i experienced a week of the midwestern lifestyle and it was so quiet and wonderful! there were lots of card games, grain elevators, naps, and dishes like cheeseburger chowder and lasagna soup. we went to charlie’s cafe twice because of their colossal caramel rolls, and i got to spend lots of time with my cousins, aunt, and 97-year-old (!) grandma.
the best part of the trip was driving up to grand forks to see molly! her farm looks just like the gingerbread one, except it’s bigger and the trees aren’t sprinkled with za’atar. also, eggboy is a real live farmer and not, well, an anthropomorphic egg (humpty dumpty?). i’m not sure what i was expecting.
molly made chocolate cake and i made chocolate buttercream, then we threw some peaches in the middle and smacked a marzipan american flag cow on the side. we finished it off by studding it with little gold sugar pearls. so patriotic! so vanity fair! i thought it would be cool to do a blinged-out udder, but that doesn’t really fit with vanity fair’s aesthetic.
yay minnesota! happy independence day! find the cake recipe here!
LENA'S LUNCHBOX 
And the cake was the second best one I tasted that week!