Great Questions!
Wondering about what to include in this week’s E-Musings, I decided to focus on…questions (big, little and in-between). Some of the answers? A sweet song, a special movie, words of wisdom and faith, and the ultimate birthday cake! Read on, friends…
DO YOU THINK I’LL REMEMBER HOW YOU LOOK WHEN YOU SMILE???
My mom Joanie had a repertoire of songs from the 1940s that she’d often sing around the house with her deep, cigarette-smoky voice. This was one of them. A Crosby number from the movie “Rhythm on the River,” it worked surprisingly well sung to a baby or young child, with its lovely questions and reassuring answers…Mom’s gone 18 years this week, but I’ll remember her only forever.
SONG: ONLY FOREVER (BING CROSBY AND MARY MARTIN)
IS IT FOOLISH TO HAVE FAITH AND HOPE???
Dr. Francis Collins is a world-renowned American physician, scientist and former head of the National Institutes of Health. Among his many other achievements, Collins led the Human Genome Project, mapping and sequencing human DNA. He also helped develop the COVID vaccines. Dr. Collins is a person of deep faith, and firmly believes that faith and science can not only co-exist, but that they beautifully complement one another. I hope you’ll watch this important conversation (spoiler alert: Collins says faith and hope are emphatically NOT foolish).
INTERVIEW: KATE BOWLER AND DR. FRANCIS COLLINS
WHAT’S THE WORLD’S BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE RECIPE???
Do you love chocolate? How about a rich cream cheese buttercream? Well, have I got a cake for you! I discovered this recipe several years back, and since then, it has been by far the most requested birthday cake in our household. I’m so serious about you trying this that I’m not even posting a link—I’m posting the recipe itself, verbatim! To the kitchen, friends!!
HERSHEY’S CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
350 degree oven
CAKE
*Sugar 2 cups
*Flour 1 3/4 cups
*Cocoa 3/4 cup
*Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
*Baking soda 1 1/2 tsp
*Salt 1 tsp
*Eggs 2
*Milk 1 cup
*Vegetable oil 1/2 cup
*Vanilla 2 tsp
*Boiling water 1 cup
Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla, and mix well. Add boiling water, mix. Pour batter into 3- 9” round pans (sprayed with non-stick spray and lined with parchment paper). Bake for about 20 min, till toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Cool, and remove from pans.
FILLING AND FROSTING
(Note: make sure cream cheese and butter are at room temperature to begin!!)
VANILLA CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM
*Cream cheese 6 TB
*Butter 6 TB
* Powdered sugar 2 cups
* 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
In a bowl, whip cream cheese, add butter. Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla.
CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE BUTTERCREAM
*Cream cheese 6 TB
*Butter 6 TB
*Powdered sugar 2 1/2 cups
*Cocoa 3/4 cup
*Milk 1/3 cup
*Vanilla 1 tsp
In another bowl, whip cream cheese, add butter. Slowly add powdered sugar, cocoa, milk and vanilla.
Spread vanilla cream cheese frosting between the layers, and a thin layer on top. Refrigerate cake briefly. Then, frost with chocolate cream cheese frosting on top and sides.
Store cake in refrigerator, bring out 30 minutes before serving. Light those candles and celebrate!!
IS THERE A WORD FOR THAT ???
Writer Kristin Wong has a wonderful Substack newsletter, UNTRANSLATABLE, about words from other languages that almost, but don’t quite, have an English translation. I very much enjoy each entry, but a few words stand out…
KUCHISABISHII (lonely or bored mouth, Japanese)
Now that I’m working as a writer from home full time, my eating habits have, shall we say, not improved. I used to grab my yogurt-berry-granola combo before heading down to church, or out to a performance, and then I’d be set until dinnertime. It just never occurred to me to eat during that interim—largely because I was so busy doing other things. But now! I find myself, for the first time in my life, snacking, and I really don’t like what it’s doing to my body. Because I’m not noshing on celery and carrot sticks; I’m grabbing whatever sweet is in the vicinity. I really should stop (after the chocolate cake is finished, of course)! But meanwhile, I’m delighted to have a word that explains my situation—it’s not my fault! It’s my kuchisabishii!!
VORFREUDE (pre-joy, German)
I love to travel, but I love to PLAN my travels even more. The weeks and months leading up to the trip almost beat the trip itself, because I get to relish the possibilities of the exciting journey ahead. The reality is never quite the same, of course, but it’s close enough that, when I finally arrive at my destinations, there is a wonderful, grounded sense of familiarity (ah, of course, the Cliffs of Moher! I’d know them anywhere!) I used to chalk this feeling up to my control freakiness (not for me those aimless rambles down side streets in Paris or Barcelona!), but now I realize that this is a common emotion and, as usual, the Germans have the word for it. Vorfreude means “pre-joy,” the happiness that comes from looking forward to a future event.
Even with the world in turmoil, there is lots of vorfreude in our house—Patrick and Ashlyn just got engaged, and our new grandbaby is due to be born tomorrow. We are basking in anticipation of beautiful big moments to come!
WHAT’S A MOVIE THAT HAS REALLY STAYED WITH YOU???
Shine came out in 1996, and that incredible biopic has never left me. Geoffrey Rush’s performance as the troubled and gifted Australian pianist David Helfgott, the score (especially Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto), and the story itself of Helfgott’s dreadful childhood with a domineering father, his onstage mental breakdown, hospitalization, and eventual return to performing—all combine to make an unforgettable movie experience.
David Helfgott himself resumed international concert tours after the film’s premiere, and I went to see him in Philly many years ago. David is quite eccentric, talking to himself while playing the piano, but he clearly still takes great joy from making and sharing music…
MOVIE CLIP: SHINE (GEOFFREY RUSH AS DAVID HELFGOTT)
WHERE TO FIND MORE GREAT QUESTIONS ???
How has your life been different from what you imagined? Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What is your earliest memory?
Story Corps is a national storytelling initiative that records people sharing their personal stories (check out their weekly feature on NPR’s Morning Edition radio program every Friday morning). On their website I found this exhaustive list of questions to start great conversations…
BLOG PREVIEW: SAFETY FIRST!
Granted, I am one of the most risk-averse people in the universe, but safety should be a prime concern for us all. While we grownups bear most of the responsibility for the decisions that keep society safe, I think giving kids some tasks along those lines is a fine idea. Remember, folks: walk, DO NOT RUN, in the hall! Don’t incur the wrath of our faithful fifth grader Aiden!!
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
In a time when the humility of asking questions is mocked, let’s keep asking those questions anyway! Here’s to a week of growing into the best versions of ourselves!!