Salad Success
Cake and Movie Nights
My mother and Suzanne at Cake Night
Things have changed on my home front. My mother Mina, the creator of the Glorious Charlotte Russe, fell and smashed her shoulder two months ago. Now she is in a free-falling descent and is under 24/7 care. No longer do I pick her up every night to have dinner at my house, or even prepare a dinner to be served at her house. She can hardly move, has no balance, has limited speech and horrible coughing jags while she eats. So what can I do to cheer her up?
Easy. Once a week, we have cake night. Supposedly, I spend a couple hours making a fab new cake recipe and the whole family meets at her house around 9 pm to have cake and light conversation about the previous week. Then, much to the joy of my mother and the caregivers, I leave them one half of the cake. Mom then has dessert for 4 – 5 days, which seems to be the highlight of her day. The first week, I tried the Mary Todd Lincoln’s Vanilla Almond Cake which we all loved. Last week was a marvelous White Chocolate and Lemon cake, and next week, well it is time for something decadent and full of chocolate.
The other addition that has been a great hit for my mother was installing a Roku (little black box) to my mother’s television and subscribing to Netflix. The Roku attaches to her DSL/cable line and allows Mom to see her beloved movies at any time. Now I don’t have to deal with returns or late fees and the movies are downloaded to her computer. Mom has been seeing old favorites such as her Jacques Tati movies and foreign flicks. The Roku cost approximately $66 in total, and Netflix charges are around $7.95 a month. I couldn’t ask for a better or easier solution.
So do something special for your parents and write in with your tips. I know that we would all appreciate it.