Category Archives: To Be Happy

Simply Put: Best Pound Cake

October 28, 2011 By in To Bake, To Be Happy, To Celebrate, To Create Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

I miss my friend Rebecca, and all of my friends and family that are far away.  But baking is one way to bring them closer.  When I make my mother’s banana bread, I think of my mother. And awhile back Rebecca shared with me her wonderful, rich cream cheese pound cake.  It has now become a family favorite. I think of her every time I make it.  It is really delicious — a perfect birthday cake, afternoon tea cake, holiday cake, or cake just for no reason.

Enjoy! (Thank you Rebecca)

Rich Cream Cheese Pound Cake

3⁄4 cup butter (at room temperature)

6 ounces cream cheese (at room temperature)

1 1⁄2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla 4 eggs (at room temperature)

1 3⁄4 cups flour

1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

Powdered Sugar (optional, to sprinkle on top if you want to)

 Pre-heat oven -325

 Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy

 Gradually add sugar, beating on medium speed for 4-5 minutes

 Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition

 In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt

 Gradually add flour mixture to cream cheese mixture – beat at low just until blended

 Pour batter into greased 10” Bundt pan and bake for 55 minutes (actually, I often use a loaf pan — that works too)

 Cool 10 minutes in pan

 Remove from pan and cool on rack

 Sprinkle powdered sugar on top

Serves 10-12 people

Christmas Dinner is Finished (Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)

December 27, 2010 By in To Be Happy, To Be Thankful, To Celebrate 6 Comments

It was wonderful to gather with friends and family for Christmas dinner — here are some some pictures of our festive table — decorated with handmade placemats in bright patterns, candles of all shapes and sizes, shells and crystals, and gingerbread houses, homemade lanterns (jars plus colored tissue paper plus glue), figures from our nativity scene, charming ceramic salt and pepper shakers, citrus fruit, and anything else we could find around the house that looked pretty!  We had a lot of fun decorating the table.

But it was most fun to share a meal with our loved ones.  Since many of those gathered did not know each other well, my sister had an idea — we would introduce each other, tell a little bit about every person at the table.  So one by one, all of us taking turns, we told stories and shared memories about each other.  Afterwards, everyone felt appreciated, loved and we all felt closer with each other.  It was a special moment of being together — which is what the holidays is all about.

Happy/Sad

March 5, 2010 By in To Balance, To Be Happy, To Live Leave a comment

I recently wrote a post titled Seven Tips: Happiness, and it got me thinking about sadness too.   Sometimes sadness is a natural response to what is going on in the world or in life at a particular moment.   Can we even know happy without ever being sad?  What is the difference between sadness and depression?

A recent New York Times article, Depression’s Upside, looks at the positive qualities of depression, in particular the activity of ruminating over a particular event or feeling, and how this ruminating can provide an individual with valuable insights.  The relationship between depression and creativity has often been explored.  In this article, the author wonders if this ruminating aspect of depression is what gives some successful writers their tenacious persistence, “like prize fighters who keep on getting hit but won’t go down. “

Two recently published books, The Emperor’s New Drugs by Irving Kirsch and Manufacturing Depression by Gary Greenberg explore medicating depression and sadness, and the consequences of medicating other emotions or qualities such as shyness, anxiety, fear.  Any emotion can be debilitating at a certain level — how do you figure out what is a natural feeling and what is a real disorder?  How do we find balance?

On a happier note, The Happiness Project is a new book that mines the fields of happiness and how to find it.  The author cheerfully uses charts and studies and her own experience to explore the pursuit of happiness.

A happy life, a life worth living, a good life — we hope for this for ourselves and our children.  Exploring (and experiencing) both sadness and happiness in our lives is one step towards balance, acceptance and joy.

Seven Tips: Happiness

February 17, 2010 By in To Be Happy, To Live 2 Comments

It is President’s Week, and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness are no doubt on the mind of citizens across the nation.  And the Winter Olympics too. Who doesn’t crack a smile of wonder at those speedy skiers flipping around, or the ice skater and his triple toe loop things  (and continuing along the happiness theme,  a recent study shows that girls who play sports reap the benefits later in life).  Whistler Mountain in Canada is so beautiful too, looking at those mountains certainly inspires a happy moment.

The question is always, of course, ‘what makes us happy?’  The literature of happiness is huge, including three recent books that are interesting and fun to read:  The Geography of Bliss, The How of Happiness, and 59 Seconds.

So, happily getting right to the point, I have come up with this list of seven ways to get happier:

  • Nature – Spend time in nature; connect with nature.  Water a plant, grow a garden or climb Mount Kilimanjaro.  E. O. Wilson talked about Biophilia, the deep connection between man and nature.  Nature nurtures us.
  • Gratitude – Count your blessings.  Write them down if you want to.
  • Self Reflection — Be mindful of your thoughts, feelings, actions.  Keep a journal or meditate.
  • Relationships — Nurture your relationships with your loved ones and with your community.  Build trust.  Touch somebody, literally.
  • Share — Do something for someone else.  Share your time, your knowledge, your resources.  Find people in your own community that need your help, or explore further afield.
  • Choose experiences, not things — Time and again it is shown that owning lots of things and having a materialistic viewpoint, does not actually make us happier.  Instead, redirect your resources to make things happen instead of towards acquiring things.  And more often than not we regret what we didn’t do, not what we did.  So do it — go to that wedding, attend the birthday party, take that trip, play with a child.
  • Slow Down — Take it easy, take a moment to breathe.  Don’t rush through the good times in search of the next best thing.  Savor what is happening now.

If you have any to add to the list, please comment or send and email!