The first night of my trip to see my parents in May, my mom, my brother, and I stopped by our old middle school band director’s retirement party at a banquet hall downtown. As a potluck, we brought a nice bottle of wine and two trays of cookies, which somehow survived the walk in through the pouring rain.
Almost as soon as we set foot inside, our band director spotted us through the massive crowd, and his face absolutely lit up with a gigantic smile. Although most of the people at the party were his current students, he still recognized us despite almost two decades passing since we first entered his classroom, and he immediately rushed over to give us huge bear hugs and say hello.
He continued to walk around the hall for the rest of the evening, trying to greet each and every person who came to celebrate his retirement, all while a jazz band comprised of past students played tunes up on stage. We only planned on staying half an hour, just long enough to say hi to him, since we figured we wouldn’t know anyone else…
But two hours later, we looked up at the clock, absolutely amazed at how much time had passed. We actually spotted other old band directors and multiple other band parents in the crowd with kids (now adults!) our age that we knew from way back in the day, and the hours flew by as we chatted and caught up.
Towards the end of the evening, shortly before everyone pulled on coats and turned to leave, a few volunteers brought out knives to start cutting slices of two cakes: a giant two-layer chocolate sheet cake with “Congratulations!” scripted across the top and a three-foot-tall tiered carrot cake with too many layers to count and dainty frosting musical notes piped onto it.
We waited until at least half of the room had taken slices before reaching for plates of our own. Although the cakes tasted like fairly standard store-bought flavors, the presentation and piping work were truly impressive!
As for me… I haven’t yet mastered the art of tiered and intricately decorated cakes, so I stick with easier (yet still delicious!) ones like this Healthy Strawberry Bundt Cake! It’s so simple to make. No mixer required—and no layers, tiers, or frosting to pipe either!
Yet this healthy strawberry bundt cake is still just as moist and flavorful as the ones from that bakery at the party, even with no refined flour or sugar. It also has just 123 calories in each slice!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy Strawberry Bundt Cake
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