Well ‘tis
the season’ for fruitcakes. They may be the best made, preserved and
well-traveled of all holiday gifts….and the most complained about too! You must wonder where the attraction began
when the attraction to be rid of them is equal or greater these days.
I only bring
this up as there is the most ingenious solution to the ever growing fruitcake
dilemma. This is the ‘Tossing of the Fruitcake’ held annually in
Manitou-Springs, CO each year following Christmas. I mention it now as perhaps it
is not too late to start a local chapter of the “Fruitcake Toss” if you act
quickly. Be forewarned. This is not for the faint of heart or body. It is managed
by highly skilled, strategically minded participants serious in relieving us of
the fruitcake.
The fruitcake
tosser must be in tip top shape. Some contests are like the Olympic discus
throws with varying cake weight categories. The team-sport category allows
three participants to ‘catch-a-tossed-cake’, with a maximum of four cakes at
four pounds per cake. For the high-techies, you may want to participate in the
‘cake-a-pult’ and ‘cake shooting’ competitions where tossers load a cake and
adjust the projectile’s cake trajectory for the greatest distance where the
winner is judged by its final resting place.
Are you
kidding me, you say? Nope! Check out the websites and Facebook too!
Don’t forget
to join in on the “Fruitcake Song” also on You Tube! (A soon to be classic!)
Now some may
consider the fruitcake tossers to actually be fruitcakes. I think they are
ingenious. In its simplest state, they are providing for the law of ‘supply and
demand’ and are the mothers of invention in the fruitcake category.
With a few
weeks left to prepare for the competition, we can bulk up in body, mind and
spirit, not to mention the stocking up of fruitcake in the freezer.
For those
choosing not to participate, but of willing spirit, I have included a website
with a total of 125 fruitcake recipes. Please check all rules and regulations
for the precise size, weight and specifications of the cakes entered
in competition. Nuts are
optional.
Now, this fruitcake
situation is not a new problem as it has been documented in the fine art world
by artist Edward Gorey. His Christmas cards have donned his picture of
‘turn-of-the-century-fruitcake-tossing’. It would appear that the people of
Manitou-Springs, CO have mastered this problem in high fashion. Kudos!
And not
wanting to offend, should you love fruitcake…bon appetite! Hope you enjoy the
recipes.
Cathy
1 comment:
I didn't know that Edward Gorey had a drawing of fruitcake toss!
When I was little, my mother made a cake that she called "fruitcake." It had raisins, mayonaise, rum flavoring, and flour. I thought I liked fruitcake until later in life when I was disillusioned.
--Anne
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