Back in Business

This is our son Andrew with his son, Micah our grandson. I'm just throwing him a bouquet from my computer to his in Mexico for spending his valuable time on the phone with me a number of times this week to get me blogging again. We had changed emails and so Blogger wouldn't accept any further offerings from me until I had done due diligence in resetting my blog. I was lost. Andrew cheerfully persevered with me and I'm so grateful - thanks son!

Yikes, I must send out a bouquet to Dana, his wife- our dear daughter in law- who set me up in the first place almost two years ago. Thanks so much. Better yet...here's the family*...


...but not quite...baby Joshua came along eight weeks ago! Welcome sweet little fellow!


*picture taken in Mazatlan while we vacationed with them in March of this year.
Pictures courtesy of Andrew sent to me over the past months.

Cakes revisited

Chiffon Cake
I'm happy to repost my Chiffon Cake recipe from an earlier post- June 14,2008 under the Title "Pineapple-Strawberry Chiffon Cake". (Thanks Katherine for asking-I'm delighted to do it.) This is what it looked like then:





This is the vanilla pudding-pineapple cream icing which you slather on to the cake. This hides all the knife nicks that can't be hidden when you just put on a light lemon glaze as in the last photo.* From here you can go crazy and pile on any fresh fruit and rename it accordingly. I sometimes add some dark chocolate bits or drizzle chocolate onto it to add a different touch.





Leaving it plain or by adding a simple glaze of icing sugar, lemon rind and juice plus enough hot water to make a thin glaze, gives you many options such as adding strawberries or blueberries etc served with ice cream. I really like the lemon flavor served with the lemon cream. It's my latest favorite.

Recipe:
Chiffon Cake
(adapted from my tattered old Robin Hood cookbook of bygone years)

1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons grated orange or lemon rind (optional)
6 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Beat egg whites in a large mixing bowl-add cream of tartar and beat until peaks form
Mix dry ingredients together-make a hollow and add oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and rind. Mix with beater until smooth.
Fold flour mixture gently into the egg whites using a sturdy rubber spatula.
Pour into ungreased 10"x4" tube pan.
Bake for 55 minutes, then increase temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking 10-15 minutes. Cake is done if top springs back when touched lightrly.
Turn pan upside down resting tube pan on a narrow necked bottle. (I use an old tabasco bottle and then brace it against my toaster oven and a teapot which I have next to the oven.) Let cake stand until cold before removing from pan.
Frost and decorate according to the occasion!

Frosting pictured:
Whip 500ml whipping cream
Add about 2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding
Add 1 tin crushed pineapple - drain most of the juice
Split cake in half horizontally and put a layer of whip cream filling on the bottom half
Add sugared strawberries
Place other layer on top - press down gently
Cover cake with cream mixture working carefully from top to bottom all the way around
filling in the center whole
Decorate with kiwi slices and strawberries
Chocolate squizzles all over the cake also make a great addition.

An orange or lemon glaze made with icing sugar also is wonderful. Here is the cake I served the other day with only a lemon glaze. Serve lemon cream on the side. (See October 22 entry for lemon cream recipe.)

*This post should have appeared one slot earlier but I got bogged down with my computer and so here it is now.

Birthdays...Cake...and Lemon Cream...

Another birthday party today! How lucky can I be? We're going out for a Greek lunch and then birthday cake and coffee at our place. I need a live centerpiece as in flowers, that is! So out I go and look... I see how nice the roses are!

Last night I baked my signature chiffon cake-posted on a June blog 2008.* This morning I made the lemon cream which is just sooo smooth and yummy.

Lemon Cream

This recipe is from The Best of the Best and more of The Best of Bridge Series
In top of double boiler combine:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tblsp. grated lemon rind
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Using a whisk stir and cook mixture until thickened - about 10 minutes. Cool. Whip 250 ml whipping cream and fold into lemon mixture. Spoon over cake and garnish with fresh mint leaves.

Now serve to an appreciative audience. In this case it was all of Al's family in our generation with the birthday honoree being Vi. Happy Birthday, Vi.

