45. It is a Land Mark after all.

Seventy!  A huge land mark!  Bob has reached the  big 70!  He has outlived his dad, Cotton, by 40 years and his mom, Billie, by 20.  He has outlived all of his family except for one cousin, Kathy, who lives in Florida.  He shares that it is an odd and sad feeling to be the last man standing.  Don't misunderstand, he is happy to be up-right and breathing, that's usually always preferable to the alternative.  

Being an only child has had it's effects on him, as well.  There have been ups and downs, mostly downs for him.  He hated being called in from play when it seemed that everyone else had someone else to go home with.  He had to go alone.  He has always longed for a sibling.  It breaks his heart and makes him angry to hear of siblings who haven't spoken in years for some usually forgotten reason.  The one thing that Bob and I have learned from this old life is you can't buy back time.  Once you pass on a moment or opportunity, that particular one is gone forever.  That stops you in your tracks, doesn't it?  Gone forever.  Ponder that.  How have you approached those opportunities?  That is another note that needs to be stuck on the bathroom mirror.  We have to be reminded of that, too.

Birthday's, for us, are about your favorite things, mostly food stuffs.   Bob requested my mom's chocolate cake, his all time favorite cake. No frosting, please.  It always evokes sweet memories for us, that cake. There is a rather interesting story around that particular recipe.  

We all loved this cake.  After I had gotten married, Bob wanted me to make the cake.  I called my mom to ask for the recipe and to my horror she said, "Oh, Honey, I don't have the recipe written down.  It's just hand-fulls of this and pinches of that."  I couldn't believe it!  The recipe had been handed down to her from her mother who used the hand-full method.  Well, I jumped in the car and drove across town and had her make the cake.  I measured each ingredient one at a time when she placed it in a clean bowl.  To this day, I don't know how she made it taste the same each time.  She also said, "What ever you do don't use a mixer.  It won't be as dark as when you mix by hand."  "Oh, p-shaw,"  I thought.  But, call me crazy, it's true.  It is a very dark, rich chocolate when hand mixed and a much lighter color when you use the mixer.  It is also very dense in texture, not dry and light as with a box mix.  

Besides, there is a very self-satisfying feeling mixing it with out the noise of the mixer.  It gives you time to watch the ingredients blend together and smell the deep fragrance of cocoa powder and vanilla. It makes me remember when my children were little and cooking was such an important part of my day.  Nothing pleased me more than smelling fresh hand made bread baking or my little brood licking spoons of batter.  To hear the news now, that is considered child endangerment.  "Good Lord," they say now, "you could have killed them!"

Well, "P-shaw," I say.  We still lick the bowl and spoon in our house.  If it kills us, we'll go out together.  They will find us with bowl and spatula in hand and remnants of batter on our happy smiling faces.  I wouldn't miss the memories it brings of all 5 of us on any given Saturday, fighting over the spatula and the last smidgen of batter!

If you are adventurous, please do yourself a favor and try this cake.  Who knows, it may just start a new memory.  It certainly warms our hearts.

Maxine's (and Lily's) One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Pre-heat oven to 325
Grease two round cake pans or one 8 x 10 pan.
Instead of flouring the pan use granulated sugar.  Who wants to cover that beautiful chocolate with white flour?! The cake fairly glides out of the pan when it is done.

This recipe can be halved and fits into one round layer cake pan. (Bob says that's a crime, at the very least an injustice!)

2 cups of granulated sugar
1 cup shortening  (butter flavored Crisco, my mom liked it best)
8 T. cocoa
2 slightly beaten eggs
pinch of salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups of milk
1 tsp. of baking soda
2 1/2 cups of flour

In a large bowl combine the sugar and shortening and cream until smooth.
Add cocoa and stir until well combined.
Add beaten eggs, salt, vanilla and soda and combine.
Alternately add milk and flour stirring well between additions.
Beat until smooth.  Fill pan (s) and place in center of stove. 
Bake an hour or until toothpick in the center comes out clean. 

Stand right by the stove with a knife, a napkin (for me, Bob is aunaturel) and a tall glass of milk in hand and prepare to have your taste buds dazzled!  Nothing would make my grandmother and my mother happier. Don't let this be one of those moments you let pass by!