The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

Life is such a wild trip.

November 10, 2010

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. I was weeding through a backlog of emails with some degree of guilt, trying to respond to people I haven't written to in some time, when I ran across an ad from a tool company that read, "Give the gift that keeps on growing." I deleted the ad after reading it over, but the thought stuck in my head.

People are a bit down and out lately it seems, with the time change and unseasonably warm temperatures and how everything out there is a shade of brown. My neighbors have put up their Christmas lights which make the night a bit magical, but without snow all the heck over the lights don't seem to glisten as they might. The snow is on its way, I'm told, but in the meantime, it seems we all need a bit of cheering up.

So that's my prime directive this week. To spread cheer, and give gifts in all manner of forms whether they might keep growing or not. I'm baking today, some of the corn bread I've included the recipe for below, and some banana bread, and some pumpkin bread. Not that any one of those things is going to make anyone in particular happy, but it will give me an excuse to visit three people I love, hand over something warm and fine-smelling, and have a conversation I wouldn't have had. And, the bonus for me, is that all the while I'm baking, I'll think about those three people, and whom I might visit tomorrow, and what I might whip up for them.

Life is such a wild trip. There's such excitement and fun, and sometimes stretches of boredom and drear. It can be so lonely — terrifying, even. Thing is, we have, at our disposal, the means to push some of that nasty stuff back. Something as simple as a loaf of bread. Broken together. On our knees, if that's how you wish to share it. But together. And then the day becomes something it may not have been before. In the mean time, the clouds are gathering themselves. The snow will come. And with it, the glistening. By then, I'll be ready to roll out the stollen. I'll make extra. You never know who might drop in once the snow flies.

Here's a down home, gut-bustin' recipe to warm you up next to a bowl of chili or stew. Try greasing the pan with bacon grease the way the pioneers did.

Crispy Bacon Corn Bread

3/4 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup milk
1 cup dairy sour cream
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
4 slices crisp bacon, crumbled

Blend corn meal, milk and sour cream together. Set aside for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Sift together other dry ingredients. Beat egg and add to corn meal mixture. Blend in dry ingredients and beat only until smooth. Add bacon and pour into greased preheated 9-inch square pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot with butter.

Enjoy!