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

Sunday was the 85th annual Festival of the Grapes in Impruneta.  We ate with friends on the rooftop of the lovely Hotel Bellavista. (Hotel Beautiful View).  They served us a wonderful and simple and perfect family style dinner — penne with meat sauce, sage ravioli, beans, spinach, various meats, and to top it off, fresh grapes and grape tart, of course!  Later the children ate ice cream.  Then we watched the four neighborhoods of Impruneta compete with giant floats and elaborate costumes for “Best in Show.”  Rain threatened, so we hurried home before the judges decided upon the winner.

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.

The days are definitely getting colder, even in Austin.  We set up our nativity scene in a corner of the living room and we are busy getting everything ready for the holidays!

It’s always nice to find a little shade on a hot day, but of course a leafy tree always works too!

If you’re in the market for an umbrella, check out Apartment Therapy’s recent post on Best Umbrella.

For more Bermudian inspiration, check out – Heather Nova.  She’s presently touring around Europe, so if you’re there, catch a concert!

Happy 4th of July!

Tissue flowers are easy to make, even for little ones.  And cut honeycomb balls are not difficult for older children — all you need is tissue, scissors and glue!

The balls we hung from the ceiling, interspersed with balloons of all colors.  We scattered flowers on the tables and taped them to the window panes.  And we cut fringes out of lavender tissue and made little window valences.

All together, with cake, ice cream and coffee, it made for a perfect and simple celebration!

If you are looking for more inspiration, or perhaps want to buy some tissue crafts, check out these beautiful pom poms made and sold by PomLove, PartyPoms, and OrangeKisses on Etsy.  For a pom pom pattern (full disclosure: I have not tried to make a pom pom like this yet–I am still perfecting the honeycomb style), Martha is always happy to oblige.

My two tried and true cake secrets, (both of which have nothing to do with baking and actually they aren’t secret):

1.  Whipped cream.  I make three layers, and I fill the layers with sweetened whipped cream.  Then I let the cake sit overnight in the fridge.  The whipped cream soaks in slightly, adding extra moisture into the cake.  It makes my simple chocolate cake extra yummy!

2.  Flowers.  It is a rather homely looking cake, always has been.  My secret to cake decorating is flowers. Right before the cake is served, I put flowers on top and all around.  Over the years I have tried all different kinds of flowers and it always looks lovely!  Before I cut the cake I pull out the flowers and save them for a small birthday bouquet.

Whipped cream and flowers can be used in a lot of situations to make life a little better!  Not to mention chocolate.

Many of the symbols of Easter are symbols of birth and new life.  The little chick.  The soft lamb.  The bright flowers blossoming.

Some Easter symbols seem to speak to both life and death.  Consider the lovely Easter egg, cold and hard, seemingly dead on the outside, but hiding the promise of life within.

The lily, a flower often associated with Easter, can be a symbol for death, for purity, for virtue, for life, for fertility, for abundance.

And the bunny.  The bunny is both a symbol of fertility and of sacrifice.  I have read that bunnies are animals which willingly sacrifice themselves for each other.  I’ve read that if a bunny is being chased by a predator and grows tired, another bunny will willingly enter into the chase to distract the predator.

Fertility and sacrifice often go hand in hand.

Love itself is a kind of sacrifice — we push away our own interests and cares in order to pay attention to and take care of and love another person.

The Ancient Greeks had several terms of for love in its different forms:

Eros –Physical, passionate identification

Philia – friendship, heartfelt

Storge – love of mothers for their children, deep, permanent

Agape – mutual moral warmth, respect, sacrifice

With Easter here, I am thinking about Agape.  About love and sacrifice.

Plato writes of having a training for love, one that starts with Eros, and develops towards Agape.

How do we reach this kind of love called Agape, this respect and this willingness to sacrifice?  Luckily family life, and life in general, gives us lots of opportunities for all the different kinds of love, for practicing love in all its different forms.

Happy Easter! Happy Passover!  Happy Spring! Happy Love!