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Recipe: sugar plums

As a child, I only knew of sugar plums through The Nutcracker and Twas the Night Before Christmas. Several years ago when I had a subscription to Saveur, I jotted down a recipe for sugar plums, mostly because I had never tasted one before. These sugar plums are confections, not the fruits that you can read about on Wikipedia. They are quite easy to make and tend to be a huge hit with people who either don’t care for chocolate or just enjoy the autumny spices and dried fruits. It’s a heady aroma that wafts through your house when you make a batch: orange peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, toasted almonds, honey.

Recipe: lemon mousseline torte

Like I said earlier, my in-laws were visiting this weekend and there was much cooking going on at our house. It was my MIL’s birthday on Sunday, so I thought I’d bake a cake in celebration. My FIL is a huge fan of chocolate – one of those types who won’t actually eat desserts that don’t have chocolate. My MIL likes chocolate, but she loves custards, citrus, fruits, and other non-chocolate desserts too. It was a good excuse to make a non-chocolate dessert. Ever since I completed my pastry course this past spring, my MIL has been wanting to bake with me to learn some techniques and a recipe. I chose the Lemon Mousseline Torte because I never actually made it in class (my partner and I made the Zebra Torte for that lesson).

I altered the recipe slightly because we didn’t have time to make the pâte sucrée cookie base. The lemon chiffon cake had a terrifically lemony-tart flavor. I used a 9×2 inch round pan, but one day would like to get my hands on a pair of 9×3 inch rounds because the chiffons rise beautifully in those pans, allowing for more or thicker layers from each cake.

Recipe: strawberry mousse cake stata

I’m not a fan of pink. In fact, Beth and I were discussing this just yesterday – how we both dislike pink. I like pink that occurs naturally, but I don’t seek it out and I certainly don’t wear it. I think it’s an unfortunate result of my rebellion against society’s expectation that girls should dress in pink. Growing up a tomboy, I shunned pink at every opportunity. I like black and blue.

But pink has its place for a good cause – and everyone (I hope) knows what that is: fighting breast cancer. Susan G. Komen for the Cure has mobilized action and awareness for over a quarter century. I’ve run some of the 5K races and raised money for the organization in the past. It’s a good thing to do.

When I was in graduate school, my sister called up one day to tell me that my mom was having two lumps from her breast biopsied. Mom told Kris not to tell me because she didn’t want to disrupt my studies. This is typical of my mom. It was also typical of Kris to tell me immediately. We did not keep secrets from one another and Kris was scared – she wanted to talk to me about it. Sure, we both rolled our eyes when Mom nagged us about this, that, and the other thing, but our family is really tight. It changes your perspective to think you might lose someone you have taken for granted all of your life. Kris and I decided we’d surprise Mom by driving/flying out to visit the day she got her results from the lab. We would be there to celebrate or to comfort. Either way, we’d be there.

**Jump for more butter**