*(I've just now begun a new blog with a new address and don't know yet how to retrieve my other posts since we changed our email address).

Books and Things...

Left To Tell, the New York Times Bestseller published in 2006 by Hay House, Inc is the remarkable story of endurance, healing, and forgiveness inspite of the unimaginable terror, horror and deprivation that author Immaculee Ilibagiza experienced during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Immaculee, a Tutsi, survived "...by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, indcluding the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God." (Publishers Weekly review)

As it is with most books for me, I don't read them until they are "old news". The subtitle, Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, is what this book is all about. My eyes were opened as I read. I felt so much grief and shame at humankind's capacity to hate and kill and I felt grief and shame at my own lack of compassion and knowledge of the dreadful situation as it happened such a few years ago. I could have and should have prayed for these people. Even after seeing the movie Hotel Rwanda early in 2005 I still didn't see the people as I should have. I have asked God to forgive me and to give me a heart of love and compassion for those in tough spots. This story did it for me.

I was blessed and encouraged while reading about Immaculee's struggle and subsequent triumph over anger and negative feelings which came upon her on her return to her village after the war ended. Deep anger and dark feelings washed over her as she saw the shallow graves of her mother and brother. But she resolved after a restless night not to let these negatives grow and fester within her. She says, "I would always turn immediately to the Source of all true power: I would turn to God and let His love and forgiveness protect and save me." A beautiful, heart-warming testimony of her unwavering trust in God. I'm glad I read it.

Other books I've read this fall are the Shiloh books by Bodie Thoene-three of them. These were first published in the early 90's. I had read some of the Zion series earlier and so found these Christian fiction books of the United States from WW1 through to the Great Depression of the 30's full of captivating historical facts, colorful characters and the themes of good triumphing over evil well developed. Glad I read these too.

Now to the things...of course books are things too...

...the garden...I've posted this picture before...but I really like it. I took it on September 2 of this year and got the lighting just right and the grass trimmed - thanks dear. Today as I started a thorough tear down of annuals and tomato plants ( still got to eat 4 or 5 lovely little tomatoes even as I yanked those unsightly stalks and roots out of the ground). I still thought the yard looked great. Shortly after 6 tonight I took this shot and realize now that summer definitely is over...but come on, it is October 19!

Summer good-bye
Summer good-bye-
You may no longer stay
Autumn is on her way-
Summer good-bye
Summer good-bye!
-a rather mournful little ditty which I learned in Grade 1 and still sing with fervour.

On a spunkier note...just a few minutes later as I looked out the window over my kitchen sink I noticed the whispy pink clouds to the southeast. It's such a great barometer and gauges for me where the sun is sinking in the west. The setting sun is not visible from our yard. I took this at about 6:15 from our front deck: "Abend Rot gut Wetter Bot" aka "Red Sails in the Sunset". A great promise for tomorrow!

Trains, Boats and Automobiles...ala sisters...

Over the years we sisters have gotten together for weekends, day outings or just a meal...whichever seemed to work! Our last "five sister" outing happened early in March when we celebrated Hedy's birthday in Langley. At that time Erica was still with us and we treasure the memory. We didn't know at the time how sick she must have been. Today the four of us had our first all-day outing with a trip into North Vancouver to spend time with Ingrid and to celebrate her upcoming birthday and Herta's whose birthday was yesterday.

By 7:15 am Hedy and I were at the Mission Station to board the 7:27 am (which is the last run of the day) Westcoast Express to the Waterfront Station downtown Vancouver. We've done this many times before but this time without Erica.

We head for the Cappuccino bar and order coffee. Hedy has brought homemade muffins and we enjoy a beautiful ride on the comfortable train with the Fraser River on our left and later the Burrard Inlet on our right. An hour and ten minutes later we arrive at the final destination. Before heading for the Seabus, we proceeded into the main station lobby in search of Herta who had taken Skytrain in from Richmond. The train and skytrain and seabus all converge at this busy hub. Together we proceeded to the Seabus and entered with only seconds before "setting sail". Our ticket purchased in Mission for $13.25 roundtrip-marked Concession aka "Seniors" -was good for all public transportation Translink offers. A great deal.

