Cake, in Three Takes

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Suburban Chicago, Spring 1973. My Toronto Cousin and I share a Pepperidge Farm walnut layer cake. There was a period when we used to pick up one of those frozen cakes. We recently looked for that cake, but it apparently has been discontinued.

This photo set shows how pink our kitchen was. Behind us is the dishwasher and the Roper wall oven. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, is washing dishes; the dish rack holds a plastic tumbler from the Jewel Food Store.

I'm wearing a turquoise ring my Parents bought when we first vacationed in Glacier. On my left hand is a minuscule ruby ring that belonged to my maternal Grandmother, Jadzė. I also wear the dainty watch I selected in Switzerland. There's instant coffee and a copy of "Draugas" on the table.

(Neither my Toronto Cousin [ever] nor I [in 1973] smoked; that looks like Dad's ashtray. Do you remember crafting ashtrays and trivets with those little tiles? Who supervised you when you spread the grout?)

Ah! The checkered dish towel is still in use.

We're still counting.

Suburban Chicago, July 1965. That's a sad little cake, but happily it's not coconut!

(Jewel shoppers will recognize those tumblers and plastic dishes.)

Babos Receptai (Part 10)

One of the other cakes my paternal Grandmother made for Easter was a nut torte. I disliked the torte because it didn't resemble the sweet American cakes I favored. The nut torte was a big job because Tatjana ground the nuts using a small, hand crank, grinder. She insisted pre-ground nuts from the grocery store lacked the correct texture for the batter.

Here's how I wrote up the recipe:

Riešutinis arba Migdolų Tortas (Walnut or Almond Torte)

For torte:

8 to 10 ounces walnuts or unblanched almonds, slightly toasted and cooled

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon potato starch or corn starch

1 teaspoon baking powder

12 egg yolks (Baba used yolks from 16 eggs graded "medium")

1 cup granulated sugar

12 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup granulated sugar

For glaze and filling:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup rum

       3/4 cup (approximately) lingonberry preserves

For icing:

       2/3 cup (10-2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter  

       2-2/3 cups brown sugar

       2/3 cup whole milk

       1/8 teaspoon salt

  

For garnish:   

       Whole walnuts or almonds 

Torte: Preheat the oven to 350^oF and adjust rack to center position. Butter a 10-inch (or 12-inch) springform pan (or two 10-inch layer cake pans or three 9-inch round cake pans) and dust with flour. 

In the workbowl of a food processor with the metal blade in place, grind the nuts with the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with the 1 cup granulated sugar until the mixture is thick and light in color, about 10 minutes.

In another large bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until the mixer is stiff. Remove bowl from mixer. Fold half of the walnut mixture into the egg yolks and then, using a rubber spatula, gradually fold egg whites gently to the nut/egg yolk mixture. 

Pour into prepared pan(s) and level top(s). Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes for the springform pan (35 to 45 minutes for the layer cake pans). Remove from oven, place pan(s) on a rack and allow to cool for about 30 minutes.  

When cooled completely, slice into two (or three) horizontal layers (omit this step if you baked two or three layers).

Glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and the 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, add the rum, and cool.

Brush first layer with about half the liqueur glaze. Spread with a layer of the lingonberry preserves.  Continue with the remaining layer(s), also soaking with the liqueur glaze. Let the layers stand while you prepare the icing.

Icing:  In a medium saucepan, over low heat, melt butter. Stir in the brown sugar until brown sugar dissolves. Gradually pour in the milk, stirring constantly. Slowly increase heat and bring the mixture rapidly to a full boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Beat with a wooden spoon until lukewarm and of spreading consistency. Spread icing over the torte. Garnish with whole nuts. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

Here's how the cake looked when I baked it:

Verona, Wisconsin, April 2007. I may have "cheated" here and made a coffee buttercream instead of the icing Tatjana used to prepare.

The blog celebrates its third birthday today.

Last year, when the blog celebrated its second birthday, I promised to keep posting every day, and as long as I have photos. I renew the promise today.

Ha! I remember when I got excited about the fiftieth post.

Suburban Chicago, April 1963. I'm celebrating by drinking my favorite beverage, "50/50."

What brought you here?

Savoring a treat.

