie

    Since I actually eat cake for breakfast quite often, my celebratory breakfast was grits with shrimp, a dish I just very recently discovered. May sound weird to some, especially us Yankees, but once I got over the idea of fishy cereal I realized it is quite yummy. Really! And YAY! for the election outcome.

  48. Dawn

    I had metaphorical cake by proxy.

    Way to go USA!

  49. Hip Mom's Guide

    Beautiful. Let them eat cake, indeed!

  50. jennielynn

    I think I need to bake a cake now.

  51. heels

    Not cake, but we went out for a celebratory lunch of chinese food, pumpkin chai, and apple tart. Yum!

    The booing bothered me (though I read a transcript rather than hearing McCain’s speech because I only have radio and the California results were on at the same time as the speech), but then I remembered that crowds are the stupidest creatures on earth.

    “The intelligence of the creature known as a crowd, is the square root of the number of people in it.” ~Terry Pratchett

  52. melanie

    I voted for McCain and I even thought Palin was an excellent choice.. (go on, you know you want to boo now!) No, the booing at the concession speech was not appropriate, but I’m not sure that I’ve not heard many concession speeches where that didn’t happen.. the guy you rooted for get trounced.. there will be some residual emotions there. This was not a unique event to this election. And it’s not at all surprising that Obama supporters did not boo. Why would they? The won. This election was tough this year. It didn’t feel like we were voting for matters of state and policy but rather world views and core beliefs. From my point of view, there seemed to be so much at stake. I’m not sure I’m going to like the change. I’m definitely afraid of the “constitutional trifecta” going on with the President, House and Congress being Democrat and those fears can get a bit overwhelming.. I hope you guys can understand that… but I will respect our new President and I will certainly pray for him daily.

  53. Jennifer Suarez

    Comment #43 – Kelly

    I appreciate your comment. I voted for Obama but I’ve seen so many negative comments on the internet today from McCain supporters that I found yours to be so refreshing, intelligent, and sincere. Thank you for reminding us all that not all McCain supporters act without thinking first.

    Bravo!

  54. Jennifer

    Since our area votes by mail, I couldn’t take the boys to the polls with me to show them the voting process, so I made them stay up and color in their little maps as the states were declared. when it was official we did a happy dance and then I made them stay up and listen to the speeches. (anyone suprised Palin wasn’t allowed to talk?) (and yea, no more scary Mrs. McCain! – seriously -she scares my kids!)

    We celebrated with breakfast at IHOP and I indeed had coffee cake pancakes. Close enough!?!

  55. Mom on the Run

    Never thought about cake for breakfast. I agree that conventions need to be broken for monumental moments. I was not among the thrilled last night or this a.m., though. So, no cake for us.

  56. sheila

    Awesome! Cake for breakfast! I had two tylenol to nurse a hangover. Why is it always so much fun going in? Hmmmm?
    Loved your post as always. If you come visit me tonight, come quietly….shhhhh….my head! lol (but not too loud)

  57. Katie

    Oooh, cake for breakfast! You so win the “Mom of the Week” award.

    I too voted for McCain mostly because I’m a pretty die hard Republican and he is a good guy. Maybe a bit old though. I never could decide what I thought about Palin.

    So alrighty then, let’s see what Obama’s really got…

  58. Motherhood Uncensored

    Do pancakes count as cake? I made those this morning. I did toss the old strawberries though. Feeling guilty about that now.

  59. Lindy

    Cake would absolutely win Mom of the Year. I wish I had a mom around so she could make me cake for breakfast.

    I had cinnamon toast, which I haven’t had in ages. I got out of the newsroom so late I probably had less than 4 hours of sleep and then I overslept, so I puppy eyed Mark until he did it for me.

    Mark decides to make a cinnamon toast sandwiches, which is a marvelous idea, except, you know, the best way to make cinnamon toast sandwiches is to put one piece of bread coated in cinnamon sugar on top of the other AND THEN put those inside the toaster oven. DUH. Or so insists my dear husband. So for breakfast I had one rather burned piece of cinnamon toast and one hardly toasted at all cinnamon toast. Oh well, he tried.

    Yay America. And yay well intended toast.

  60. Deidre

    Once when I was younger, my brother and his girlfriend were eating pie for breakfast and I asked my mom if I could have a piece for breakfast too. After she said no, I left the room briefly and came back to find her eating a piece of pie for breakfast.

    I would totally put that bumper sticker on my car.

  61. Heather

    I did treat myself to the rare latte and apple roll. A little like cake in the morning. :)

    What an amazing, wonderful evening. I felt like was waking my kids up to a brighter world this morning.

  62. Rachel

    I’ve been eating cake for breakfast for a long time (coincidence that my dad used to own a bakery? I think not.) I justify it by the eggs. Eggs are breakfast food. Eggs are in cake, so therefore, cake is also breakfast food. In college, my roommate’s mom made the best Special K bars, which we would eat for breakfast. They’re supposed to be dessert, but the main ingredients are cereal & peanut butter – sounds like breakfast to me! I must admit, I’ve also justified chocolate as health food (because it IS of course!), and chocolate comes from the cocoa bean. Beans are veggies; so chocolate must be health food. Don’t tell my kids any of this! Although, my kids like to get up early when at grandpa & grandmas because grandpa has been known to feed them cake for breakfast on more than one occasion.

    I smiled on my way to vote (for Obama!) as I thought of writing in Mir’s DAD & Monkey for Pres/VP. = )

    Can’t wait to try the Strawberry Buckle – yum!

  63. Stephanie Chance

    This may be an unpopular position, but I have to say it. It really bothers me that people keep calling him the first African American president. He’s not African American, he’s American. He may be the first president with African descent, but he has never been African. The reason this bothers me is that, in history, if you were just 1/4 or even 1/8 black, then you were considered black, and therefore, inferior, to their reasoning. This seems to me another reflection of that over simplified thinking and catagorization. People are so focused on the fact that he is black, that they are overlooking that he is white, as well. I’m pretty sure that he does not want to be remembered as the first black president, and the people who continue to call him this are perpetuating the myth that this election was about race which it never should have been.

  64. Stephanie Chance

    I know it’s just semantics, but the words you use affect how you think, and you risk alienating other cultural groups if they think of our president as ‘other than us.’

    Plus, being the first anything has got to put a lot of pressure on a person.

  65. Sharon

    What a great story. Definitely a day for celebration. Wonderful our children get to witness history being made this week.

  66. StephLove

    Weighing in late here…I think I had granola for b-fast on Wed., but metaphorically, yeah, totally cake.

    Except I am pretty bummed about Prop. 8 and I’m not even a Californian.

  67. Stefanie

    I had metaphorical cake. My thought was, “Wow. 50 years from now, if I’m still alive, I can look back and tell my grandkids, ‘Yep, I saw the most important civil rights victory of this century. I voted in the election that named the first African American President.’ Today is history! We’re making history right now!!”

    It’s astounding, really. We can all say we were there for that historic day.

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