Eddie in Alaska

Yo Mom,

What’s up? I just got your letter today- a lot has happened since my last letter. I don’t know where to begin. Here goes.
When last you heard of the intrepid explorer, Edward “Landlubber” Pfadt, he was lounging on a luxury boat in the Prince William Sound clockin $30 a day for doing the dishes. Well, alas, those days are long gone.

As soon as I got back to Anchorage, (June 1st I think, about a month ago) I collected my 650 greenbacks and opened up a checking account with the National Bank of Alaska. Pretty practical I thought, considering my penchant for spendthrift activities with Matt.

Pretty unnecessary, it turns out.

Here’s how $650 becomes next to nothing in 3 short weeks!
$50 for a rental car to see Mt. McKinley and do some fishing.

We arrived too late to enter the park, saw one Moose , and caught zero fish. Had a good time though, so in the immortal words of every college kid with too big an imagination for his wallet “It was worth it”.

Epiphany

e·piph·a·ny

əˈpifənē/

noun

• a Christian festival held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ

• a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way

What better day to start the final phase of "MAKING A MEMORY"?

Soooooo...after giving the cakes one last bourbon bath a few days ago, they were ready to be wrapped for delivery...

The list of suggestions for "random acts of fruitcakes" was, not surprisingly, quite touching and eclectic...
A mother wanted one to go to a son who is “on a positive path” as a “symbol of love, sweetness and support”.
A son wanted one to go to a “sainted Irish mother who raised 7 children” and "used to make fruitcakes every year until it got too much”.
Villagers wanted to honor the familiar faces, for whom we barely know a first name, but always make us feel warm and welcome at the Senior Center, the Nyack Center, the Nyack Library, the Nyack Farmers' Market, the Village Market, Grace Church and Johnnycakes; as well as the smiling faces who wave, sweep, share, hold doors, "hold court" and “brighten days” as we pass them on the street.
They wanted to reward the “tireless” among us; the ones who champion skateparks, preserve historic houses, rescue animals, create mobile shelters; the ones who lovingly lead, celebrate and explore every corner and cranny of our Village.
They wanted to recognize the elderly neighbor about to turn 100, the new neighbor and their tale of homelessness and the beloved neighbor who suffered unimaginable loss...
I received a note from an 8th grade teacher who also loves Capote, and regularly includes the "universal and timeless message" of “A Christmas Memory” in her curriculum. She wrote to say she hoped the fruitcakes would "bring smiles to the recipients and awake in them an awareness of their fellowmen”.

So there I stood on Epiphany, wrapping 31 cakes in brown paper and twine, smiling, awake and aware before I handed out a single one...

and the list of "random act of fruitcake" recipients is:
Jen
George
Bill
Nancy
Julie
Kim, Shelly, Nicole & Shameta
Donna
David
Patricia
Dodge
Ken
Ruth
and another Ruth
Bert & Chris
Steven & Karen
Kay
Eddie
Sarah
John
Marie
Luke
Tara & Donna
Gerry & Nick
Sonja
Stanley
Richie
Piper
Don
Jeanette
Norma
Michael- since Michael no longer drinks, and these sure are boozy, I made him a loaf of homemade sour dough bread instead...

Which leaves me with one unspoken for fruitcake- and a little wiggle room for "random"...

Luke

(excerpted from an Instagram post) On my way to posting a notice in my #nyackwindowproject about#randomactsoffruitcake, I ran into Luke, the Nyack water meter reader (say that 10 times fast) He has a soft spot for the dogs of the Village, so when I told him my dog had passed away, he not only remembered her name, he showed me a picture of her on his phone...2 days later he dropped off the picture with a card at my house. Yep- he'll be getting a fruitcake. #ilovenyack

Here's the notice I posted:

Basting in bourbon

31 fruitcakes (and through an act of divine serendipity- precisely the number made in the book) basted with bourbon are back in the window waiting to find a happy home. Who do you think should receive #randomeactsoffruticake? Email me your vote via "contact"...

"Oh my...It's fruitcake weather!"

"It's always the same: a morning arrives in November and my friend, as though officially inaugurating the Christmas time of year that exhilarates her imagination and fuels the blaze of her heart, announces: "It's fruitcake weather! Fetch our buggy. Help me find my hat"

Page 14 A Christmas Memory (to read the whole page go to "Flipping the Pages")

Alright, so it wasn't until a night in late December when friends and neighbors gathered to chop and macerate and measure and whisk and sip and bake...but as far as I'm concerned, on December 21st the Christmas season was officially inaugurated- AND even though I measured for more- we wound up with exactly the number of fruitcakes in the book... 31!

