Just 48 hours until the big V-Day -- if it stops blizzard-ing long enough. If your loved one is hoping for fresh flowers, I'd say get 'em now.
This week, I was reflecting on how Mother Nature has her own "Family Recipe Box" with tried and true formulas such as: snow turning to freezing drizzle, followed by enough warmth to create glacial surfaces. Or the way her overnight snowstorms transform the sere and colorless landscape into a sparkly kingdom.
For some years, February is mild (if January has epic snow). Not this year. This month, five storms with just a few days between them is a shock to the system (and the snow-and-ice budget of many communities). But "that's what you get when you live in New England."
If you have said that phrase, you definitely deserve a slice of chocolate cake. Here's "Money's Cake," my husband's grandmother's recipe, and one which his family has made for three generations -- now four, counting our kids. It's a sturdy little dessert, and one which doubles easily. It's called "Money's Cake," because Money was her nickname -- although you're saving money if you make this at home.
Melt the chocolate and butter in the boiling water. Then mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, sour cream or yogurt, and the beaten egg together and gently stir it into the melted chocolate and butter. Pour this into an 8-inch pan. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. No need to use an electric beater, a spoon should do.
For one cake, here's what my mom always did, and it usually works out fine. Vigorously beat ¼ cup room temperature butter, and slowly add spoonfuls of sifted confectioner's sugar. As it thickens, add spoonfuls of milk until it looks like frosting, and then add a tablespoon of strawberry or raspberry jam. No red dye no. 2 needed. Start with a ½ cup butter (1 stick) if you have multiple layers. Warning: if your unwanted sous-chef is a cat, they will want to help.
A half-century ago, this newspaper (then the Daily Sentinel and Leominster Enterprise) would sell you the equivalent of a classified ad's worth of words for "Heart-Lines" published on February 14.
Some of these remain thoroughly charming, such as: "To HENRY the Navigator, may we drive around in circles together for the rest of our lives, Love Mrs. Kalabash" (N.B.: "Good Night Mrs. Calabash, Wherever You Are," was a popular song by Jimmy Durante.) (N.N.B. Jimmy Durante once played a tiny five-octave upright piano at the old Whalom Park Arcade -- a dear friend has this priceless object with plaque attesting to this fact on the front).
A century ago, the Fitchburg Sentinels of the 'teens and '20s could be relied upon for publishing a half-page about the historic origins of Valentine's Day, which emerged out of a Pagan ritual called "Lupercal," honoring the Wolf goddess who adopted young Romulus and Remus.
However, the sadder tale concerns St. Valentine, who healed the young daughter of Asterius of blindness. He also converted many Romans to Christianity. This completely frustrated the Emperor Claudius, who beheaded him on February 14, 270 A.D.
In his lifetime, St. Valentine was known to give small presents to those he attempted to convert. The custom grew and expanded to the point where Valentine's Day is the biggest holiday for florists -- even bigger than Mother's Day!
Whether you celebrate with chocolate, candy, flowers, a card, or sparkly bling-bling, wishing everyone the best this season. And if you have some dandy home remedies for the various bugs bouncing about, send along for a future column.