Around this time, PBS would broadcast the television adaptation of Truman Capote’s short story A Christmas Memory. As I’m about to embark on my first fruitcake making venture, I can’t help but hear Geraldine Page’s voice “It’s fruitcake weather.” I’m measuring out my ingredients for this recipe passed on to me by Paddy Bowman which was passed on to her by a distant cousin named Marjorie Boyd who lived in Fairfax, VA.
Paddy writes:
Receiving her fruitcake every December was a highlight for my grandmother and me. We’d have a couple of thin slices every afternoon w/ a cup of hot tea, or sometimes she’d have a glass of sherry. It tasted just like Christmas to me….We lived in a dry county, and my grandmother hid her scotch and sherry bottles deep in her closet.
Marjorie Boyd’s Fruitcake recipe calls for red wine AND bourbon. I wonder if the cherries have to come from a jar. I’ve always liked dried cherries or cherries in season.
Capote’s tender story takes place in Alabama during the Great Depression of the 1930s. It’s about a young boy named Buddy, his adult cousin/friend Sook (touched with a child-like mind) and their adventure to make 30 fruitcakes for people they like including President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Imagine trying to get a homemade fruitcake through the White House mail room security today. The story is assumed to be biographical as Truman Capote was a young boy in the South during the 1930s. Capote also narrates the film. The film was made in 1966 and is in black and white (by choice I suppose). You can see it in 6 chunks on YouTube. I’ve embedded the 2nd part in this post. This is when Buddy and his cousin collect their ingredients.
If I start tomorrow, maybe my fruitcakes will be ripe by New Years. Hat tip to Paddy. I’ll keep her posted.
