By By Margaret Button

Copyright berkshireeagle

Nine years ago, my now-late sister-in-law, Julie, and I, during one of our lengthy Sunday night chats (which I miss dearly), talked about how her kids and my son, David, didn’t really know each other. I was especially concerned because once I’m gone, David would have no close family members.

There were many reasons for the first cousins not being close — she and my husband’s brother lived in southeastern Ohio, some 700 miles away — 11 hours by car, a road trip we all hated. Also, my husband was 9 years younger than his brother. We were in our mid-30s when we had David; his cousins are 10- to 15-plus years older, and they didn’t really interact when we did get together. David was the pesky young kid the older kids had to tolerate for a week at a time.

Mostly through Julie’s efforts, we had the first Button family reunion the following Labor Day weekend. My oldest nephew, Peter, and his wife, Lisa, hosted it in Pittsburgh, where they live. We flew to Pittsburgh and stayed in a nearby hotel. It was great — all the cousins bonded, the first cousins and their kids. David is right in the middle of the age gap and formed ties with all of them.

The rest is history. We’ve gotten together every Labor Day weekend — and sometimes for a wedding or graduation party — since. This year, we hosted the reunion at a rental house in New Hampshire. Only one of my nephews and his family were able to attend, and although we missed the others, we had a great time. The house was my dream house, set on a hill overlooking a small private lake in Barnstead. (I went over two mountains, across Vermont and New Hampshire, down narrow winding country roads and finally a dirt road to get there, but it was worth every second. I can only imagine what Paul, Jenny and their kids went through driving from Columbus, Ohio!)

The older cousins, Abby, Sara and James, took turns babysitting and entertaining my grandsons, including playing games, taking them fishing — which was pretty much chasing them on the beach and dock — and even taking them out in the kayaks. It was hard to say goodbye; the six days literally flew by.

There was tons of good food — I gained 5 pounds from all the non-stop eating. David, Paul and Casey took over the cooking, and the rest of us cleaned up afterward. I brought cookies from a recipe Eagle Managing Editor Lindsey Hollenbaugh had shared with me. So good … In the process of planning what I was going to bring, I combed my recipe file and my mom’s cookbook. Another possible contender for the reunion was a Coca-Cola Cake. I’ve always been tempted to try it with Dr. Pepper instead of Coca-Cola …

COCA-COLA CAKE

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

½ cup butter

½ cup vegetable oil

1 cup regular Coca-Cola

2 cups white sugar

2 cups flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice)

2 teaspoons vanilla

For the frosting:

3 cups powdered sugar

½ cup softened butter

¼ cup Coca-Cola

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ cup chocolate syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the cake:

Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch sheet cake pan. Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine butter, soda and oil in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

In a bowl, stir flour and sugar until combined. Add to the saucepan, stir and remove from heat. Stir in eggs, cocoa powder, baking soda, buttermilk and vanilla.

Pour into a greased pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

For the frosting:

In a large bowl, cream the butter and cocoa powder.

Stir in cola, chocolate syrup and vanilla.

Gradually beat in powdered sugar.

Frost the cake while it is still warm. Serve with vanilla ice cream if desired.