faith in action with a little apple cake on the side

So a few Sundays ago, I had the amazing privilege of cooking with a delightful group of gals as part of our church’s Faith in Action project.  It was a huge blessing to get to serve by doing something that I enjoy so much.  We put together two dinners for single moms to have in their freezers. Chicken Pot Pie and Chili, plus some cookie dough to have chocolate chip cookies hot from the oven in a flash.

We chopped most of the vegetables for the chicken pot pies, including many bags of onions, which brought everyone to tears.  The process of taking raw, fresh ingredients to something wonderfully yummy and beautiful was a new experience for some involved, which is so fun for me.  As I have processed the day with friends, I have come to realize that this is definitely something I would like to do again.

Some of the gals took and delivered their meals themselves and I have loved hearing the stories of how all the meals were received and put to good use.  The whole day is already a treasured memory in my heart.  Sometime soon I hope to find and type out Ben’s precious memories that he wrote for school about his day of putting his faith into action.

Since we needed something to munch on while we were cooking all day, I had an apple walnut cake ready for snacking.  I am so in love with eating apples right now.  The honey crisps make me swoon!  Granny Smiths in the skillet with a little butter and brown sugar make my oatmeal taste like pie.  Speaking of which, I’ve made apple pie already and it’s not even the holidays yet.

I’ve had several requests for the apple walnut cake recipe so here it is.  It is from an old standby cookbook that my sister and I discovered together when we were first married.  Some women on the North Shore of Chicago put it together as a companion to the Ravinia Festival, which is an outdoor concert series that is meant to be attended with a picnic in tow.  Lots of the recipes from the Noteworthy cookbook are meant to be a part of your summer picnic, but this cake would be great for your autumn outings!

Apple Walnut Cake

1  2/3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1  1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4 cups chopped apples

1 cups chopped walnuts

In large bowl beat sugar and eggs. Add oil and vanilla.  Mix well. In medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.  Add to sugar mixture.  Blend well. Stir in apples and nuts.  Pour into greased 9 X 13 baking dish.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 55 minutes.

Optional:  Top with cream cheese frosting.  (I skip this when I am serving this as a breakfast dish.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Cream cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar until mixture reaches spreading consistency.

wanna walk around the lake?

I love to get outside in the spring.  In fact, I always feel a little sad about leaving Arkansas for spring break because the weather is turning so lovely and the wisteria usually comes out while I am gone.  Frequently in the spring and fall, we go for family walks around our local lake.  Incidentally I wish I could pull an Anne Shirley and rename this lake because it is referred to in our town as Lake Number 3 or simply as the swimming lake, but no one ever swims in it except for once a year during the Polar Bear Plunge.  Neither of those names have any charm, but I guess it doesn’t matter since people always know what you’re talking about when you say, Do you want to go walk around the lake? I’ve been walking around it for as long as I can remember.  I even ran around it for a very short spurt of time in high school.  I didn’t make it for very long as a runner though.  It is only about a mile around the lake and Simon has almost reached the age that the other kids were when they started walking around it.  He only has a few more days in the stroller.  Or the backpack.

We went for a walk yesterday after dinner, and it was the first moment I was thankful for the daylight savings curse of last week that robbed us of five otherwise potentially happy mornings.  It was calm and quiet at the lake, and the whines of children being made to load up for a walk disappeared as the big kids remembered how actually they really like to walk around this lake.

To find a goose egg.
To race to the bend.
To smell spring.
Wet and muddy.
What’s that smell?
Someone said as we walked.
It’s the way it always smells in the spring.
Someone answers.
Damp, but clean.

We picked up a couple of cousins on a detour from the normal route.
Thanks for all that exercising!
One of them said when we dropped him off post walk.

It’s good to stretch our legs.

I think mine are finally waking up from their long winter’s sleep.

*A special thanks to bloggers from the north who encourage me to get outside in my mildest of winters by braving walks in the snow and ice.

long shadows

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote the introduction to Daisy Bates’ memoir about the Little Rock Nine, which was first published in 1962.  In it, she boldly states,

Every American should read this book.

I could not agree more.  In fact, I think it is true of both of these books.

And of Arkansans it is doubly true.

And if you are an Arkansan living in Little Rock, well…maybe reading these stories will bring healing.

Healing that clearly has not truly occurred since 1957 as was made evident in the brutally honest look at what public school in greater Little Rock is like 50 years following this harrowing year of integration.  Still. Very. Segregated.

