100 Years

One hundred years ago today, on October 22, 1912, my beloved Grandma was born.  I have written before about how much my Grandma means to me.  She has been gone for thirteen years now, but her life and love continue to inspire me and especially now that I am a Mom, I find myself thinking often about her and her impact on my life.

One of the things that my Grandma and I spent hours doing when I was a child was baking.  I have so many fond memories of baking cookies and pies, cakes and buns in Grandma's little kitchen.  When I had a little girl of my own, I was determined to make some of these great memories for us together and have already spent countless hours in the kitchen with her to this day.

When my Grandma passed away, my Mom lovingly took all of her handwritten recipes and typed them up on the computer and made recipe books for each of her granddaughters so that we could continue to make all of the recipes that we remembered Grandma making over the years. 

I thought that a fitting way to commemorate this day would be to bake something that I remember Grandma making a lot, banana cake with peanut butter frosting.  I can still taste hers if I think about it hard enough!  Her recipe for the peanut butter frosting is taped in my recipe book, written in my Grandma's handwriting, given to me many, many years ago.

Sydney had such fun helping me bake the cake:

And frost it:

And then she insisted upon putting a candle on it as it was, after all, a birthday cake!

She practiced blowing the candle out a few times for her birthday which is coming up in a few short days.

I took one bite of that cake and if I closed my eyes it was as though I was sitting at Grandma's kitchen table with her!  It brought back so many wonderful memories.

So on this day, what would have been my Grandma's 100th birthday, I pay tribute to the woman who had such an amazing, positive impact on my life and who's spirit lives on in both me and my daughter!

Happy Birthday Grandma!  I will always love you and honour you on this special day, a century after you were born!