Aside from her beautiful family, her biggest passion was cake decorating. She took classes and became quite good at it. Before long her creative juices kicked in and she made gorgeous cakes trimmed with exquisite flowers and delightful characters. Out of inspiration from Lanette, I asked my husband for a complete cake decorating set for Christmas this year… I received it a month ago, I have all of the tips, bags, colors & do-dads in place… locked, loaded & ready to go… I’ve just got to actually “do it”. I think my procrastination comes from a fear of failing however, I know that with a face full of frosting and flour from head to toe, she will be with me, wine in hand; encouraging me, guiding my hand and giggling softly like she always did when we were kids and like her little girls do now. I will do this for her and no matter what the outcome… it will be good.
The loss of a loved one brings such sorrow however, it also stirs up a big batch of memories and sometimes the littlest spoonful of these memories can make us all feel much better; like warm chocolate chip cookies on a cold winter day or the sound of the Ice Cream Truck rounding the corner just before your mom called you in at dusk on a school night. My memories of Lanette make me smile; how her dad called her “Chickie”, her absolutely adorable and gentle lisp, how we used to have sleepovers with her sister, Niecey at their house on Hill Street, the yearly clambakes in the backyard… so many… too many to count. So I decided that I would honor her memory by sharing a recipe with you that she loved for me to make for her, something that I would bring to a family gathering and she would hide from everyone or steal before anyone else would see it was on the table. Every time that I called her out on it, she would seek out our much “bigger” cousin and would shout out, “Julie… Toni Lynn’s pickin’ on me!”… okay, now I’m crying.
Please find below my recipe for Nette’s Baked Brie with Hot Buttered Rum and when you taste it, you’ll know for sure that there truly are beautiful angels watching over us all.
Nette’s Baked Brie with Hot Buttered Rum
½ stick of Butter
1 small “Airplane Bottle” of Spiced Rum
½ cup of Brown Sugar plus more for sprinkling
¾ cup of Chopped Pecans
1 large wheel of Brie Cheese with casing intact
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over low heat. When the butter is melted, stir in Spiced Rum and brown sugar and heat on a low flame; stirring constantly until mixture just starts to bubble. Remove from heat immediately (we do not want the alcohol to cook off now; do we?!!).
Place the wheel of Brie in the middle of a baking dish or pie plate. Pour the butter & rum mixture over the wheel of brie, top with the chopped nuts and sprinkle with a little more brown sugar.
Place in the oven and heat on 350° for approximately 30-40 minutes. Serve with plain bagel chips or buttery crackers.
Rest in peace, little cousin; I love you and think of you every day…
A thousand times we needed you,
A thousand times we cried.
If love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died.
A heart of gold stopped beating,
Two twinkling eyes closed to rest,
God broke our hearts that day to prove
He only takes the best.
(Author Unknown)
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