Derailed

So, our plans to drive to the wine country near Palisade CO for the week were derailed by the two dreaded S's, Sickness and Snow. R got sick, and big spring snowstorms were forecast for most of the state. Luckily all we had were hotel reservations, and those were easily canceled. It's surprising how much fun it is to just stay home and enjoy each others' company with no school or work. The best part has definitely been waking up every morning to find D home with us all day. We're working in the yard and on the house. We even took the money we had saved for two nights at a hotel, and bought a cherry tree.

That was our big trip for the year, and I'm sure we will get restless later. But the only loss I can see right now is all the hours of online planning it took to scrounge a week's vacation on a shoestring. We came up with some economical coups, that's for sure. I'm kind of sorry we didn't get a chance to use them. And someday I would love to go to Palisade.

Since I did take a vacation from the computer, I will make this one long post but try to date these in order.

Tuesday, March 24

We took the train downtown to the Denver Art Museum and the main library. Back home that afternoon, I couldn't find R anywhere, and then I heard her reading outside.

I asked her why she was sitting with her back to the house and she told me she was reading to the dogs next door. The black dog ignores her, but the white dog was sitting attentively with his ears up.

I got my own book from the library, Sensational Cakes by Sylvia Weinstock. I'm not much of a cake baker, but I like to look at books about decorating them. It had a recipe for Classic Yellow Cake that said "The name says it all. This is the only yellow cake recipe you will ever need. Everybody loves this buttery cake."

I was so curious that I made it that afternoon. I have to say, it's easily the best tasting cake I have ever made. D agreed. You can see how the recipe would be good for a wedding cake because it's so perfectly moist and rich. The frosting I made (not from the book) was terrible, but it didn't matter. I put some crocus blossoms on top. Spring crocus is non-toxic, unlike fall crocus, so they're ok for decorations but I took them off before serving the cake.

It was a big hit.

Here is the recipe:

Sylvia Weinstock's Classic Yellow Cake
* 2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ginger
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 4 large egg yolks
* 1 cup milk
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup sour cream
* 4 large egg whites

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8 x 3-inch round baking pans or one 12 x 3-inch round or square pan and line them with parchment.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until fluffy and light in color, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add the sugar and continue to mix until fluffy and light.

4. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, being sure each is blended before adding the next. Add the milk and vanilla.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. Be sure the mixture is completely blended after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat for 1 minute.

6. In a separate bowl, using a clean whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form.

7. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the batter with a rubber spatula.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place the pans in the center of the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the sides of the cake pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The top of the cake should be nicely browned.

I think this will be our family cake from now on, whenever I don't have time to make my mom and grandma's Icebox Cake. I did adjust it for high altitude: reduce baking powder to 1 3/4 tsp; reduce sugar by 2 T; add 2 T milk; increase oven temp to 375. It baked more quickly than the time given above, so watch it carefully.

Wednesday, March 25


R made some labels for the flats of seedlings we're going to start indoors.

First daffodil and crocus. A lot of snow is coming, but I think they like that.

Thursday, March 26

And by 8 a.m., here came the snow. Now that was fun, a blizzard with everyone safely at home, the house stocked with groceries and firewood, nowhere to go and nothing to do but watch the storm. R played outside for a little while, but she came in when the winds picked up and the snow started blowing sideways. We knew we had made the right decision about our vacation when we saw the news and the multi-car pileups on the mountain highways. At 2 p.m., they shut down the city of Denver for all but emergency services.

Sideways snow.

Boots, toes and sock monkeys

Window art

Pot roast and apple tarte tatin is a good dinner for a snowy night. The beautiful concentric circles of apples and caramel stuck to the pan and it had to be dug out and reassembled. It tasted fine.

Cream to pour over it is in my grandma's flowered china creamer that is always on our kitchen windowsill.

For the first time since Christmas, it was cold enough for a fire. We put the two tables together for R's cookie decorating party at Christmas, and I have just left the extra one up because it comes in so handy for projects. They're covered with the white table pad right now. It doesn't look very good, but it wipes clean and protects the table from glue sticks and potting soil.

