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PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Recipes from Ollie J -- Easy Apple Cake

As mentioned earlier, one of the themes of this year's blogging will be a focus on my grandmothers. I'm starting out by exploring some of the recipes that were found with their effects and in their recipe boxes.

Grandma Ollie Jane is my mother's mother: a strong Southern farm wife who was never particularly known for her culinary skills. In later years, and NOT in her hearing, the family joke was that it was a wonder she hadn't ever accidentally given her husband food poisoning, as she was wont to leave food out for hours after a meal and/or to cook meat to the consistency of a hockey puck. She could make a mean scratch biscuit though, and I rue the fact that I never did quite get the knack for making them.

I have pulled a number of recipes to try out this year and to preserve. Although she's been gone awhile now, I'm hoping to hear her voice in my ear, and her hand on my elbow as I try these out and make my own culinary discoveries about cooking and baking, and being her granddaughter.

The one thing I've already discovered in transcribing some of these recipes is that a LOT of information was never put down on the cards. Some knowledge is assumed. Pan sizes, cooking times, temperatures, and other things are often left off. I'll be making notes as I go along, and have already warned friends, family, and colleagues that they are going to be my taste testers.

Easy Apple Cake


2 cups diced peeled apples (I used Fuji's, most likely NOT what Ollie would have used)
1 cup sugar (white)
1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup flour (all-purpose)
1 tsp soda (baking)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Bake 350 degrees


I used an 8x8x2 pan, baking in a pre-heated oven for about 25-35 minutes -- until the center looked firm, and a knife came out almost clean.

I mixed the apples, sugar and oil together, and then added all the dry ingredients. The vanilla and beaten eggs were then added to the batter. I left the nuts out.


It's a VERY moist cake that got eaten in less that 30 minutes in the office.

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