After a short ferry ride across the inlet we arrived at Lonsdale Quay where we now searched for Ingrid. All this excitement required sustenance and so we scoped out the offerings and came away with a tantalizing array of morning rolls, coffee and a special treat of a large ripe luscious fig, purchased for each of us by Herta at one of the many colorful fruit stands right there.

After spending sufficient time debriefing and updating we decided it was time for the automobile part of our trip and so Ingrid summarily chauffered us to her beautiful home in North Vancouver. Here we inspected and ooohed and ahhed at all the lovely new renos and home improvements. Very nice.

Ingrid had set up a movie for us to watch....an old movie, as old as me...the original "Pride and Prejudice" of 1940 fame. We watched a full hour of this amid chatter and then decided to put it on "Hold" while we went for lunch. Three years ago we had done this very same trip but the movie then had been "The Student Prince"- a great favourite of ours from the 50's. At that time Erica was with us of course. So we returned to the same restaurant for Chinese Food, one of Erica's favourite food types. We enjoyed a tasty assortment of dishes along with our fortune cookies.

Back to our hostesses house for great coffee, strawberries, cheese, squares and Purdy's chocolates! Lovely, lovely. But we also sang....lots of beautiful songs from the past always missing our alto, though. Thanks Ingrid, thanks dear sisters...what a gift we have received. We are all truly grateful to our Lord and to our parents, to our family and extended families, to the schools and churches, teachers and friends who nurtured us along our journey. We are so grateful to our wonderful husbands, to our children and to our grandchildren who inspire us and bring such unbelievable joy into our hearts.

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily loads us with benefits." Psalm 68:19

ps After arriving at Waterfront Station, Hedy and I waited on the platform while most of the passengers hurried off and to work, I guess. I wanted a picture with the two of us against the lettering of the train and sure enough I saw who I thought was the engineer. He graciously consented to taking the pictures after telling us he was the "driver" of the train! Unfortunately his photographing skills don't match his driving skills because after three attempts I thanked him and assured him it was all ok and we took off with three very blurry pictures in my camera. But to further add to my disappointment was the picture the hostess took of us at the lunch place. She was most gracous and so friendly but alas, she also left us with a very blurred image. Oh well....I may have accidentally shifted something on my camera too. I'll blame it on that and try again another time.

Salmon-Pt 4

I caught you, Daniel...

Just want to keep movin' along...

We take one more long look at this phenom and head back to the van...

...after all...we're going out for donuts!

Salmon-Pt 3

So many fish...

A lot of brush and logs have washed up along the stream-

Some logs are just perfect for sitting and resting a bit...but not for long...we got to get going...

Salmon-Pt 2

Hey, how did you guys get way down there...I'm coming down...

I'm coming too...

Wow, look at that!

Vedder River on Thanksgiving Day-Pt1

We had heard that a trip down to the south end of Lickman Road near Chilliwack would result in a spectacular display of salmon at the end of their life cycle. So Jenn and her family were raring to go and we piled into the van with Carlton driving, Mommy Jenn shooting pictures like crazy* and Jared, Daniel and Gramma and Grampa in the back.

It was great. within 20 minutes or so we had reached our destination and this is what we saw:

Many people walking along the trail, even more fishers catching and releasing-

One of thousands and more-salmon finishing their 4-5 year life cycle right here along this stream where they likely hatched some years earlier. Pacific salmon like these, die once they've laid their eggs:

*All photos courtesy of Jennifer-thanks Jenn!
http://www.goldseal.ca/wildsalmon/life_cycle.asp

Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread

The classic children's book Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin prompted a colleague and me, many years ago by now, to collaborate and so got our classes involved in a baking project. We guadrupled the recipe to satisfy all the eager participants and so an annual ritual evolved for my class. The students and my colleagues all enjoyed the results. So to keep in step with the season I pulled out my well-used yellow zeroxed copy of Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread and baked a loaf for old time's sake. It was still warm when I sliced it to take this picture:

I had forgotten the authors' names so I googled the title and got not only their names but also a great synopsis of the book which is still very popular today:

Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin was published in 1971 by Parents’ Magazine Press. It is the story of a young girl named Maggie who lives with her Grandmother near a cranberry bog in New England. Each year they each invite a guest to Thanksgiving dinner which always includes Grandmother’s famous cranberry bread made with a very secret recipe.