We rarely had "junk food" available at our house. Soda was on hand only when we entertained: Dad used 50/50 or Canada Dry Ginger Ale to mix high balls. Potato chips appeared only during birthday parties. I so envied classmates who had little bags of Fritos and Jay's Potato Chips tucked in their lunchboxes. The absence of "junk food" didn't arise from a focus on healthy eating. After all, Tatjana often cooked with instant soup and Jell-O. I think we didn't keep "junk food" in the house because that was the type of food Americans, not Lithuanians, ate.

 
Mom occasionally accommodated my taste for American-style snacks. She sometimes let me select a "$100,000 Bar" or a Slo Poke during our Thursday trips to the grocery store. She also occasionally indulged my favorite after-school snack: a glass of Hawaiian Punch and a bowl of deli-counter potato salad.

Suburban Chicago, March 1964 . I'm watching television in the Rec Room as I sip a treat. I'm drinking from one of those tumblers from the Jewel Food Store.

We were behind the grocery store.

Suburban Chicago, June 1962. The Jewel Food Store at Winston Plaza occasionally sponsored pony rides. Mr. Irene had a more interesting experience there.

The Moms oversee service at the children's table.

Suburban Chicago, December 1964. Turkey was on the menu.

The Life Box (Part 2)

I wrote here about the Wonders of the Animal Kingdom album into which I pasted the stamps my Parents had collected for me at the Jewel Food Store. I learned recently that grocery chains throughout North America participated in the promotion.

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Verona, Wisconsin, May 2013. My album is in fair shape; it rests in the bottom of the life box. Although we finished assembling the album by the time I was three years old, I enjoyed looking at it for many years. The artwork was brilliant to a child's eye, and I often used the album as a reference after Dad and I returned from our Sunday visits to the zoo.

Related by Marriage: A Visit from a Cousin

Suburban Chicago, January 2, 1962. Here's Mr. Irene and  his "Cousin I." Cousin I is Anthony's daughter; Anthony was Mr. Irene's Godfather.

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Suburban Chicago, January 2, 1962. Cousin I's Mom sits between Cousin I and Mr. Irene. That's the head of Mr. Irene's maternal Grandmother, Anna, on the left.

Chicagoans: does that box of Heinmann's cookies from Dominick's trigger your salivary glands? The cookies likely were those thin chocolate chip ones that often seemed a bit overly crispy on the edges. We were a "Jewel family," so I didn't visit Dominick's often. My Parents probably thought it was too Italian. My neighbor took me to the River Forest Dominick's on North Avenue once or twice a year: on those occasions, I grabbed a few hot cookies as they emerged into the bakery on a conveyer belt. The store encouraged that conduct.

A View of the Table, 1963

Suburban Chicago, December 31, 1963. It's time for my Parents again to host the New Year's Eve party for our suburban colony of Lithuanians. The redecoration of the house is completed, and a heavy, Spanish chandelier now hangs over the dining room table. There's that fruit bowl again. Mom hasn't bought "fine china" yet, so the guests eat off of the dishes she collected with receipts during a Jewel Food Store promotion. The coffee pot had a little holder for a candle warmer underneath it. The flower-like pieces on the table—with the gold stems and white, ceramic buds—are candle holders. You can tell it's an extraordinary day because there is a box of potato chips on top of the refrigerator.* 

Lily—wearing the black dress—talks with the Other Irene. Behind the Other Irene is the plastic plant. The fellow on the left was not a frequent visitor, but he's sitting next to my Mom's best friend, Donna. You can see her left hand, holding the cigarette.

I'll post a photo of another view of this table tomorrow.

*I can't remember the brand name of that 1957 refrigerator, but it lasted over 32 years. Mom replaced it only because the handle fell off, and no one carried that part any longer.

Slo Poke

My Mom loved a caramel lollipop that was common in the 1960s, the "Slo Poke." Snacks were rare at our house. But when Mom and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, shopped for groceries at the Jewel Food Store on Thursdays (Mom's day off), Mom bought a "Slo Poke" for each of us.

Mom often ate only part of hers that Thursday, and she saved the rest for later. Her half eaten "Slo Poke" sometimes sat for days in a coffee cup, covered with waxed paper.

I enjoyed my "Slo Poke" all in one sitting.