I find that the only words I am left with after a day of reading (plus sneezing and coughing) are…

Come, Lord Jesus.

4th grade history

Last Friday I accompanied the fourth graders at Pike View on a field trip that included stops at Little Rock Central High School, the Old State House and the Arkansas State Capitol.  The trip came on the heels of units for Black History month and a social studies unit on the federal, state and local governments.  Honestly, the fourth graders were more prepared than I was.  They were all very familiar with the story of the Little Rock Nine, which maybe explains why I was the only one crying at the Central High Museum while the ranger (it’s a national park site!) was telling the story.

Of course, I know who the Little Rock Nine are, but I hadn’t really heard the extended version of the story.  Top four things I didn’t know:

• You always see these pictures of this one poor girl all alone being followed by the mob and sitting alone at the bus stop.  Elizabeth Eckford faced the mob alone instead of with the other eight students because she did not have a phone, and so she wasn’t notified at 2am the night before that because of the growing fear of violence they would meet and walk together to school.  The school board had asked that the parents not accompany the students so that the students would be easier to protect, but there was no protection for Elizabeth when she stepped off the city bus and was the first of the nine to arrive.  Alone.
• The abuse of the Little Rock Nine continued all year long.  Every day.  Physical.  Psychological.  Even though the mobs dispersed eventually after the arrival of army troops, the presence of hate remained for a long time.
• Only one of the nine was a senior, and when he graduated the following spring, Martin Luther King Jr. was in attendance.  Still, the audience held their applause as Ernest Green walked to receive his diploma after having clapped for everyone else.
• Governor Faubus closed all the Little Rock high schools for the following school year as an attempt to stop integration.  He passed an “emergency” law stating that the governor could close a school that was being forced to integrate. Closed.  No school at all.

I have always thought about the events of September in 1957 as being an event.  A single moment in history.  So I have been so flabbergasted to discover that the journeys of these brave nine were so long and hard.  Flabbergasted and very, very sad.  I am anxious to go back to this museum and take the boys.  So they can walk up the steps to the school and I can ask them, like Mary Polly’s teacher asked her class, to imagine what it would have been like to be one of those students.

So they can sit on one of the nine benches out front that bear the names of these brave souls.

And so they can see this amazing painting in person that was done by George Hunt for the 40th anniversary of the event.

After our time at Central, we were off to the Old State House, a building I have not been in since I was in grade school myself.  We had a wonderful tour guide and even saw a re-enactment of the speech that was given by Isaac Murphy in 1861, as he cast the only vote in the Arkansas Secession Convention against the succession of Arkansas from the Union.

We also learned that this first capitol building of Arkansas was built mostly by slaves, many of whom died from malaria during construction.

Next we were off to the present Capitol, which is all in bloom.

We enjoyed our tour guide there as well.  She was very impressed with how much the fourth graders knew about government.  Yea Pike View teachers!

But I most appreciated seeing the Memorial for the Little Rock Nine outside.  Walking among these statues seemed a very fitting way to end our day that had begun with their journey.

why i live in arkansas…

The trees do this in February.

sourire

In spite of being on the couch for three days with an exploding head cold,

I have been collecting things in my heart that are making me smile.

Here they are.

My front yard is almost entirely dirt and weeds, the result of children playing football and having lightsaber wars, but I have a few flower beds that are sadly neglected except for the fact that as a gift to myself a couple of years ago, I planted hundreds of bulbs in them, hearty bulbs that come up through the weeds.

It feels like they are coming back to life just for me.

When these tulips bloom again, they will remind me of so many dear friends.

Friends who live as far away as Oregon and Turkey who shared trips to Tulip Festival in Skagit County with me.  Friends who love tulips as much as me.  Friends who helped make sweet babies-in-the-tulips pictures happen two years ago.

Spring flowers remind me that winter is giving up her fight here in Arkansas, but they also represent so much more.  And the older I get, the more they make me smile.

My friend Jerusalem introduced me to this series of books that perfectly accompany the liturgical year.  This one is full of sweet stories that point to the rich moments of the Easter season, which officially begins today.

I’ve been rereading this book as a prelude to Ash Wednesday and because it is going to be our Boxed Lunch Book Club selection for March.  Order a copy yourself and please join us for lunch and discussion on March 19th.

