The View From Mrs. Sundberg's Window

A Postcard from Mrs. Sundberg

August 13, 2012

Listened to the show Saturday and it was not bad. Winding down the days now, so much of Saturday was about cleaning up the house and light salads and attention to the lawn. Each day seems to have taken on an importance of its own because you can get them all in your head now, the last days of summer, and the countdown to school has begun. When I walked in Sunday with a pile of notebooks and a sack of highlighters and note cards and pencils and erasers, the kids all froze, then got up and left the room. "I don't want to talk about it," one of them said. Which is fine, really. Have to ease into thought about some things, and it's not lecture time. Not yet. So I planned a small road trip, short, 24 hours or so to my parents' cabin up in Wisconsin. Leave today, home tomorrow. Enough time for a long swim, some grilled teriyaki kabobs with chicken and rice, a campfire, a breakfast at a place called "Garmisch" where the French toast will burn itself into your memory, and a bit of shopping - including a visit to the homemade fudge shop of my childhood. Then another couple hours in the car, back to the rhythm of things. I'm asking them each to bring a swimsuit and towel, a change of clothes, and a book. Same as I am. It'll happen too quickly like good things do, and what I'm looking forward to most is sitting with my mother on the dock as the sun sets over the lake, and hearing the kids' conversation around the campfire. I'm looking forward to the drive, too, and time neither here nor there, with talk of how things were, and what we might be one day, and the radio playing along, and how good an ice cream cone sounds.

Here's to the last days of summer, and fresh fruit, and the smell of something fine baking on a chilly morning.

Berry Cobbler

2 sticks butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 can 21 oz cherry or blueberry pie filling

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs. Beat til light and fluffy. Add the almond extract, and stir in flour and baking powder. Mix til smooth. Butter a 9x13 cake pan, and turn the mixture into the pan. Spoon pie filling into the cake, in 16 spots, evenly in each direction.

Bake at 350 for 45 to 50 minutes. Filling will sink into cake while baking. Turn bottom side up onto serving plate. Dust with pwd sugar, and/or spoon slightly sweetened whipped cream over each serving.

Enjoy!