Now, that is truly an ambiguous statement, but it is also true. When I got ready to come home from home from Devine on Thursday morning, it was 27ºF outside. By 3:00 p.m., the outdoor temperature was 73ºF, and it was pleasant but you still needed a sweater because of the wind. We’ve had great weather all week, and except for the wind, even with the temperatures hovering in the 70s, there was a chill.
When my daughters were living in Denton, TX, on a couple of the occasions that I visited them, it would be windy and dusty. Someone told me at that time that you could tell the direction of the wind from the color of the dust. If it was a sandy, gray type of dust, it was from the west Texas cotton fields and if it was a red dust, it was coming from across the Red River and Oklahoma! At that point in time, my car was completely covered in very fine, powdery red dust. With another three weeks (officially) of winter to go, we still have the chance of more cold weather. The first day of spring is not until the 21st of March, and I have seen it freeze well into March. I’ll believe spring is here when I see the first Scissor tail Fly Catcher. That is what Mr. Alfred Brieden told me was the real harbinger of spring! My elm and ash trees are leafing out, but the pecan tree isn’t, and I noticed in the local pecan orchard, that their trees weren’t leafing out yet either.
My trip this month was a rather quick one, as I found out just before I left home that the mother-in-law of my niece had passed away. Her services were Thursday evening and Friday morning, so I headed home a little after 8:00 Thursday morning. The traffic was rather heavy almost the whole trip home.
Today is Sunday, and after Mass, we had breakfast afterwards, and it was delicious as it always is. Different parish members volunteer to make and serve the food, and today we had a couple of the baked egg/bacon/cheese, etc., casseroles, homemade cinnamon rolls, homemade sausage kolaches, doughnuts (kids favorite), and lots of fresh fruit, orange juice, chocolate milk and coffee. Now, for the next 1/3 of the day, I will attend a meeting in Hallettsville of a church group, called by it’s initials KJZT, and when I get home from that, there is a Hermann Sons meeting this evening! The first week of the month is always one that has more than it’s share of activities, as there are meetings daily through Wednesday. After that, my weekend is free…at least at this time.
When is the last time, or have you ever baked a cake from ‘scratch’? When I was growing up, cake mixes didn’t exist. All cakes were baked from ‘scratch’, meaning that you got out a mixing bowl, a big spoon to mix the cake batter with and your ingredients. Until after the years following WWII many homes did not yet have a mixer, and everything that needed mixing was done with a spoon! Times have changed, haven’t they, and aren’t we glad they have? The first cake mixes came out in 1947, after the war years, and bearing the Betty Crocker label.
Ac from scratch is not hard to make. It just takes a little longer than a box mix. My two favorite recipes for yellow cake (which means you used whole eggs to make it, rather than just the whites of the eggs) were from my mid-1950s Betty Crocker Cookbook. These were two cakes that Mother had also used frequently. Also, there were a couple of good chocolate cakes that I frequently used. This cookbook gave two methods of mixing, the older, “cream together…” type and the newer, “mix together…” type. Both made wonderful cakes. Each page also has several variations of each cake, using the main, or “key” recipe and then adding nuts or fruit to the batter. Both of the following recipes are from this Betty Crocker Cookbook. I have used the first one many, many times for birthday cakes and they never last long!
Light Golden Cake
2¼ cups, sifted Softasilk cake flour (or 2 1/8 cups sifted Gold Medal flour)
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1½ teaspoons flavoring
2 eggs
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch round or square cake pans or a 9X13 pan; set aside. Sift the dry ingredients together, stir the flavoring (I usually use vanilla extract) into the milk, add the shortening to the dry ingredients, along with a little over half of the milk/vanilla mixture; beat 2 minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and the 2 eggs. Beat 2 minutes longer. Pour into prepared pans; bake until cake tests done. Frost as desired.
Rich Golden Cake
2¼ cups sifted Softasilk cake flour or 2 1/8 cups sifted Gold Medal flour
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup soft shortening
1 cup milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and flour two 9-inch round or square pans, or one 9X13 pan. Stir together milk and vanilla, set aside. Sift together the dry ingredients; add shortening and a little over half of the milk and vanilla beat 2 minutes. Add remaining milk and the eggs; beat 2 minutes longer. Pour into prepared pans; bake until cake tests done. Frost as desired.
Easy German Chocolate Cake
1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
3 eggs
1 cup water (scant)
1 carton sour cream (8-oz)
1 can coconut pecan frosting
Mix together, cake mix, eggs and water. Stir in sour cream. Pour into microwave-safe tube pan and drop frosting by spoonfuls into the batter. Bake on HIGH for 9 minutes, then rotate pan one-quarter turn (unless you have a turntable in the microwave), and bake an additional 6 minutes. Cool about 3 to 5 minutes and turn out onto serving plate.