Nikki's Nurturance: On Aiden's Birthday: The Gruffalo-Themed Cake

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

On Aiden's Birthday: The Gruffalo-Themed Cake

The celebrant, taking a break from his pool party, to blow the candles on
his finely-crafted Gruffalo cake tower.

A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood

A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good

"Where are you going to little brown mouse?

Come and have lunch with me in my underground house."

"It's terribly kind of you, Fox, but no --

I'm going to have lunch with a gruffalo."

"A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"

"A gruffalo! Why didn't you know?"

...So starts the best-selling book by writer and playwright Julia Donaldson - a well-loved story for parents and kids in the post-2000 era. I first saw "The Gruffalo" with my kids, animated, on DVD. Sadly, we missed the theater production that was staged in Manila a few months back. Last weekend, I was thrilled to "see" the Gruffalo, exquisitely rendered in cake and cupcakes!!! Our friends Aiel and Sabina threw a party for their son, Aiden, and the little boy had his "favorites" on his special day. He obviously loved to swim! And he loved the Gruffalo! It was a high point in the party when our little celebrant, swaddled in a towel and still dripping from the pool, blew out the candles atop his wonderful cake tower! And when he was told he could already have some cake, he went for it! With his arms still snugly wrapped around his body, he leaned towards his cake, and took a playful nibble - amidst the cheers from an appreciative audience. I loved the unguarded moment, when a little boy was allowed to be a kid, and everyone else basked in his youth. Ah, what a few candles on a lovely cake could do. It could stir the imagination.

The Gruffalo cake with the celebrant's "stamp of approval" - his teeth marks!!!

"A gruffalo, what's a gruffalo?" (asked some of the other adults in the group - those single without kids)
"A gruffalo! Why didn't you know?"(answered some of us, parents raising babies of the digital age)

"He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws,
and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws,
He has knobbly knees, and turned out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose"

I tried to explain to our non-parent friends who or what the Gruffalo was, with a brief and flat synopsis of the plot, delivered in a very cold fashion. "The story is right, but you're saying it wrong" said our host, Aiel, who explained how well written the children's book is. I was rightfully put to shame! To rob the story of its rhythm and rhyme, to speak of it without its cadence and charm - is to reduce its value so, so much! For there is so much more to it than its plot - with much of its beauty derived from its being a song. So I promised myself to rectify the situation! (Hence, this blog post with excerpts from the book!). "You can watch it on Youtube" said Aiel to me, and the rest of the group. But I wanted something more old school. Sure, we have the DVD at home, and we can watch it repeatedly - but I preferred to have the book, and read it out loud to my kids, in my own voice - so I could savor the words, and have my kids lean on me, and hear me speak, and feel me read, as I put them to bed.

The Gruffalo cupcakes, with yummy gummy tusks, complete with a green wart on his nose!

As luck would have it, Aiden's birthday is right before my daughter's and his mom, Sabina graciously asked me "What would Narra like for her birthday?" And I figured, I could link Aiden's party to Narra's gift, to weave memories and strengthen ties. I asked for a copy of the Gruffalo book. And it arrived a few days later (bundled with another book, thanks Sabina and Aiel!). And when it came time to read Narra the story, I started by asking her if she remembers Aiden's cake, and the cupcake she chose for herself, of the little mouse. And so the circle of inspiration is completed: a book inspires a cake, a cake inspires a mom to read a book. And the magic of one afternoon party continues on...