I will be bathing these beauts in Bourbon for the next week or two back in "Truman's kitchen" (a.k.a. my window installation) as you all help me decide who should be the recipient of a "random act of fruitcake".

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who stole away on the Monday before Christmas and "fueled the blaze of my heart" as they made my favorite story come to life.

Here we are (Irene, Sally, Francesca, Moriah, Martha, Belinda, Claudia, Tom & Diane) in the throes of chopping madness

still chopping- okay, so we got a little exuberant and chopped enough dried fruit and nuts for 331 cakes...I blame it on the Knob Creek.

luckily, we had our jelly jar of bourbon and Bill reading the book to distract and entertain us while we diced pineapple, ginger and sour cherries.

Nancy made sure the pans were plenty buttered and ready to go.

Martha was on the egg and brown sugar creaming station as Bill cut out cats and watermelons (yes, you guessed it, another reference from the book)

Moriah made a "mama mix" of 10 times the original recipe

That's a blurry picture of a WHOLE lotta fruitcake goodness- and boy did the smell of nutmeg, allspice, a dash of white pepper and caramelized bourbon smell divine!

a spontaneous fruitcake assembly line

We finished reading the story in the library as the room filled with a heavenly aroma...31 fruitcakes ready to be steeped in booze...

A dry run

I have a confession to make...I've never made fruitcake, I've never even had a fruitcake I liked- oh and I'm not really a baker...at all....

So when I got an offer for help shortly after I posted my intention to make fruitcake on Facebook, I was kinda relieved. Little did I know, I was in the midst of a Christmas miracle, and the offer came from someone who actually creates and tests recipes...as a profession!!!! Ye gads how lucky am I?!?!?

After a morning at Ann O'Donoghue's house, not only did I walk away with a new recipe she created which combined elements we liked from 3 different recipes, I learned helpful tips all along the way (put a damp paper towel under your mixing bowl to keep it from sliding) that I am eager to pass on.

Oh, and now I know for certain that fruitcake is FANTABULOUS, bourbon simple syrup with boozy fruit is divine...and Christmas angels are real....

Let's make fruitcake!

That's right- we're taking back the fruitcake a.k.a. "door stopper"...these are going to have fabulous fruits (none of those mystery red dye #4 cubes) and be doused with bourbon...so if you'd like to help me make dozens of cakes that will be dispersed throughout the Village in #randomactsoffruitcake- join me at the

NYACK CENTER (corner of Broadway and Depew) Monday, December 21 at 7pm

If you have any questions or would like to help out beforehand go to my contact page and send me an email. See you Monday!

Flipping the pages

Since this whole installation is just an elaborate lure to get you to read one of my all-time favorite stories, I will flip a new page of the book from Monday- Friday...for those of you following along at home- I will post pictures of each new page here.

If you'd like to read the whole shebang in one sitting click here

A sneak peek

So here's the deal...behind the paper is my take on Truman Capote's childhood kitchen, the place where he (six at the time) and his elderly distant cousin (who was his best friend) made fruitcakes every Christmas. The table is set and ready with the ingredients to make the fruitcakes in question-

And I invite you to help me make these fruitcakes (and paper cats- more on that later)

MONDAY, DECEMBER 21 7PM AT THE NYACK CENTER

these fruitcakes will then be doused in whiskey for the next few weeks and hanging out in the window until they are dispersed throughout the Village of Nyack in "random acts of fruitcake"...again, more on that later...

Projected in the background are scenes I edited from the film version of the book (which I sadly do NOT recommend) where they are gathering ingredients and in the throes of "fruticaking"...

I canNOT urge you enough to take less than 30 minutes to treat yourself and read this gem...If you happen to live in the neighborhood- pass by the window Monday- Friday and read a new page of the book displayed in the window...or if you'd like to hear Truman Capote read it click here.

check in for details in the coming days...

Pass by the window Monday- Friday to read a new page of the book...

a blurry picture of my take on Truman Capote's childhood kitchen from A Christmas Memory...it's really much better in person... — a blurry picture of my take on Truman Capote's childhood kitchen from *A Christmas Memory...*it's really much better in person...

Behind the blinds...

Behind the paper is my "shrine" to Truman Capote's Christmas Memory...as some of you may already know, I've always been a little driven to distraction by this story- in fact, Tom and I read it out loud with various friends and family every year around this time and it never fails to break and soothe my heart...

this year I'm determined to share it and the warm and fuzzy way it makes me feel with anyone who cares to join me. So stay tuned for details on how you can help me finish this window and spread some love, paper cats and fruitcake soaked in whiskey...