Suburban Chicago, November 1964. I am in the Rec Room, again watching television. I sit at the sewing machine.

Ride the Merry-Go-Round.

It won't upset your stomach the way the Tilt-a-Whirl does.

Melrose Park, Illinois, Autumn 1963. I ride the nice, slow-moving carousel at Kiddieland.

Let's go to "The Plaza."

A Melrose Park landmark, Winston Plaza stood at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and North Avenue. "The Plaza," as we called it, was across the street from Amling's Flowerland.

The Plaza was a hub of many activities, but at its heart, it was a shopping center. Most Melrose Parkers did all of their shopping at The Plaza. Two grocery stores—Dominick's (originally a Kroger) and Jewel—anchored the mall. Moms usually shopped at either Dominick's or Jewel, but never at both. We were a "Jewel family." (I leave discussions of "Foodtown" and "Bonnie Bee" for later posts.)

The Plaza had a Walgreen's and a number of other stores that attracted preteens and teens. There was, for example, a record shop, a Lerner Shop, and a discount store, Newberry's. Newberry's had wooden floors similar to those one usually found in a Woolworth's. 

The higher-end, department-style, store was Madigan's. My Mom bought shoes and underwear there occasionally. Madigan's had a small book department—toward the back, near the bathrooms. After my Parents took me to see Mary Poppins at the movie theater, they bought the official Walt Disney Mary Poppins book for me when we visited Madigan's one evening. I remember feeling very special that day.

One of the undercover security guards at Madigan's was a patient of my Mom's. We'd see her walking around the women's department, looking cosmically bored, spinning the dress carousels as she feigned interest in the merchandise.

My childhood home was less than one mile from The Plaza. I was not allowed to go there alone, or with my Best Friend, until I reached the Seventh Grade. After I got my big-girl bicycle, however, my Best Friend and I sometimes snuck away to The Plaza and illicitly bought things like lip gloss, Fritos, and Creedance Clearwater Revival records.

When I was much smaller, my Dad sometimes walked with me to The Plaza. One year, The Plaza featured an "attraction" for kids: an "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" structure.

Suburban Chicago, February 1964. There's still snow on the ground, but Dad decides it's warm enough to make the 0.84-mile walk to Winston Plaza. "The Swan" stands in our open garage.

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Suburban Chicago, February 1964. We walk near Silver Creek as we make our way down Andy Drive, and across Fifth Avenue.

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Suburban Chicago, February 1964. We're getting close! There's the baptist church on the corner of Andy Drive and Ninth Avenue.

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Suburban Chicago, February 1964. We've reached the "Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" attraction.

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Suburban Chicago, February 1964. It's a lame, walk-through lure of nothingness.

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Verona, Wisconsin, February 2012. But cheer up! I still can go home and read Mary Poppins.

Big Shoes to Fill

Does wearing a white apron and black pumps make a little girl look like a physician?

Suburban Chicago, 1962. I'm sitting in the master bath, in my "doctor" outfit. I wear Mom's shoes, and I make one of my "grown-up" facial expressions for the camera. On the counter sits one of those plastic tumblers that the Jewel Foodstore distributed to customers as part of a sales promotion.

The Dinosaur Stage

I've always enjoyed hobbies. A good hobby redirects me from my troubles and lets me concentrate on something engaging.

As a child, I had a short-lived hobby focused on learning about dinosaurs.

People who grew up in Suburban Chicago during the late 1950s and early 1960s may remember that the Jewel Food Store once offered a a dinosaur stamp promotion. Parents got a certain number of stamps for the dollars they spent at the grocery store. Children received a dinosaur album with spaces for pasting in the stamps; the idea was to collect all of the available stamps to fill up the entire album. That meant children encouraged parents to go to the Jewel often, and parents felt compelled to spend lots of money there.

I filled up my dinosaur album.

I still have the album, stashed in a basement box. I'll look for it later and snap a photo of it.

Today I knit. And I spend money at yarn stores.

Suburban Chicago, October, 1961. I sit in the Rec Room and admire my dinosaur album. Behind me, on the left, sits the doll from Poland that came out on special occasions. On the right is my plastic horse. My favorite toy—an aluminum coffee pot—balances on the armrest.