Grandmother invites the dashing Mr. Horace while Maggie invites Mr. Whiskers. Grandmother cannot stand Mr. Whiskers and is sure he is out to steal her recipe. The story takes some interesting twists and ends up demonstrating that looks can be deceiving.

Cranberry Thanksgiving is a colorful book with fun illustrations and interesting characters. Perhaps most fun is the inclusion of Grandmother’s Famous Cranberry Bread recipe at the end of the book. Making this recipe each year for Thanksgiving often becomes a beloved tradition for those who meet Maggie, Grandmother, Mr. Horace and Mr. Whiskers.

Recipe
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
1 1/2 cups light raisins

Mix the dry ingredients.
Add butter and blend as for pie pastry.

.chop cranberries in food processer
.add orange peel and juice
.add egg
whirl to blend
Add wet mixture to flour mixture and stir until blended adding the raisins.

Spoon into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

Bake at 350o for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

If you choose, you may substitute cranberries for the raisins to have an all cranberry bread (that is what I did). Also a great extra is to sprinkle sugar on top of the loaf before baking. This adds a shiny, crusty surface to this loaf.

Thanksgiving

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving... Psalm 95:1-2a

A kaleidoscope of colors - what a feast for the eyes! At this time of the year I like to take a trip out to Whisbey farms near Yarrow. The large orange barn near the freeway signals the turnoff. Here you can find bins of freshly grown local cabbages, beets, carrots, potatoes, squash of every shape and variety and fields of pumpkins. The huge cabbages sell for $1.29 -up from $1.00 a few years ago and are perfect for cabbage rolls and borscht. When I cut in to a super large one yesterday the ripping sound was just as I remembered it from years gone by in my Mother's house. But the gourds and squash really caught my eye for all the color. Here the larger orange one was simply called a gourd, there is a butternut, a couple of acorn squash, turban squash in the forefront,the spaghetti squash I had already started so it didn't make it into the display. I purchased four small cooking pumpkins, one of which was already in the oven when I set this up. We love pumpkin pie and pumpkin pudding. I took so many shots and had great difficulty deciding which, if any, was better than the other. Finally I decided I would take Blogger up on the offer and collaged them like this-

Willms' Deluxe Raisin Squares - gluten-free

 

Since Al has become increasingly more sensitive to gluten and dairy products, along with a number of other foods, I've been trying to figure out how to use my regular recipes to meet his dietary restrictions. I was surprised and hopeful when he said we should try to make a raisin pie with a ground almond crust. Now raisin pie is his very favorite treat which he hasn't enjoyed for a very long time. So there I was remembering walnut slices of times past and my Raisin Tarts recipe (I always use the recipe from an old Five Roses cookbook). Mulling through these I got Al busy grinding two coffee grinders full of slivered almonds. He measured and soaked the raisins and found our 9x9 square pan. We were set.
Crust:
Blend together
1 3/4 cups ground almonds
1/4 cup celimix flour
1/3 cup softened butter

Press into a 9x9 pan and bake at 350o for 10 minutes.

Filling:
Mix together
.2 eggs
.1 1/2 brown sugar
.1/4 cup melted butter
.pinch of salt
.4 tablespoons Almond Breeze (milk substitute)
.1 teaspoon vanilla
.1 1/2 cups raisins
.1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Spread over hot crust and return to oven for 20-25 minutes or until filling is set.

 

We only cooled it for a few minutes before we just had to see what it was like. It was delicious! By now it has set nicely and cuts into perfect squares. I had mine with just a bit of ice cream. Very tasty-rich, buttery and sweet!