Tag Archives: childhood memories

Love Measured in Cupcakes

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In memory of my dear aunt

She loved to bake

to bake was to show how much you loved someone

Most of all she enjoyed

the idea of inventing new recipes for cupcakes

After a long day at work

usually on a Friday night,

She would sit at her huge kitchen counter

to concoct her secret recipes:

  1. Blueberries, (when they were in season of course, frozen anything just did not make sense to her) bananas, crushed hazel nuts, and small bits of fresh coconut.
  2. Applesauce, and strawberries with walnuts and raisins
  3. Chocolate chip and pistachios mixed with raspberries

These were the ones I remember best.

She never wrote down her recipes

no one ever knew the proper ratios of the ingredients

But you could taste each one distinctly

when you took the first bite.

The cake would melt in your mouth

and a delicious almost sensuous thrill

would take over your taste buds.

We all felt like we should go to confession

before the Sunday mass.

Every time someone would ask her for a recipe, she’d reply, ” Can’t tell exactly how much of this or that or this other thing, but for sure my main ingredient is LOVE. my cupcakes are all LOVE.

We definitely felt the love;

it made our bellies grow;

it widened our waistlines;

and make us chuckle loudly, at least 10 decibels higher than usual.

Her cupcakes live in our memories now.

My cupcakes never measure up to hers.

Except, that I too,  make sure I have folded in

lots of love.

Without love cupcakes do not taste the same.

And what would this world be like without cupcakes?

 

Nothing Like An Old Love Song

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“In life there are loves that cannot be forgotten.”

This is the first line of an old love song (almost considered

a solemn hymn for lovers) by a very popular Puerto Rican singer and bandleader named

Tito Rodriguez. The lyrics are in Spanish but

even if you did not know what he was saying you

felt the emotion coming through. My parents

danced to this song in our kitchen, of all places.

I found it so silly when I first saw them gazing into each other’s eyes and

singing along with the Puerto Rican crooner of all time. He was our

version of Frank Sinatra.

LP 33

He is known by many fans as “El Inolvidable” (The Unforgettable)

He died a few years after my dad did. My mother played his music all day that day.

I grew to love the songs and memorized many of the ballads. Today by chance one of

There is nothing like an old love song

those songs was playing on a local Spanish language radio station.

The images that flashed back into by brain and heart

brought a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. I imagined them dancing

in paradise now and close by was that old record player where they played the vinyl LPs.

And there is no doubt in my mind that Tito is serenading them.

There is nothing like an old love song to warm the heart.

Tito: thanks for the memories.

Please tell me about some love songs that bring back these kinds of memories. 

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