Simple Pleasures of the Kitchen by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781609253417
Publisher: Red Wheel Weiser Conari

AUTUMN'S ABUNDANCE

Autumn is the bite of the harvest apple.

—Christina Petrowsky

The Scent of Apples

While grocery shopping one day, I found myself drawn to a large display of fruit. Someone had arranged piles of shiny red apples next to boxes of brown-flecked yellow ones, and placed bags of small green apples nearby. My mouth watered as I tried to decide which ones to buy. Then a sweet scent tickled my nose and a wave of memories transported me straight back to my mother's kitchen.

One of her specialties was apple cake. Her recipe involved a simple yellow batter and lots of fresh apples, and the cakes turned out so moist and tender that they didn't even need frosting. I loved digging into a hot, chunky slice of apple cake right out of the oven. But I had no idea how special one particular apple cake would be.

When my daughter was born, I suffered complications and had to spend nearly two weeks in the hospital. I was so ill that I lost my appetite and my strength. Fearing that I would become even weaker, the doctor asked my family to encourage me to eat.

The next day Mother came to visit. I could tell by the twinkle in her eyes that she was up to something. “I made you a surprise,” she said. Setting a package on my bedside table, she whisked off the wrappings with a flourish. There sat a beautifully browned apple cake.

Mother cut a slice of the still-warm cake and put it on a plate she'd brought from home. The scent that wafted up tempted me to try a few bites. The cake's moist goodness coaxed my poor appetite back to life.

And now, twenty-something years later, here I stood in the middle of a grocery store, catching a whiff of Mother's apple cake. How could that be?

I glanced around and spotted a row of freshly baked yellow cakes. The scents of apple and yellow cake had somehow combined. I bought a bag of apples and hurried home to see if I could find her recipe. Suddenly I craved the scent of fresh apple cake warming and enriching my own kitchen and bringing back a little bit of that home-baked comfort Mother had given me all those years ago.

—Anne Culbreath Watkins

Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.

—Jane Austen

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