Blue light outside. Unretouched, this is how it photographed at dusk. The picture on the door is R's "stained glass" project from the Denver art museum on Wednesday. It was such a good idea, tissue paper cut out and glued to a piece of wax paper and then framed in cardboard. They look pretty with window light shining through.

Roasting marshmallows.

We found this little rocker by the curb when R was a baby and she still sits in it every day.

Friday, March 27


Lots of snow by the morning. This is 7:30 a.m.

Daddy's gloves

Front of the house

Back yard junipers. By 10, the sky was blue again.

Kitchen window. Ranunculus, geranium and primroses from the nursery where we got the cherry tree. I traded one restaurant meal from our phantom vacation for them.

All week we've been adding more flats of seedlings to the guest bedroom. It gets a lot of sun all day so I thought it would be a better setup than the basement, in case the lights don't cover all the flats. Which they don't. We bought three more $9 shop lights from Home Depot today and that should help. If we have guests between now and May, maybe they will appreciate the highly oxygenated air.

Tonight was mom's night off for dinner. They collaborated and came up with this. They cooked and served and cleaned up. Everything was delicious.

Last lunch before Spring Break

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If Tim Burton ever did a St. Patrick's Day movie . . .



Hat from the grocery store, shamrock from our lovely neighbor Mrs. Tatum. She taped it to a card for R.


Smiling at Dad.



I taught her to say, "I got this scar from the English soldiers." Actually, it was from Uncle Kevin's cat on Sunday.





I told them to say, "Woman, where's my Guinness," but only one of them did.



Irish girl in the grass.

March 16

Freezing the little bagel sandwich was probably a bad idea. Even sprinkled with lemon juice, the avocado will be brown by the time she eats it. The lemon squares are great. I made them yesterday with a whole wheat pastry flour walnut crust, fresh lemon juice and zest & agave & eggs for the filling.

March 12

March 11

Surprise Snow

It was only supposed to snow in the mountains last night. So we were almost late for school because I hadn't put the car in the garage and had to make time to scrape it off and warm it up and drive slowly on the icy roads. I barely had time to take a lunch picture.



What I love about these new long days with R in school full time is the peace of the house when I get back home. I know she is happy where she is, and is learning a lot of things I couldn't teach her. And for me there are uninterrupted thoughts, long stretches of time I haven't had since she was born. It's often too quiet and I'm lonesome for her. As kids go, she is a pretty easy and delightful one. She is good company, which means I miss her when she's gone. I'm always excited to see her again at 3:00. Maybe it's because this house is still so new to us--and we can't believe our good fortune to have landed here--but coming in from snowy roads to the warmth and the clear light with a blank canvas for my day, is a deep happiness.


I love the sunny front window and the curtains.


Swiss chard, parsley and mesclun saved from the garden last summer.


Arugula sprouts. I need to thin them faster. I planted the seeds too densely and I've been thinning them and sprinkling them on dinner for a few nights now. The stick is some Thai basil that seems to go dormant and then sprout new leaves from the stick, although it's been so long now since there have been any new leaves I should probably just pull it out.


Last night it was lemon chicken and green and yellow wax beans on quinoa pasta. I found these English ironware plates at the thrift store on Sunday. I need to stop collecting white plates, but I love these.


Kid-free days mean there is even time to make dessert. I like the way these turned out, whole grain lemon bundt cakes with berries and agave for the sweetener. R's plate in the back is white Provencal earthenware I found at the thrift store last month.



One final house picture from this morning to end this too-long post. It took D. a week of evenings to get these in, but we finally have doorknobs in the two front closets. The previous owners who lost the house to the bank took everything with them that wasn't nailed down, including light fixtures and doorknobs, and we are slowly replacing it all. These doorknobs are from Anthropologie, painted with junco birds. They make me so happy. D. had to take the doors down and build up the knob area with wood and plaster and sand them back down to get the knobs to install the right way. It's such a cheerful thing to see when you first walk in the house.