Mortality, books, and cake
My friend Natalie died last week. I wrote this about her on Twitter last Friday, her birthday, the day I left to go to her memorial service. I am so sad. I am so grateful to have known her. I hope I can live up to the charge the pastor gave us at the end of her memorial service, one that exemplifies the kind of person Natalie was:
Go out into God's world in peace; have courage; hold on to what is good; return to no one evil for evil; strengthen the faint-hearted; support the weak; help the suffering; honor all persons; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just to do any of those things in today's world can be hard, but I'll keep trying.
(I think most or all of the above is relevant no matter your religion or lack thereof)
It's been a real roller coaster in my life for the past week or so. Last Wednesday night (the day Natalie died), the news of my new book deal came out, and I saw the tweets about it while I was at the hospital with one family member, and then the next day another family member landed in the hospital (and is still there). This essay that I wrote about my fantastic friend Amy came out on Tuesday, and yesterday morning, right before leaving to go to the hospital, I got a box full of finished copies of my book. So I have not been reading anything either emotionally or mentally taxing for the past week, to put it mildly. I've mentioned this before, but I'm a big re-reader, and a book I've read a few zillion times is Ballet Shoes. That it's still not available in ebook fills me with sadness and fury, because I wish I had it in my pocket at all times, but I have at least three paperbacks of it in my apartment right now, so I dip in and out of the story of Pauline, Petrova, and Posy a few times a year. If you made the ginger syrup that I wrote about in a previous tinyletter, doesn't it make you think of the ginger drink that the doctors make for the Fossils? If you've never read this book, make your weekend better and do it
This weekend I'm definitely going to make these brownies that I wrote about in an old newsletter, but I'm also going to try to make one of my favorite everyday kinds of cakes: Nigella's Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake. My love for Nigella is well documented, and this cake is one of my favorite of her recipes. It's easy and chocolatey and comforting, and you can throw it together late at night and bake it and let it cool overnight and you have cake for breakfast in the morning, or cake to bring to work the next day, or cake to come home to at night, and it needs no frosting or glaze. Make it and eat it yourself or share with people you love.
Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake
2 sticks softened unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water (let's be real, I don't measure out two extra tablespoons of boiling water, I just eyeball this)
Preheat your oven to 375 F, and grease and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with parchment paper (you need the parchment here, or else the cake will be impossible to get out of the pan). Combine the flour and baking soda in a measuring cup or small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a spoon or mixer, then add the eggs and vanilla. Now gently fold in the chocolate. When it's blended, add the flour/baking soda mixture alternately with the boiling water until you have a smooth and relatively thin batter. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325 and bake for another 15 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack until it's cooled completely, eat it alone or with whipped cream or ice cream.
Have a great weekend,
Jasmine
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