We recently lost Dan's Aunt Carmella. She was a lady in every sense of the word - not the boring kind, but the feisty kind! She was always involved with everything we did as a family. She made biscotti for my bridal shower. She made my brother-in-law's favorite cookies for their couple's shower. She even kept all three of her brothers in line - and that's saying something!
When I first started taking cake classes, Aunt Carmella was all excited because she had taken classes, too. She said she would be my first employee whenever I decided to open my little shop. She would make all of the Italian cookies that I didn't know how to make and I would handle the cakes and cupcakes. The next time I was at my mother-in-law's, she handed me Aunt Carmella's old decorating kit with a note that said "I hope you can use these."
I had so many of my own tools already that I didn't need to even open the box, so I put it in the cupboard, note and all.
The family met at my in-law's after Aunt Carmella passed. While we were there, Dan's cousin Carol's husband pulled me aside and let me know that Carol's birthday was that week. Carol was very close to Aunt Carmella, so obviously they wouldn't be celebrating her birthday on her actual birthday while she was mourning the loss of one of her closest friends, but her husband didn't want to forget about her. He asked me if I would bake her a small cake that he could pick up that weekend as a surprise. I couldn't say no to that.
I knew Carol's favorite cake was almond with strawberry filling, but while I was thinking about how I might decorate it, I was at a loss. Then I thought about Aunt Carmella's decorating kit and I knew that she would want me to use her tools for the first time on Carol's cake. That made the cake design so much easier - after all, we both took the classes, so why not go classic Wilton?
Simple, classic. Just like Aunt Carmella :) Miss you so much!
