Old Cake Recipe

Baked Meringue Spice Cake

Last month I made this cake to celebrate my mother in law's birthday.

The recipe came from an old cake recipe book published in 1950 that my mother in law gave to me many years ago.

I didn't have cake flour.  I used unbleached flour from King Arthur's and it tends to be dry so I had to use more liquid.  I knew that one egg white wouldn't be enough to cover the cake so used two.

It turned out to be nice and light and super tasty.

A real hit with everyone.

Another Book to Read

I should live up to my blog title on at least one of the categories there.  Sorry it can't be birds or blooms but it can be books.  I try to keep a list in sidebar of the books I've read, which reminds me I need to update it after posting this.

Just finished this book.

Found it in the Free Little Library in the park near here.  I knew I'd read it before but didn't remember much of the story other than I knew it was a good one.  

And it was as good the second time especially since I had mostly forgotten the story.

Here's the blurb from the back:

"A.J. Fikry's life is not all what he expected it to be.  He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen.  But when a mysterious package appears at the bookstore, its unexpected arrival gives Fikry the chance to make his life over--and see everything anew."

If you are a book lover you'll like this book.  It's quite a believable story about the human condition and twists of fate.

What are you reading?

My next book to read is for my book club "Mama's Boy: A Memoir".  This is a book club made up of  now retired teachers.  I've been a part maybe 15 years!  Wow, but its beginning predates that.

The book group I was instrumental in starting here at Vantage House will read for April 9th meeting "The Ninth Hour". I've read that recently for my other book club.  I must go to the library today to pick up all the copies set aside for us and distribute them.

Idiocy Revealed

One of the blogs I read October Farm had this poster on her blog this morning.  You can read the whole blog post here.

I read it to my husband asking "Is this a real survey?"  He said yes so I went to CNN's site and searched Corona Beer and found the article.  In it it described the survey.  Now the survey was of 700+ beer drinkers, but yes 38% of them said that.

Here's the quote from the article.

5W Public Relations said that 38% of Americans wouldn't buy Corona "under any circumstances" because of the outbreak, and another 14% said they wouldn't order a Corona in public. The survey encompasses polling from 737 beer drinkers in the United States.

Are there really Americans who are that dumb? 

Now conflating these poor idiot beer drinkers with the supporters of Trump, there may be something to that.  I'll let you decide.  You know my opinion of that man.

Let me share one other poster from that same blog that has some good advice.

Book Recommendation

I found this book on the new book shelf in the library on the first floor here where I live.  

Here's the blurb on the back which convinced me to read it.

It's been a very long time since I've read a book that moved me to tears.  This one did.  I had to pause for a day before reading the last part. I was incredibly moved by this story.  If you find a copy, I hope you'll tell me how you liked it and if you were moved by it.

In other matters the book discussion group here has become very large - over 20 mostly women attendees. With the size of the group the titles selected to read were limited by how many were available including large print.  Many months I'd pass on reading the book selected because it was not to my taste in books.  The leader of the group has become terminally ill and has stepped down.  It seemed the best time to divide the group so yesterday I spoke up.  I may have ruffled some feathers but the spin off group met today and named themselves as the 1st Tuesday Book Group.  We chose a book for April, contacted the library to set ourselves up and have a list of books for the next 7 months.  We made a great start. Now both groups will be a manageable size.

I know I'm a good organizer but I've got a lot on my plate already: vice chair of church board, chair of ad hoc committee at church to redo website, chair of 50th birthday planning committee for church, organizer for another book club, and tomorrow testifying at a zoning hearing.  Oh, I forgot I'm editor of our retirement community newsletter and next issue is April.

Is this retirement?