A Week in Review

 We had a really nice week last week. Anne/Nan/Mommie Dearest came to visit and we all basked in her love and attention. The boys really adore her and had such a good time. I appreciate her company and how much help she is when she comes to visit. (All that laundry that she magically gets done!) On Monday, when Eric was sick, Nan was going to stay home with him but Jack requested that Nan accompany him to swimming lessons rather than Mommy. :) It's really fun for the boys that they are getting old enough to do stuff on their own with Nan. I really enjoy watching them develop their own relationships with her. Ohhh to live closer.

My other great accomplishment of this week was finally learning how to make my mother's Plum Cake. Yummmy! This is probably the biggest comfort food I have, and considering how easy it is to make I can't believe I haven't made it before. Basically you make a bread base, a nice sweet dough, like you would use for cinnamon buns. Grease the cookie sheet with lard* and spread the dough out in a cookie sheet. Then you take the plums and chop them up and layer them on your dough. You can leave the skins on. Next you make a sugar topping of one part butter, two parts sugar and four parts flour. Sprinkle this onto your cake. Let the dough rise until about double in size and then bake in the oven @350F for about a half hour. Delicious!

*My mother's recipes often have lard invovled. I think this is a sign of the era that many of these "secret family recipes" came from. My mother swears though it doesn't turn out right if you don't use lard so I follow her lead.