Right now I’ m up to my chin in cake batter, “birthday cake” batter!
I told you about the five family birthdays this month, and the first one is this Thursday. If I had any sense I’d make a series of “cupcakes” and let that be it. Use one for each celebration, (and freeze the rest) but, of course, that just “wouldn’t do.” It has to be an angel food cake, with a thin butter icing, and it has to be served with a scoop of ice cream, (chocolate for the boys, and strawberry for the girls). Its become a family tradition, and it’s all my own fault for starting it. Oh well, its kind of fun, especially as the weather has cooled enough that having the oven on now doesn’t cause fainting spells for the primary cook (the one with the beads of sweat on her fair brow).
Today the skies are bleak and gray, and it looks as though it’s probably already raining in Duncan. Well, guess what? I’ve just seen an umbrella go by... the first one in months. There was someone under it, of course... a man who didn’t want to get his hair wet! So, it is actually raining here. The trees look happy, the grass already looks fresher and greener, but it’s been such a long time that you’ve forgotten where you put the lawn-mower. Oh dear, you say you sold it, to put a down-payment on a camel. What were you thinking? This drought happens every few years but no way are we about to become a desert. Mind you. this business of “climate change” does make a fella’ a bit nervous. My precious big tomato plant gave a final gasp, and produced four small tomatoes, and perished from the effort. I tasted one of them, which tasted like a tomato, but the skin had the same texture as “Scotch tape.” I guess I’m going to have to buy tomatoes this year.(or, maybe, substitute sliced red peppers to get that attractive red colour in a green salad.) Why not use both peppers and tomatoes for a different taste treat? It tastes great!
Climate change makes a person a bit nervous.
Helen Lang has been the Peninsula News Review’s garden columnist for more than 30 years.