Dear Reader,
The "ants" and readers wrote my column again today. Readers' stories filled my inbox about last Friday's cake/ant column. It's always fun to hear from you. Thanks for writing.
"Suzanne, your latest email brought back an old memory. When I was in my twenties we moved to a new city (which shall remain nameless), and joined a bridge group in hopes of meeting some new folks. It turns out that everyone in the group was quite a bit older, and when it was your turn to host you made a complete lunch. I can't remember what I made when it was my turn, other than the dessert. It was a crust, a cheesecake layer, then a cinnamon apple layer, and then some sliced almonds. I had made it before, so I knew it was delish, but as I was sprinkling on the almond layer I noticed, much to my horror, that little black bugs came out with the almonds! Really fast little black bugs, who proceeded to zip about and try to make their way into the apple layer and beyond. What's a woman to do when elegant older ladies are expected for lunch? I took off as many bugs as I could reach and threw the dessert into the oven. I don't know if the bugs went up in smoke or changed color but, when I cut the dessert they were nowhere to be seen. Catastrophe averted. Lunch was genteel, the ladies were lovely and I stayed in the group until we moved." -- Linda F.
"Hi Suzanne, I've been enjoying your daily emails for more than a year, but your story about the birthday cake ants prompted me to write to you for the first time. My mother had one sister, my Aunt Helen, who owned a summer house on a lake. We visited her there a few times each summer, and usually ate outside on her picnic tables, in the woods surrounding her house. One year when I was about 10 years old, I went into the kitchen to help take the dessert out to the family. My mom opened her container with the baking dish of brownies she had brought, and as happened with you, found tiny ants inside. Aunt Helen, much more used to living the outdoors life, said, 'No problem, they don't eat much,' and brushed the ants off the brownies before cutting them. I was sworn to secrecy as the rest of the family enjoyed their dessert, but as I recall, my mom and I said we were too full to have any brownies. Thanks for your daily cheer and inspiration, and for reminding me of a long ago family memory." -- Janet D.
And finally, Kathy C. wrote,
"I'm with you. I probably wouldn't eat a birthday cake if I knew ants had crawled on it. And while the insect lollipops (your giveaway) looked interesting, I'm not eating those either. So I'll skip the drawing, this time, even though I enter most."
(Suzanne replies) Kathy, not everyone felt the same way about the bug lollipop giveaway, some readers were braver than you and me. (I'm with you, I wouldn't try them either). But we did have hundreds of entries, and the winner is....Leah H.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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