Fruitcake Bonanza Extravagansa

  As winter was quickly approaching, everyone could be seen taking preparations. From the cutting of the firewood, to stocking up on can-goods, and refilling their everyday supplies. Though it was undoubtedly the most merry of seasons, it didn't come without an overflow of both pros and cons. The extreme pressure and stress weighed heavy upon many, but none more so than those participating in this years annual holiday festival activities. With the patriarchs stepping down to hand over their businesses to their ever so eager children- this year was surely to be one not to miss. The age old feud began with two former best friends. One friend became fed up with the everyday, traditional constraints and set out to start his own bakery. He quickly made a name for himself. But with that name came a feud that has withstood decades of tension and buried history. The more traditional bakery, Katy's Korner, was a small quaint family owned business located on the corner in the middle of town. It was owned by Mr. Busby, but has since been passed down to his daughter Katherine. The more quirky, non-conventional bakery, Bread n' Butter, was located just down the street. This store was owned by the infamous Mr. Belle, but has since been passed down to his son Rex. Katy's Korner did extremely well when it came to cakes and pastries, while Bread n' Butter was more famous for their homemade breads and exotic butters. Rex had graduated culinary arts before taking on the challenge his father handed down to him. Katherine, however, was new to the whole baking business. She was an accountant at a prestigious law firm, and had no professional experience with baking. Nonetheless, both were fixated on one goal. Winning the annual festival bake sale. These two novice owners struggled with adjusting to their new responsibilities. Pressure was mounting as Christmas decorations began to go up. Katherine had just fired a negligent worker and was desperately looking for assistance. Her once vibrant red hair had become dull, and her bright blue eyes became listless. She often contemplated if this business was really worth it. Rex found himself in a constant state of agitation because his staff didn't seem up to par. His standards and expectations were set way too high. People would comment that his hair and eyes matched his soul. Black as Christmas coal. Days turned to weeks despite how much the days seemed to dragged on. The annual festival was just days away. Everyone was on edge. Mr. Belle came into the store frequently to criticize his son's work, and on the opposite side of the street Mr. Busby kept reassuring his daughter. Both felt as if their patience was being tested as their parents continued to pressure them. The flyer for the annual festival activities was to be posted by mid-day. Only then would they know of their tasks for this years baking challenge. It would also provide information of the other festival activities. Usually, the ever so politically activist Connie would pass out these flyers, but this year it was a lesser known board member. This committee member went all out on his festive plans, and even came quipped with bright, glittery red and green flyers. As he passed out these flyers gleefully, the man introduced himself as 'Buddy.' Once given their gritty glittery explosion of a flyer, they both couldn't help but grimace. It certainly was...conventional.

                   Festive Pines Annual Christmas Celebration                              

    Ugliest Christmas Sweater Competition: 1 p.m.-2 p.m.                          

    Annual Present Wrapping Relay: 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m.                                   

   Christmas Carols: Downtown Square Parking Lot 4p.m./5 p.m.            

   Annual Bake Off/ Fruitcake Bonanza: 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m.                           

   Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony: 7:15 p.m.-8 p.m                                

    Nativity Play: 8 p.m.-10 p.m                                                                            

Katherine shook her head in dismay. Her fatherly would've surely loved this challenge. Sticking to her father's traditional roots she began to jot down the list of ingredients for a typical fruitcake. Rex wasn't exactly thrilled, and knows all to well his father would have despised this as well. He began to pace back and forth as he pondered what to do. Katherine had already phoned her father to inform him of her mundane task. As expected he was quite pleased, and fairly optimistic. On the other end of the street in rivalry bakery, Rex was amidst a heated conversation with his father making demands of what to do. Katherine had an assistant to go gather the list of ingredients so she could finish up another customer's order. Rex, however, was taking a more hands on approach. Delegating that his assistant maintain the upkeep of the shop while he went to the local farmers market. Rex, fearful of diminishing the taste and quality of the loaf like cake, was adamant on only using fresh fruit as opposed to the traditional dried fruit. His plans were to combine fresh cranberries with chunks of white chocolate, and finely chopped walnuts. Though this wasn't 'traditional' it was in far better comparison than the original. However, it still wasn't quite complete. The young man had studied his competition, and knew she lacked in experience. So, he decided to use this opportunity to claim the fame of being king of all things cake related. This would greatly improve his business and potentially put his competitor out of business entirely. He took a brief moment to inform his father of his scrupulous plan. Mr. Belle was quite pleased with his son's progression. Perhaps there was hope for him after all, and they could further strengthen their bond. As the night was drawing to a close both bakeries were locking up shop. Conveniently exiting at the same time they exchange heated glances from afar. They've never spoken to each other before, but both just knew by looking at one another that they didn't like each other. At all. Tomorrow they would spend countless hours prepping and baking. For the day after was the ultimate showdown. As both retreated to their homes, exhausted beyond means, they slumped into their beds with their beloved pets. The next morning Katherine refills her pooches bowls, and with a quick kiss goodbye is out the door. Not much farther away Rex is slowly emerging from his slumber. His large pet iguana playfully licks his face urging him to get up. He rises up from bed and pats him gently on the head. The cuddly lizard is placed back into his cage before Rex slams the heavy door shut. It was bound to be a busy day as both entered their establishments turning on the lights. These two had a common habit of getting their coffee pots started before doing anything. Though, Rex's coffee pot was far more advanced, it was a coffee pot none the less. Katherine then continued her routine of bringing out freshly baked muffins. While Rex on the other hand was whipping up some fresh donuts. Afterwards, he was tasked with finding a brown butter icing for his unconventional fruitcake. Frustrated beyond words Katherine was dropping everything from her cup of coffee to her muffin batter. She was desperately struggling to stay motivated as she prepared to make her fruitcake batter. Meanwhile, over in the other kitchen, Rex was meticulously scrubbing everything after each use. He was falling behind schedule with his overly obsessive ways. Katherine's fruitcake batter was cautiously poured into a large bundt pan before being placed into the oven. She had seemed to be managing her time quite well. She lunged for a bowl as a last minute thought popped into her head. Using a can of jellied cranberry she crafted a sweet, but tart glaze. It wasn't traditional at all. Her dad would surely be dismayed. Yet, she couldn't risk losing her first challenge. After the oven timer rang she reached for the oven mitts and began to pull out her fruitcake. It was slightly overdone, but the competition was tomorrow and surely the glaze would be more than enough to mask the overdone taste. Katherine sat the bundt pan on the counter to cool as she filled other orders that came in earlier that day. Down the street, in a now spotless kitchen, Rex proceeded to mix up his own special fruitcake batter. Christmas wasn't exactly his favorite time of year. Yet, he still felt as though he needed his fruitcake to look more like the festive holiday. With his icing his fruitcake would be a miss match of both fruitcake and yule log, so why not decorate it that way. Selecting a rectangular pan seemed the most logical choice, however, he thought what if the log was more like a wreath? So, he chose the bundt pan instead. Carefully Rex poured his mixture into the pan and placed it into the preheated oven. As the fruitcake cooked he continued to work on his brown butter icing. Once the cake was done it was placed into the freezer to cool. A little over half an hour later he retrieved the pan from the freezer. He flipped the pan over to realize that the cake had stuck to the pan. Using a butter