Today, Friday, May 17th is Jamie Oliver‘s Food Revolution Day.  Between being continually motivated by Jamie’s effort to make a change in the way we view/eat/cook food as well as just finishing “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver (life changing); I wanted to make the pledge to do something amazing and important in the food community.  However, life really does get in the way of your plans.  So I made a simple pledge, to make a homemade, from scratch cake for my son’s 4th birthday.

I must confess this is an ongoing pledge because despite my full-time job and the busyness of life these days it is one of things I really want to make sure happens every year. I think everyone has something that strikes a chord at what motherhood is and for some reason homemade birthday cakes is one of mine.  I suppose it is because I come from a family of bakers – cakes, cookies, pies, fudge and even candy were always homemade at holidays and family gatherings so to me it is an important tradition to carry on.

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday

3rd Birthday

The one thing I appreciate about trailblazers like Jamie Oliver, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Waters and the so many other people who are not in the spotlight but trying to make a change for the better in our food culture is the attitude that every little bit helps.  Every simple act to try to eat better, buy local, grow your own food, support small farmers, encourage organics, and keep cooking traditions alive is important.

So this year, I won’t be discouraged that I couldn’t host a neighborhood potluck or a community fundraiser, but instead I will make Ollie’s cake and cupcakes, along with the food for his birthday party using organic, local ingredients where I can and be proud that I am doing my part to keep the tradition of homemade cakes and home-cooked meals alive and well in the Ashborn household.  Of course I will post the results.

As Jamie says – BIG LOVE!