We used to move around a lot when I was growing up. People ask me where I’m from and I say Canada. When pressed, I’ll say Western Canada, or Alberta. I try not to name just one place because my Dad’s job had us moving every couple of years and I really did grow up all over Western Canada. But when pressed I tend to think of Edmonton as home because no matter where we lived, my brother and I spent 2 weeks of every summer in Edmonton with my grandparents. My Mom’s parents.
Both of my grandparents have passed on, but the memories of learning to play gin rummy, baking goodies, and reading all the old harlequin romance novels Nona hid in the basement live on. I haven’t played gin rummy in too many years to count. I don’t read harlequins much any more. I do bake some though. In fact, I’m the only one in my family who bakes. My mom has always said the baking/cooking gene skipped a generation from Nona to me because she hates to do both.
Over the years my baking habit has dwindled to only around Christmas time. Mostly because I love to eat as much as I love to bake, an I live alone so I tend to eat all of what i bake-except at christmas. This year I told the fmaily I wasn;t going to do any baking, since I was going on a holiday for the 2 weeks before christmas, only getting back on the 22nd in time to do some last minute shopping. And guess what one of the things my brother got me as a gift was?
Yep, a desk calendar thats all about cupcakes. It’s full of amazing cupcake recipe, and this weekend I’m going to attempt one of them. I’ve never made cupcakes (or cake) from scratch before. Not since I baked with Nona. Cookies, yes. Cheesecake, yes. Those are my favorites to make, so those are what I’m most familiar with.
However, the recipes in this thing are way too tempting to resist. First up is the Chocolate, Strawberry Peanut Butter and Honey Cupcakes. Or Maybe the Cookies and Cream. I can’t decide. Either way I think Nona would be glad to see me baking again, just for the fun of it.
Nona and Pops passed on a year before I started writing, but I also think she’d be thrilled that her books are a big part of what got me where I am today. Okay, so she might not be thrilled with the erotic part, but she’d love the romance author part. 
So as you read this…I’m baking. What are you doing for fun this weekend?
