My Christmas Village: Day Four

 

Today is all about meee! No Christmas village would be complete without an LNS, so I just made myself one: Bee's Needlework Shop! I have been really blessed to be near a good shop for most of the last (almost) 40 years, but the closest ones to our current duty station are both about two hours away. I have spent countless contented hours in needlework shops since my teenage years, and wish every stitcher could have a shop nearby.

You know what else an ideal village has, but is almost more scarce than needlework shops? A good tea room. We had a wonderful tea room in Texas many years ago, run by two English sisters. I spent many happy hours there with my mom. I changed the coffee shop into a tea room and stitched a wee teapot above the door.

Finally, I changed the Hometown diner into Honeybee's. You really can't beat a good diner. Those are becoming rarer, too. Between running a needlework shop and a diner, I don't know where I'll find the time to stitch!

Today's recipe is probably familiar, as it's been around for a while, but it never hurts to share a good thing. It's known as 3-2-1 Cake, but I call it Emergency Cake. There are a number of "emergency cake" recipes out there, but I don't think there's one faster or easier, which is what you want in an emergency. A cake emergency. Which happens during the holidays. This makes a very small, somewhat spongey cake in one minute, which might be the only thing standing between you and a meltdown someday.

Emergency Cake

1 box cake mix, any flavor (Chocolate. Chocolate is the appropriate flavor for emergencies.)

1 box angel food cake mix

Combine cake mixes and store in an airtight container. 

For cake:

3 Tablespoons mix +

2 Tablespoons water +

1 minute in the microwave

Your microwave may vary, so you may have to experiment. Also, I add some mini chocolate chips to mine, because you can't really overdo chocolate cake.

Gift bag/basket idea: give a cute jar of the mix, a jar of chocolate chips, a nice ramekin, and the recipe.

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Tomorrow is the big reveal! Don't miss it!