Monday, May 09, 2011

One Year

It was a year ago last week that I went home to see my Mom after he cancer recurred. I wanted to make something with her, so I had her teach me a TOP SECRET family recipe. If you are a member of a Dayton family, any Dayton family. You not only love the Chocolate Roll, you revere it, you speak of it in hushed tones. When your father eats it, he talks about how they only had it once a year, and the slice was so thin, you would spend the rest of the year thinking about it.

Here is one thing you probably didn't know about the Dayton Chocolate Roll, Grandma Lois Dayton invented it. I interviewed her once about it, and didn't get a chance to film it. She had a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, and if I recall she didn't have the cream cheese, so she took the recipe and made it her own.

Here is the thing about the Chocolate Roll, it has a number of secrets. The Cake needs to be cold and the chocolate sauce needs to be hot. The cream is unsweetened and the sauce is super-rich. It's essentially The Law of Opposition in a desert.

So one year later, I finished this video. The audio is rough and the image isn't great. I just shot in on my DSL with no microphone. But this is precious to me. In the year since we made this, not only did my Mother pass away (as many of you know), but my Grandmother, the inventor of this recipe, did as well. So I post this in honor of some of the great women in my life.

9 comments:

Cindy said...

Oh, what a joy to see!! The chocolate roll looks delicious and even though I am not a Dayton, I think I might try it. I loved seeing Susan in her "Red" kitchen. That is something that I will alway connect with her. Yesterday when we had our sunday mother's day dinner we used the Red You are special plate she gave us years ago. So typically Susan. Simple, elegant and fun all at the same time. The other day I was doing my dishes and we had a pizza for dinner. We used the pizza pan she had given us for Christmas many many years ago. I clean it a little more than necessary and enjoyed thinking of the many memories of Susan and the Dayton Boys! Thanks for such a nice post. I hope my children will remember me in such a way. You do honor your mother! Love to all of you, Aunt Cindy

Damian said...

Thank you for your kind words.

Mei Day said...

Besides documenting a family tradition I love that this captures two parts of Mom's personality. There's the showier side of Mom, when she's entertaining and socializing that you get to as she preparing the recipe, but I'm really glad you caught the bit at the end where it's just Mom being herself. That's the part that I remember having long chats with, and that's the part that really makes me miss her.

By the way, my preference for butter isn't out of a love of butter, but a hatred of margarine.

I mean, really, who eats margarine?

chanelle said...

watched this twice. priceless.

and i'm going to make that roll for my family soon. thanks, damian.

Damian said...

Please let me know how it turns out ( I promise that it is amazing, but you might boil over the chocolate sauce, it is tricky that way).

I started reading your Mother Mirror blog, thanks for sharing.

Johnny and Angela Dayton said...

Damian - this is amazing!!! I cried. I miss your mom. To capture your incredible mother in her kitchen doing what she does best - making delicious food and then presenting it in such a beautiful way - it is so her. These types of videos need to be made more often so we can remember the daily activities that impacted / impact our lives. Allison runs around the house video taping everything and I love seeing her world as she sees it. This is your world you documented. I'll be showing this to Alli tomorrow and I know she'll be shedding a lot of tears. She talks about your mother all of the time and cries when anyone mentions her name. This is a sweet, sweet video. Thanks for sharing.

marshall p said...

I really liked this and want to try it. I was watching it and my hubs noted that she sounded so professional. I am sorry for your loss.

Damian said...

If you like delicisousness, you will like this recipe. It does take some work to get right, but I hope this helps.

Thanks for the condolences.

vfg said...

Loved. Cancer took my dad 8 years ago but it still feels like months...