knife he began to trace out the edges of the cake. Eventually the cake came out, but it looked horrible. Rex shrugged and figured the icing would cover any imperfections in the cake. His father would have started over from scratch, but he didn't have the time. He the proceeded to reach for the food coloring and individual bowls for mixing. The rugged fruitcake was slathered with layers of bright green icing. Then he placed the red icing into a tiny plastic bag so that he could decorate the shrubbery in bright red bows and berries. Pleased with his latest creation he place it into the fridge to await the competition. Rex went back to obsessively cleaning. All the while Katherine was getting her perfectly shaped cake ready to be lightly glazed. Satisfied with her decision she placed the fruitcake into the fridge to await the next day. By the time they were done it was time to lock up shop yet again. They left their bakeries within five minutes of each other and continued to head on home. Katherine, who had gotten home first, was suddenly feeling nervous. Hopefully, she could sleep or else she'd be too exhausted for the competition the next day. Rex got to his cozy apartment building not much long after. He too, was feeling nervous and restless as tomorrow was the final day. A little past midnight both had drifted off to sleep only to be shortly awakened by their alarms. Time was becoming as cringe worthy as the repetitive ticking of the clock, but both kept a constant vidual eye on it anyway. Katherine's father dropped by around 4 o'clock taking her by surprise. The usually positive Mr. Busby went to the fridge to assess his daughters fruitcake. To her horror his gleeful expression did fade and turned into disappointment at the supposed disaster she'd made. Mr. Busby began nervously running his fingers through his thick reddish grey beard. Then he patted her on the shoulder before just walking away without a word to say. This weighed heavy on her mind. Yet, there was no time to fix her mistake. It wasn't no surprise to Rex that his father would should up to critique his work. He was expecting the harshest of criticisms, but to his surprise his dad actually thought it looked sort of okay. Mr. Belle began to run his fingers throughs his salt and pepper beard nervously. After a quick nod to his son he too, without any word, walked away. Left in complete shock and utter suspense each baker grabbed their fruitcakes before heading to their main event. There were three people who were making an entry to this so called fruitcake bonanza event. Katherine Busby, Rex Belle, and sweet old Miss Birdie all stood lined up with their cakes placed neatly on the plastic table top. Miss Birdie complemented the young bakers on their marvelous concepts before exiting the table. Not sure of what to make of the situation they simply dismissed it. Shortly later the contest began. The two overly competitive bakers bumped into each other. Both began blaming the other. A intense shouting match ensued. As if things couldn't get more disasterous the fueding fathers stepped in. There were harsh words spewed as the duos lashed out each other. Infuriated Katherine made a brash decision to take things a step further. With her bare hand she grabbed a chunk of Rex's fruitcake and hurled it at his father. An awkward silence befell everyone. The onlooking crowd was full of both gasps and giggles. Katherine was searching desperately for a napkin. Without any luck she resorted to licking the icing off of her hand. That is when she made a startling conclusion. Though Rex's cake was too moist his brown butter frosting was amazing. There was a brief exchange of debate on whether it was called icing or frosting. That is when Rex mad a bold move by grabbing a handful of Katherine's fruitcake at her father. He proceeded to try the opponents fruitcake. Though her cake was too dry her glaze was exceptional. They then traded glances at both cake adorned fathers before they both burst out laughing. Mr. Belle made a snide comment about how the red glaze matched Mr. Busby's beard. After a few more snickers from the crowd Mr. Busby retorted that the green brought out the grey in Mr. Belle's beard. There was an intense moment of silence. The tension was thick you could cut it with a knife. Both men lunged for the fruitcakes on the table and began pummeling each other with them. As their children looked on they came to agreement that both of their fruitcakes sucked. For the first time the both were smiling. At least until Rex shoved a piece of fruitcake in Katherine's face. She gasped and responded by returning the favor. They both stared deep into each other's eyes before exchanging the most magical kiss. Both Mr. Busby and Mr. Belle then began to pummel their children with fruitcake. It was an all out fruitcake bonanza war! Miss Birdie rejoined the table from afar and began to cut her fruitcake, which was surprisingly untouched, into individual slices. As she handed out pieces to each person she quipped that a loaf of fruitcake can have a long afterlife so you can eat it when the time is right. Understandably, they were all confused. Miss Birdie was just merely suggesting that the time was right for this feud to finally end. What no one counted on is that it was also the time my parents love story would begin.