Today I am going to share a recipe from my Great Aunt Bertha Holland for Japanese Fruit Cake. This is a wonderful moist delicious cake. Aunt Bertha was a great cook. She loved to cook and see us eat! She was the oldest of her siblings. When her mother passed away Aunt Bertha and the next oldest sister, Aunt Naomi took over caring for all of the younger children. All together there were 14 children. I can't imagine having that much responsibility.
Aunt Bertha was 25 when her mother, Emma McInnis Holland died in 1936. She never married. She lived with her sister Ruby Holland, who also never married, until she died in 1982. Aunt Naomi married Wenzel Avery and stayed very close to all of her brothers and sisters. Naomi lived to be the oldest of all of her siblings. I asked her one day what her secret to good health was and she said, "Hard work, eating your vegtables and walking with the Lord, because when you walk with him he carries your burdens."
Aunt Bertha worked for Van Ritch, a fine ladies clothing store in Dothan, Al., as an alterationist. She was a fine seamstress. She could take anything and make it into a beautiful work of art. Her cooking was just as good. She loved and cared for all of her brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews. There wasn't anything she would not do to help them. When she passed away I grieved for her for years and now I sit here with tears running down my face.
When I was about 4 or 5 years old my cousin Charles Thurman married and he and his bride Annie Ruth asked me to be the flower girl in their wedding. Aunt Bertha, made my dress and I believe she made Annie Ruth's, and the brides maids also. I remember Annie Ruth trying the dress on for Aunt Bertha in her sewing room. I was totally mesmerized by the beautiful white satin gown. I have a picture taken of the wedding. My dress was a beautiful seafoam green color too bad the pictures are black and white. The date I'm not sure except that it was the early 60's. The skirt of my dress was swagged around the bottom like Annie Ruth's and had glass rhinestones sewn in the gathers. I didn't want to take it off!
The Brandied Fruit Cake recipe was a big hit with everyone. I remember mother and her garden club friends passing the starter around. Of course Granny loved it. She was a fruit cake nut!! If you like fruit cake this is a recipe of premium quality. You just have to be patient the process is 6 weeks long. You make an addition every 2 weeks for 6 weeks. The recipe is not complicated it just takes time. As all good things do. :) Mom made her brandied fruit in a glass container with a lid and kept it sitting on the shelf in the kitchen pantry.
Aunt Bertha was 25 when her mother, Emma McInnis Holland died in 1936. She never married. She lived with her sister Ruby Holland, who also never married, until she died in 1982. Aunt Naomi married Wenzel Avery and stayed very close to all of her brothers and sisters. Naomi lived to be the oldest of all of her siblings. I asked her one day what her secret to good health was and she said, "Hard work, eating your vegtables and walking with the Lord, because when you walk with him he carries your burdens."
Aunt Bertha worked for Van Ritch, a fine ladies clothing store in Dothan, Al., as an alterationist. She was a fine seamstress. She could take anything and make it into a beautiful work of art. Her cooking was just as good. She loved and cared for all of her brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews. There wasn't anything she would not do to help them. When she passed away I grieved for her for years and now I sit here with tears running down my face.
When I was about 4 or 5 years old my cousin Charles Thurman married and he and his bride Annie Ruth asked me to be the flower girl in their wedding. Aunt Bertha, made my dress and I believe she made Annie Ruth's, and the brides maids also. I remember Annie Ruth trying the dress on for Aunt Bertha in her sewing room. I was totally mesmerized by the beautiful white satin gown. I have a picture taken of the wedding. My dress was a beautiful seafoam green color too bad the pictures are black and white. The date I'm not sure except that it was the early 60's. The skirt of my dress was swagged around the bottom like Annie Ruth's and had glass rhinestones sewn in the gathers. I didn't want to take it off!
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| Aunt Bertha made both of the dresses I am wearing in these pictures. Mother still has this green one stored in her cedar wardrobe. The other one may be there also. I remember it being white with pink rosebuds embroidered on it. |
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| This is a picture of Aunt Bertha made in the mid to late 40's. Guessing because of others that were taken about the same time when my dad was about 6 years old. |
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