July 8, 2019
said Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, with Philip Glass’s music in The Hours. And that’s exactly what Mom’s friend Rita, born 1929, and friends since 1968, said when she was invited to Mom’s book celebration, the event celebrating the writing of Mom’s Memoirs. And there she was, soon 90 yrs old, with the custard cake that became her trademark recipe. For every special visit, celebration, occasion, event, Tannie Rita would bake her famous layered cake. And she did it again for her best friend’s book celebration. This time she mixed the batter and heated the little stovetop oven in a tiny room in an old age home, a final refuge for the brave who were selected to walk on and contribute for a little while longer. And her token contribution of a custard cake, finished off the meal at our joyful celebration. A celebration of life and the memories we make.
Here’s to Rita Grundlingh and her indomitable spirit and unbeatable cake.
I am going to make a cake. A custard cake. To remind me of our nights going out to concerts while our husbands went fishing. Of our daughters becoming wives and mothers and our homes being moved to unfamiliar places. Of laughter and tears, music, dancing and planting new gardens in spring. Long December holidays and Sunday lunches. We laughed, we loved, we lived.
And I made a cake.