Butter Cream

Butter Cream.  Sounds good, right?  But what exactly is butter cream?  By asking that question, you probably realize I'm not a pâtissière.  Hard to believe, I know, but I am telling the truth.  Now, I really do (kinda) know what butter cream is but just to make sure, I looked it up.  Here is the dictionary definition:

butter cream

noun

1.  a vanilla-flavored cake frosting or filling made principally of softened butter and powdered sugar.

2.  a similar mixture used as a filling for bonbons or to flavor ice cream. 

Yum!  Sounds really good and is really good.  In fact, in my sophisticated opinion, the frosting is usually the best part of a cake--the whole cake is good but that mixture sets it off perfectly.  When I do make a cake, I do the exact same thing as defined in the dictionary--I use the powdered sugar, softened butter, a little teaspoon of vanilla, and some milk--that is the way my mom showed me to make "icing." (That's what we called it.)  

Now sometimes I haven’t mixed up enough so I add some more powdered sugar.  Oops. That was a lot.  Well, now I need some more milk.  Too runny.  More powdered sugar.  Don't worry after awhile it evens out pretty well.  Plus, if there is way too much for the cake, it is extremely tasty when it's put between graham crackers.  

 

I also know that some people make a cream cheese frosting.  I like that too.  Then there is the peanut butter frosting, the chocolate frosting, caramel frosting, strawberries and cream frosting. 

There are probably more.  But here's the best thing (just for emergencies, you know). There are frostings that come in a can--ready made!  In fact, you could likely find all those aforementioned in nice little cans beside the cake mixes.  

Nevertheless, whether you are a can frosting person or a make-it from-scratch kinda gal, I think we'll all agree--frosting or icing is delicious.

But after last week, I will always think of this following story when making frosting, eating frosting, or shopping for those little cans of frosting.

One morning soon after the boys got there and rather out of the blue, my grandson sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to me.  I was very amused and appreciative.  After all, working with small children, I know the importance of learning rhymes.  You could say that I'm adamant about it and he knows them all.  He doesn't sing them much anymore because he is six now.

When he was much younger, he and I spent hours reading nursery rhyme books and saying nursery rhymes and sometimes even making plays out of nursery rhymes.  There were four books in particular that he would pick out regularly.  They were oversized books with large, bright illustrations and a rhyme. (Found these at the Dollar Tree for guess how much?  Yes, a dollar each!  Quite the bargain!)  

Now he is reading books by himself.  So singing this one pleased me but how he sang it really got me.  Here is his version:

"Row, row, row your boat.

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is butter cream."

I quickly applauded his song as I was processing how great that version he inadvertently sang was.  I'm sure he thought he was singing it the way it goes, but what a great philosophical statement that version makes, in my opinion.

Here in the United States, our lives are pretty much good--like a cake is good.   We are really all so rich and have so much more than people have in many countries in the world--we have freedoms; we have warm/cool homes; we have opportunities for education and ways to have fun.  We have cars, books, libraries, book stores, churches, restaurants, hotels--all of which we enjoy using. 

Not only are there so many "things" we are fortunate to have in our lives, but we are really lucky to have the "frosting" in our lives as well: love, family, health, friends, God.  This is the good stuff between the layers of life.  In fact, it is the "butter cream" of our lives. 

So each day whether you are baking a cake or just "rowing your boat down the stream," (and going downstream is definitely merrier than fighting to go upstream), try to remember, focus on, and be thankful for our wonderful lives that are indeed "butter cream."