My Grandmother's Kitchen

I am excited to announce my very first published book, "A Very Special Girl Named Tonya." Like many girls her age, Tonya loves playing games, dancing, and listening to music. She is surrounded by the love of her family: little brother, mother, father, and grandparents. Because of an accident, Tonya cannot use her legs to walk and so she uses a wheelchair.

Although fiction, all of the characters in this book deprive from my own childhood including the fact that my maternal grandmother spent most of my life in a wheelchair. My grandmother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis many years ago.

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects the Central Nervous System (CNS), especially the brain, spinal cord, and the optic nerves. It’s a condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues in the CNS. Very few research studies have been done on the impact of this disease and African American people.

My grandmother, and in turn our family, has been battling Multiple Sclerosis every single day for the past forty years. Since the first attack, our lives have been categorized between before and after the diagnosis.

Despite the disease, my grandmother has always felt that she could do almost anything just a bit differently!

Each time, I bake fond memories of this southern belle dance around in my kitchen much like the smell of her freshly baked cakes, brownies, cookies, African pound cake, and my favorite Chocolate German Cake.

Chocolate German Cake is a layered chocolate cake from the U.S. that sports a moist layered chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, and gooey ooeey coconut pecan filling.

I can remember those days in her kitchen so so well. As a young girl, I was given the title of the helper-- the "getter," as Big Lene called it. "Child hurry up go fetch me that flour from the cabinet," or "Could you just add a pinch of vanilla extract?" I was always excited to help her in this task. I was a great helper or assistant. My reward was almost always licking the spoon, which was covered with cake batter or creamy hot fudge.

Memories of spending time with my grandmother in her kitchen has carried me throughout my adult years. It was always an adventure.

So here's my attempt at her recipe! Don't forget to smile.

Ingredients:

4 ounces or the pound package German's sweet chocolate

1/2 cup water

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup butter or margarine

4 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coconut Pecan Frosting (1 cup sugar, 1 cup evaporated milk, 1/2 cup butter or margarine or 8 tablespoons)

3 eggs