Can you Guess...

Question of the day: What is Beverly Clearly's favorite cake? 

If you happened to have watched ABC nightly news Tuesday you'd know what cake she requested for her 100th birthday celebration.  

It's a Winner... Carrot Cake (and was my mother's favorite)
Cook's notes: This is my own recipe which makes a very moist cake. Using part whole wheat flour and white gives the cake a nice texture and is healthier. The cake is very easy to put together.
Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs beaten
• 2 tsp. soda
• 1- cup white sugar
• 1-cup brown sugar
• 2 TB. Saigon cinnamon
• 1-1/3 cups oil
• 1 cup crushed pineapple –drained
• 1-3/4-2 cups grated carrots (use food processor)
• 1-1/2 crushed nuts
• 1 cup white flour
• 1-cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup toasted coconut-optional

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 pan. Toast coconut and set aside
• Beat eggs and add in rest of ingredients, Beat for 3 minutes. 
• Bake cake for 25 minutes. Cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients;

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 TB. vanilla
• 1- 3-oz. package softened cream cheese (low fat)
• 1 TB. orange zest
• milk

Directions:
Add milk as needed to get right consistency for frosting. Frost cake, sprinkle with crushed nuts on top. Refrigerate until serving. 

Legend of the Spring Beauty attributed to Ojibwa (Cbippewa)

An old man was sitting in his lodge, by the side of
a frozen stream. It was the end of Winter, the air
was not so cold, and his fire was nearly out. He
was old and alone. His locks were white with
age, and he trembled in every joint. Day after
day passed, and he heard nothing but the sound
of the storm sweeping before it the new-fallen
snow.

One day while his fire was dying, a handsome
young man entered the lodge. His cheeks were
red, his eyes sparkled. He walked with a quick,
light step. His forehead was bound with sweet-
grass, and he carried a bunch of fragrant flowers
in his hand.

“Ah, my Son,” said the old man, “I am happy
to see you. Come in. Tell me your adventures,
and what strange lands you have seen. I will tell
you my wonderful deeds, and what I can perform.
You shall do the same, and we will amuse each
other.”

The old man then drew from a bag a curiously
wrought pipe. He filled it with mild tobacco, and
handed it to his guest. They each smoked from the pipe and then began their stories.
.
” I am Peboan, the Spirit of Winter/ said the
old man. ” I blow my breath, and the streams
stand still. The water becomes stiff and hard as
clear stone.”

“I am Seegwun, the Spirit of Spring,” answered
the youth. ” I breathe, and flowers spring up in
the meadows and woods.”

” I shake my locks,” said the old man, “and the
snow covers the land. The leaves fall from the
trees, and my breath blows them away. The birds
fly to the distant land, and the animals hide them
selves from the cold.”

” I shake my ringlets,” said the young man,
and the warm showers of soft rain fall upon the
Earth. The flowers lift their heads from the ground,
and the grass grows thick and green. My voice re
calls the birds, and they come flying joyfully from
the Southland. The warmth of my breath unbinds
the streams, and they sing the songs of Summer.
Music fills the groves wherever I walk, and all
Nature rejoices.”

And while they were thus talking, a wonderful
change took place. The Sun began to rise. Again
the warmth stole over the place. Peboan, the Spirit
of Winter, became silent. His head drooped, and
the snow outside the lodge melted away. Seegwun,
the Spirit of Spring, grew more radiant, and rose
joyfully to his feet. The Robin and the Bluebird
began to sing on the top of the lodge. The stream
murmured past the door, and the fragrance of 

opening flowers came softly on the breeze.

The lodge faded away, and Peboan sank down
and dissolved into tiny streams of water, that vanished 

under the brown leaves of the forest.
Thus the Spirit of Winter departed, and where
he melted away the Indian children gathered the
first blossoms, fragrant and delicately pink, the
modest Spring Beauty.

The first wildflowers of spring are 

Hepatica

Trailing Arbutus

 and Spring Beauty.