Started thinking about 4th of July and summer when I was a kid. I think when I was really young...kindergarten age...that we had boiled hot dogs for dinner, probably with buns and ketchup, mustard and pickle relish. For veggies we most likely had carrot and celery sticks crisped in a glass of ice water and, if we were lucky, Mom made potato salad. Iced tea would have been in our cups. Fresh, ripe peaches, maybe with some sugar cookies, would have been a likely dessert. When we were a little older I remember one 4th of July when Dad purchased some fire works. My brother would have been 7 or 8 and my sister a year younger. I would have been 5 or 6 and the next two down about 2 and 3 so they mostly watched the fun.

Before it was dark Dad nailed a pinwheel firework up on one of the maple trees. We were given these little boxes of snakes...a kind of firework I guess. We made sure we were on the sidewalk and my brother lit a match and held it to the side of this little black pellet. As the fire took hold, a snake shaped gray ash emerged from the pellet. Sometimes it would even wrap around the matchstick and carry it along as the ash snake grew longer and longer until the pellet was used up. I was really fascinated with those snakes.

As the evening grew darker we began seeing the fireflies glowing on and off, on and off as they flew around. When it was dark enough, but not full dark, Dad had each of us hold the end of a sparkler. It was a long wire with some chemicals fused to the top third or so. We would hold it over the flame as Dad also kept it steady until it began to throw off bright white sparkles of fire. We made sure to keep the burning tip away from others and mostly drew circles with it as the sparkles made their way down the wire. When it burned out, we thrust the hot end into the bucket of sand Dad had at his feet.

The last and most exciting part was when Dad lit the fuses for the pinwheel and it spun around shooting out white and red and blue sparks as it turned. Once that was finished he lit the top of each fountain fire work. The sparks shot straight up toward the tree tops, spread a bit like a fountain at the top.

By that time we were pretty tired and ready to get ready for bed. As we grew up I think that we sometimes had a game of kick the can in the dark back yard, with the fireflies keeping up their random glowing.

Real Pound Cake

For the 4th of July weekend we joined some family in the lovely town of Healdsburg on the Russian River. It gave us an opportunity to visit with family from the L.A. area and to meet the newest member of the family. I was asked to bring dessert (what a surprise). I knew it might be hot since we had 5 or 6 straight days of very hot weather, which is unusual for us. I decided that cold seasonal fruit, real pound cake and some whipped cream would be just the thing.

For the fruit I brought a mixture of ripe and juicy white peaches, cool fresh blueberries, and tangy sweet red raspberries. It fit the 4th of July theme and that combination tastes great together, too.

For the pound cake I use a recipe from a cookbook I've had around for ages, Jim Fobel's Old Fashioned Baking Book. The recipes are classics. This one is for Aunt Irma's Pound Cake. It makes one loaf and used two sticks of butter and 5 eggs, so you know it will have richness. There are two teaspoons of vanilla, so you know it will be flavorful. It is as fine crumbed as your Sara Lee pound cake, but less dry and much tastier. It really goes together quickly, but it takes over an hour in the oven to bake, so plan ahead. It made the perfect base for s few scoops of the fruit and a squirt of whipped cream. I tried a slice yesterday lightly toasted and that was good, too. The one photo I was able to take at the party is not very good, but it's all gone now, so it will have to do.

Sweetie and I are currently hard at work and sort of in the middle of a home project. I find that I have very little time or energy to bake or blog (or even to cook much). That means that this blog is going to have few posts this month. Do check in around the 16th/17th because I should have one about then.

In the meantime, I leave you, dear reader, with the knowledge that there are indeed hundreds of recipes posted in the past.

The two that are most requested seem to be Lemon Chicken for a Crowd and an oldie-but-goodie, Spinach Rice Casserole from the Moosewood Cookbook series. I find myself looking up Creamy Coleslaw Dressing and Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies most often. There are recipes for Appetizers, Beverages, a whole bunch of bread, cake, cookie, and pie recipes, some dinner ones like Sweetie's favorite Guinness Beef and Mushroom Pie, plus the most requested seasonal recipe, How to Color Easter Eggs. There are great ones for pasta, veggies, and soup. I bet you find a few that will become your favorites.

So while I'm hard at work, you can wander around my recipe listing...with lots of scrolling down. Just click on the rust colored tablecloth photo with place setting. On a tablet or smart phone you may need to scroll to the bottom of my posts and hit View Web Version or something like that to allow the recipe link to show up. Have fun! Try something new to you...and let me know how you liked it, O.K.?

So here is the Pound Cake recipe to start with:

Aunt Irma's Pound Cake
Jim Fobel's Old Fashioned Baking Book
Makes one loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt over a sheet of waxed paper or into a large bowl.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter until fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar until blended. One at a time, beat in the eggs. Scrape bowl and beater often. Once the eggs are blended in, add the vanilla and beat until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat just until smooth.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top peaks and turns golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes (although it could be sooner, so check cake at about one hour...and turn pan in oven if needed for even browning.) When cake is done the top will spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.

Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan and place upright on the rack and cool thoroughly. Slice and serve.