The Dinette Set by Julie Larson for December 11, 2012

I like fruitcake.

I’d send it back too.

I would never have guessed the Penny’s would be the trend setters of Crustwood.

Get a load of the ‘Round the World’ Fruitcake! Oh, how apropos!

Cap’n…. you callin’ us fools?

Yeah, gee, Ma. Wonder how they all figured out where you got it.

Actually, I suspect that none of them even opened it not because they all hate fruitcake, but because they all know the kind of places Ma shops….

They were rightfully afraid to taste Dollar Store fruitcake.

I love good fruitcake.That said… in the last few years I’ve tasted fruitcakes ordered by a relative from what used to be reputable places, even famous ones… monks in the south, famous fruit or cheese companies.

She keeps trying a different one or two every year.Frightfully overpriced… I’d never order one…they’ve nonetheless all gone downhill.

But the ones I make, when I can, and the ones she made when she still could, are great…. if I say so myself.

And I eagerly await the smallish English Christmas cake a friend makes me every year.

Mine is good too but hers is better. Wonderful stuff.

Radish gets jokes.

I made some really good ones one year and managed to find tins to ship them in. I asked my kids last year if they remember, and they do NOT, so I’m guessing they never tried them. I used the recipe from Diana and Charles’ wedding cake but baked them in October and wrapped in foil in tins. Every week I took each out and spiked one side with various rum and brandy I had in the house (at least once it WAS Meyers). The following week I turned over and spiked opposite side. Continued that until I shipped them, but not before decorating with poinsettias and holly that I made from my marzipan recipe.All that effort and they don’t remember! As I said they probably thought “fruit cake” and never even sliced it. Last time I bother with that!

I was prepared to think that Ma had undergone an alien abduction when she bought fruitcake—very expensive—until Susan reminded me that she had probably gotten those from the Dollar store (and the Eisenhower Administration!)

They’re the same fruitcakes, Ma. Except, of course, for the arsenic.

Like all the detail and the Christmas tree in the cartoon today…. Very Good Job Julie…. ! ! ! Fruitcake however, can be quite variable cake to cake…….. Proceed with caution….! ! !

Anybody watch Copper? There was an episode in which a husband, who knew his wife was having an affair, poisoned a fruitcake he knew she was making for her lover – but as she was a lousy cook, the cake got passed through various hands – repackaged and ultimately, given to the husband, who had some and perished.

I never eat fruitcakes. I’m not a cannibal.

Another try at lloading from Flicker:

Worked! I was just doing finishing touches to this 1986 wedding celebration cake Had to bring out the fresh flowers to cover fountain base. Kids were married in Hawaii and I did not attend so my lover had a pool party for them (serving on his deck) that’s him in trunks over by the player piano that we converted (drilling for solenoids under each key)He still has this piano in his LR, but has a much newer electronic one too.

What’s with the “1776” ornament? My sister mad a terrific white fruitcake. You didn’t want to drive after a couple slices. You would fail the breathalyzer test.

Homemade = goodStore bought = blech

I love the name “Crustwood” for their community. I have been to a few places and never seen the name “Crustwood”. I have been to Peckerwood, Arkansas.