It's the Berries

I am still a member

That's me in the photo above. I was a soapbox derby racer. Our club was named the Optimist club. I am an optimist. Always have been. People used to say I was "happy go lucky". I guess that means I was always a pretty happy kid. As for the lucky part, well that is probably true too.

I think that being lucky has a great deal to do with being open to luck.

Let me give you an example. A few months ago, I got a call from a friend of mine. The call came in while I was working at my office. The cellphone coverage was so bad at the office I had to run outside or risk dropping the call. While I was outside talking on the phone I looked down and noticed a four-leaf clover.

Then I saw another. And another. By the time our conversation was over, I had collected 5 four-leaf clovers. As soon as I was through with my call, I went inside and gave the clovers to my co-workers. I figured they could use some good luck too.

One of the people I gave a clover to was amazed that I found them. "I've never found a four-leaf clover," she said. As she was saying this the sound of the lawnmowers outside almost drowned out our conversation. The grounds keepers were mowing the grass where just moments ago I had found the clovers.

"Boy , you sure were lucky to have found them when you did," she added.

Those clovers had been out there all week. Anyone could have found them. I just happened to look for them. I feel like finding those clovers had more to do with being observant than being lucky. Had I not looked down to see if I could find a four-leaf clover, even as "lucky" as I am, I would never have found them.

Many of the things we attribute to luck have more to do with initiative than luck. People who become famous, high paid movie stars are not simply lucky, they work at it. People who find gold looked for it. People who get great jobs prepare and pursue the work. In other words, we all make our own luck.

I also think that happiness is a choice we make. That might sound silly at first, but when you think about it, it really is true.

We each decide if we are willing to be happy with a situation or not. This I guess is where being an optimist come in.

Sometimes, happiness is little more than a comparison.

In 1988, I had the worst day in my life. On April 18, 1988, my wife gave birth to our stillborn daughter Emily. I have never known a sadder day in my life and to this day it is still my benchmark for what it means to be sad.

The day after Emily's birth, I found myself in a hospital elevator riding down to the first floor to fill out the papers so that my wife could be discharged. After more than nine months of planning and making dreams for the future, my wife and I would be leaving the hospital empty handed knowing that our baby daughter was lying in the hospital morgue.

It looked like it was going to be a direct ride as I was the only person in the elevator. But the elevator suddenly stopped at the floor below. The doors opened and a young hospital attendant entered the elevator.

She pushed the lobby button, leaned against the wall of the elevator and then let out a long sigh. She then looked straight at me and said, " Boy I am glad this day is over. Man, this has really been a rotten day."

I just smiled at her and said nothing. She had no way of knowing the amount of pain, suffering and turmoil I was enduring.

It was at that moment that I made a point of declaring to myself "I now know what it feels like to have a really bad day".

Furthermore I vowed that I was not going to ever again complain about having another bad day.

As I saw it, anything that happened from that moment on was going to be better by comparison. If I had a hard time or things didn't go my way, I would chalk it up to being a full day, but not a bad day. I decided that I would focus on the good things that occurred each day and be happy and grateful for them. In regard to everything else, I had to find a way to take those things in stride.

So far I have managed live this way and am a happier person for it.

Happy to be getting my big boy teeth at last!

When I was a child, there was a saying that when a woman wanted to cheer up or needed to change her outlook, she simply needed to change her hair-do or buy a new dress.

If my mom was looking for a lift, she didn't just buy a dress or change her do. She changed the arrangement of the furniture in our home. She did this so often that my dad used to say that he would never walk into a dark room because he was never sure where the furniture might be.

I wonder if Laura had a bad day?

I don't change my hair or move furniture when I want an emotional lift. I cook.

When I cook it makes me feel happy to know that soon there will be something special to enjoy. It is much the same way that making cakes make me think of birthdays and cookies make me feel like the holidays. Sometimes I cook for others to give them a lift.

For the past several weeks my mother has been house bound while recovering from back surgery. She is doing great and has been the model patient. Every day or so I stop over to say hello and either bring a baked treat or I'll make something while I visit.

As I pulled in the driveway to my parents home last week, I noticed their blackberry was bush heavy with ripe berries. As soon as I saw those berries, I made plans for them.

There are plenty for the birds and us!

While visiting with my parents, I mentioned to my mother that the blackberries were ripe. She said, "I saw them earlier today when the nurse came by. She offered to pick them for me but I told her you would be by soon and would enjoy picking them yourself." And right she was. I was able to pick a full quart of them that day.