I promise that these sweet stories will make you smile.

salad season

this is a reminder to go to your local farmers’ market tomorrow.  we now have markets north and south of the river, which makes for a full and glorious saturday morning of marketing.  i brought home four different kinds of lettuce and greens last saturday, giving simple salads at our house new complexity and depth all week long.  one day i would love to grow my own lettuces, but for now, thank goodness for sorrell, arugula, spinach and watercress at the farmers’ market!

cobb salad

3/4 pound thick-sliced bacon, cut into 2-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 medium clove garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 small head romaine, washed, spun dry, and torn into bite-size pieces (about 5 cups)

1 medium bunch watercress, leaves and 1-inch stem, washed and spun dry

1 pound roasted turkey breast, sliced 1/4-inch thick

1/4 pound Maytag blue cheese, roughly crumbled

2 large hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced

1 medium tomato, cut into 1/4-inch wedges

8 ounces cherry tomatoes, sliced

1 medium Haas avocado, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch wedges

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped tarragon

1/2 teaspoon finely chopped chervil

1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley

1. In a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp,

about 15 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and vinegar. In a slow, steady stream, whisk in oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Arrange the romaine and watercress on a large serving platter. Arrange the turkey, blue cheese, eggs, tomatoes, avocado, and bacon in sections on top of the greens. Sprinkle with chopped herbs. Pour dressing over salad. Serve immediately.

the clubhouse

oh the camping trip stories to be told.

soon after our arrival at longpool campground, the girls we had in tow discovered a spot to which they referred as their “clubhouse” for the entirety of our camping holiday. countless trips were made to and from the clubhouse in order to drag various necessary items to this secret place. hours were spent there. plates of food were precariously carried to the clubhouse for mealtimes. many fistfuls of goldfish crackers went to feed the fish in the big piney creek. boys invaded on several occasions in order to steal the tot spots for the making of their own clubhouse, an effort that was soon given up because, let’s face it…boys just can’t nest as well as girls can. and besides, the girls were happy to invite anyone into their clubhouse. in fact, no other camper was permitted to miss out on a trip to the clubhouse to see the wonders that were there. have you seen our clubhouse yet? have you been to our clubhouse? they would even tell you the password, which had to be changed frequently for security reasons.

friday night, kindell told the other girls to wake up really early the next morning so that they would have as much time as possible to play in the clubhouse before we had to go. the sighs and laments upon driving away from longpool on saturday were all for the clubhouse. talk of one day returning to the clubhouse abounded. mary polly was even in favor of leaving a sign for future campers saying, “up here is a very wonderful place for a clubhouse.“

if you are thinking that in this picture, the aforementioned “clubhouse” really appears to be a narrow ledge of rock dangling over the murky waters, well then you would have a perfect grasp of what the clubhouse truly was. it may not have been roomy, but the view made up for it in spades.

long faces leaving long pool

the chino house is feeling oddly roomy tonight. for about a week (except for three glorious days of fall camping), our house of six has been housing eleven. we had five kids bunking in one room, the other two rooms holding two adults and one baby each. after the camping trip vomited on the house saturday afternoon, you pretty much couldn’t see a square inch of floor or counter anywhere. craziness.

we played, we baked about one million cupcakes, we cooked all kinds of food, we ate, we trunk or treated. the kids had more fun than could really possibly be good for them. there was even a touchdown miracle in the midst of our visit with the carrs. somewhere in the middle of it all, i had to let go of how much schoolwork cole completed. and cole had to let go of…well, controlling the world.

thursday morning we left for camping at longpool which is just one of the most beautiful spots i know of. this morning at yoga i held the image of these perfectly placed rocks in my heart. thank you God for such wonder. to sit in a camp chair. soak up fall color. listen to children squeal.

some even jumped in. they just couldn’t resist.

yummy to my tummy

soooo…the soup weather is finally here. and with a vengeance. i planned out all my meals for the next week or so this morning (wearing my fleece…INSIDE my house…) and there are no less than four soups coming to chino house in the next 10 days or so. some are repeats…autumn harvest is definitely coming back…i bought celery root at whole foods in chicago, since no one in little rock carries it. and some are new…lentil sausage from barefoot in paris. i’ll post recipes if they are yummy.

speaking of soup, today i had this divine soup for lunch from boulevard. if you have not had lunch yet today OR if you need a dinner plan, get thee down to boulevard immediately and get their soup with sauteed spinach…get a whole quart and a loaf of bread to sop it up, you will NOT be sorry. it looks and sounds strange but it is delectable, i tell you. olive oil. parmesan. lemony. garlicky. yummy. oh my goodness. only boulevard can make soup this good. i will be licking my lips for the rest of the day.