My Daughter's First

The other day I got a text from my 12 year old daughter while she was a school. She text that someone had asked her to the movies and put "aww isn’t that cute?" At first I was tickled, finally someone notices her! Tweeners are in that stage where they want to be noticed, they want to be liked. It’s the building of self confidence stage. I consider my daughter like any other 12 year old with a few exceptions. She doesn’t like clothes that much ( I’m not a girlie girl she whines!). Although I did take her shopping and bought her about $100.00 worth of new clothes last week, and she said that it was sort of fun and now she knows why girls like to shop. I could tell she was excited to wear her new outfits to school, carefully picking the outfits the night before. But I consider her typical in every other way. She likes computer games, electronics of every kind and is more techno savvy than I am. She’s picky about her food, kinda sassy in the mouth and is a know it all. But when it comes to boys and crushes, she says no one is interested in her (and with some sadness almost bordering on why do I have to be Asian thing), I know what she means and I know how she feels. I told her that I really didn’t have any boy interested in me when I was in 7th grade, (didn’t tell her how boy crazy I was!) until high school and my first crush. So when she text me that a boy asked her out, I was tickled and then nervous. Is he cute I replied? She text back, mom, it’s not how they look its how they treat you and besides he’s a nerd which means he’s smart, so can I go? How’s a mother to say no to that? I text back, we’ll talk. She takes this as a yes, he wants to go on Friday. I get home, hopefully her dad won’t be ranting about this too much, he’s like, what? Is he going to pick you up in his car? I say no on his bike? Seriously tho, I tell her she won’t be dating until she’s well into her twenties with me as a chaperone sitting one row back in the movies trying to keep them 12 inches apart, pass the popcorn please! So she tells him, we can date in school (whatever that means?). She says it was to be nice, because she really doesn't like him. I tell her, no matter if someone asks you out or is interested, you have to learn to say no thank you. Be honest and be kind, but no thank you. She's says yeah, you're right because I'm so confused (and flattered). I'm like see someone did notice you, to which she sheepishly grins yeah!

Los Angeles City Schools Old Fashioned Crumb Cake

Ah, grade school lunches, the stuff of many a fond memory. One of my favorite grade school lunches was tuna boats with a cheddar cheese sail and crumb cake with milk. Don't know if it was the cute triangle of cheddar cheese or the tuna salad in a hot dog bun or the delicious buttery crumb cake that made this particular lunch stand out, but I seem to remember it with great fondness. The lunch room in my school had a stage on which different color flags stood. Green meant all was well in the lunch room with the noise level at a acceptable level. A yellow flag meant beware the noise level was rising and red of course meant shut your traps or else! One sunny lunch day, happily ensconced with my favorite tunaboat lunch, crumb cake and carton of milk, I remember I was blowing bubbles in my milk carton, engrossed in this activity for what a few seconds, maybe minutes, when I noticed the lunch room become eerily quite. As I looked down into my carton which seemed to have an unnatural hold on my attention, I noticed two black sensible shoes tapping rapidly by my side. I automatically look toward the stage where a red flag stood like a terrible exclamation point. I quickly looked at Miss Sensible two shoes, whose prickly red fingernails pointed to the principle's office. No words needed to be exchanged as a pitying hush filled the cafeteria, as all eyes spied my leaving my lunch and my beloved tunaboat with it's cheddar cheese triangular sail and buttery crumb cake as I headed for the office where I would spend the remainder of my lunch hour stomach protesting in it's emptiness. All these years have been spent in search of that crumb cake recipe of which the following comes pretty darn close and at least gives me some sort of redemption solace when eating it.

2 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 t salt

1 t nutmeg

3/4 c oil

2 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 egg

1 c buttermilk

Combine flour, sugars, salt, nutmeg and oil in bowl. Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture from bowl and add to it 1 t of cinnamon and set aside as topping.

Combine remaining 1 t of cinnamon, baking soda, egg and buttermilk (or milk and yogurt/sour cream combination) and blend well. Add flour mixture, do not over mix.

Spoon batter into greased 13x9" pan, sprinkle with reserved topping and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.

Let cool slightly before cutting and sit back, enjoy and reminisce!