I have always loved berry picking. Well, that is not entirely true. What I mean to say is that I have always loved the end result of berry picking.

Whether we picked pea-sized wild strawberries from the woods,

Wild Strawberries

or gathered big fat blueberries at the Roz's house when we lived in New York,

Blueberries on the bush

or suffered countless cuts and scrapes as we filled buckets of blackberries when we visited our former neighbors, the Ortiz family, in New Jersey,

Sweet treats worth the pain to harvest

the end result was usually the same. We always seemed to make fresh pies , sweet cobbler or muffins from our harvest.

Take my advice, you will be happiest if you focus on the good things like the berries and think less about the work and cuts and scrapes.

This time I decided not to make a pie or cobbler or muffins with the berries. I had other plans. This time I was going to make a cake that I had just read about.

I love my subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. Not only are the photos enticing, the recipes are easy to follow. I like that the recipes consist of the ingredients that are easy to obtain and the buyer does not need to take out a second mortgage in order to afford them. In the back of each issue they feature a section I really enjoy entitled Prep School that teaches the reader a cooking technique.

The July 2011 issue features a timely article called Berries Berries Berries on page 102. The photos alone are enough to make your mouth water, but the recipes are really the prize.

Today's recipe is a Blackberry Buttermilk Cake. It sounds so good I am sure it must be the lyrics to a love song, or soon will be.

I made this cake with the berries I picked and then presented my parents with the cake the very next day. The cake was moist with a subtle flavor that did not overpower the berries.

Blackberry Buttermilk Cake

(Courtesy of Bon Appetit, July 2011)

This recipe would work equally well with blueberries or a combination of fruits. Just be certain not to use too much fruit as the berries release juices as they cook down and can make the cake soggy if too much is used. This cake is great anytime of day, but it would be especially nice in the morning if made the evening before.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup of room temperature Unsalted Butter (plus additional to grease pan and parchment paper)
• 2 1/3 Cups of sifted Cake Flour (sift flour first, then measure it)
• 2 1/2 Cups fresh Blackberries
• 1/4 Cup Sugar plus an ADDITIONAL 1 1/3 Cups of Sugar
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
• 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
• 3 large room temperature Eggs
• 2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon finely grated Orange zest
• 1 Cup of Buttermilk
• Powdered Sugar ( for dusting)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and postion oven rake to the middle of the oven.

Butter a 9 to 10" springform cake pan then line the bottom of the pan with a piece of buttered parchment paper. Dust with flour the pan being sure to tap out excess flour.

Arrange the Blackberries in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Do not over crowd the Berries. Sprinkle the Berries with 1/4 Cup of Sugar.

Sift together the 2 1/3 cups of Flour with the Baking powder, Salt and Baking Soda. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the 3/4 cup of Butter and the 1 1/3 cups of Sugar at high speed until it becomes fluffy and pale in color. Add in the Eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in Vanilla and Orange zest. Reduce speed to low and add in the the Flour mixture in three separate batches, alternating with additions of the buttermilk. The batter will be thick.

Batter will be thick when added on top of the berries

Spoon the finished batter over the berries in the pan. Smooth out the batter with a spatula before placing it in the oven.

This cake takes a while to cook. After about 1 hour and 25 minutes, the cake top should be golden brown and a tester inserted into the middle should come out clean.

Once the cake is finished, allow it to cool on a wire rack for about 15 minutes. Then run a thin, sharp knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake from the pan. Remove the sides of the pan then invert the cake onto the wire rake. Peel off parchment.

When the cake is completely cool and you are ready to serve it, dust the top with powdered sugar.

Enjoy.

As you take your first bite of this cake, I hope you will take a moment to pause and appreciate all the good things in life that you have to be thankful for. It might be even the simplest things that can give you pleasure. Maybe it is the fact that you have a loved one with you to share the cake with. Or you can be happy that it is the time of year that you can get fresh blackberries. Perhaps it is the fact that it is raining, or sunny outside.

Our lives, no matter how full they may be, each day are filled with an infinite source of happiness. Be one of the lucky ones. Take note and enjoy your gifts.

I know I will.

After all, when singing about life, Jaye P Morgan sings, "It's the Berries."

And who knows? Maybe life is just a bowl of cherries after all.

Hmm. Cherries. Now I need to get working on a cherry recipe. Until next time....