Walking and Making Cake at the Same Time

Even when your plans don’t work out perfectly, the end result can still be wonderful

Image (and cake) provided by author

I made a cake this past Memorial Day. I had planned to make either jelly-filled cupcakes or a mostly-from-scratch two-layer cake with strawberry and whipped cream filling. With my rheumatoid arthritis (RA) flaring, I made a last-minute decision to make something involving a little less time standing. I started with a blue velvet box mix, hacked the heck out of it — milk, vanilla, mayonnaise, extra egg — plopped it into a 9×13 glass pan, and into the oven it went.

Once it was baked and cooled, I left it in the glass pan, frosted the top with whipped cream frosting from a tub, and got out the sprinkles. My 9-year-old daughter Amelia and I proceeded to make cake art. Red and white (and pink — there’s never enough pink) on top, with blue on the side. The result? My family gobbled it down as if they’d never seen cake before.

Feeling the “chronic” in chronic illness

After being reasonably well controlled for a couple of decades, my RA has been back with a vengeance the last few years. There are days I can barely make it to the bathroom, let alone think about cooking something. Before my daughter was born, I’d be upset on the days I truly…