I’m Ready for Winter to Be Over
There comes a time when even a Mr. Winter Guy like me longs for spring. And that time is … right now.
Maybe it was the tenth day in a row with single-digit temperatures. Maybe it was the fifth time I had to shovel my long staircase. Maybe it was the hunt for rock salt to put on top of the glaze of ice that seems to cover everything right now. Whatever the final straw was, I’ve had it.
This isn’t easy for me to say. I love the cold! But enough is enough, for this season anyway. I open the door to get the mail and it’s like sticking my head in a Frigidaire freezer. I go to take out the trash at 4 a.m. and I have to walk gingerly around the ice that has formed on the sidewalk overnight (and find a place for each trash bag because of the high snow banks). I’m using more Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotion this year than…well, the people at Vaseline Intensive Care who test hand lotion.
Oh, and thanks for filling in the sidewalk opening I shoveled two minutes ago, passing snowplow!
Don’t worry: when July comes around, I’ll be back to complaining about the heat and humidity and yearning for fall.
Asteroid Update!
A couple of weeks ago I told you about 2024 YR4, the asteroid that could hit Earth in 2032. The odds are still low that it could hit us and cause major damage, but this week those odds just went up a little bit, to 3.1 percent.
Depending on your view of the world right now, that’s either really bad news or really good news.
The Tunnel of Fudge
Ella Helfrich’s Tunnel of Fudge Cake took second place in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off. It’s one of the desserts that people think of when they think of the Bake-Off. In fact, it’s Pillsbury’s most-requested recipe and even helped popularize the bundt pan. People loved it, but then they couldn’t make it the same way for decades. What happened?
Pillsbury stopped making one of the main ingredients, their Two Layer Size Double Dutch Buttercream Frosting Mix.
But now, Pillsbury food scientist Mallory Edwards, after reading about the problems that Slate writer Dan Kois had in trying to recreate the recipe without the original frosting mix, has come up with a recipe that actually works.
For some reason, Pillsbury still has the substitute recipe on their site. Don’t be fooled by that glaze on top. Dan tells me that’s on the substitute version just for added gooeyness. The cake doesn’t need a glaze. It’s literally a tunnel of fudge!
By the way, which recipe beat Ella’s? It was the Golden Gate Snack Bread from Mari Petrelli.
What’s the Best Time to Take a Nap?
I was going to say it’s right after you eat a Tunnel of Fudge Cake, but apparently the exact time is 1:42 p.m.
Headline of the Week
“Lincoln Memorial Is Hiding a Sexy Secret in Its Graffiti”
RIP Geneviève Page, Alice Hirson, Jerry Eisenberg, Ron Travisano, Julian Holloway, Mary Peach, and Biff Wiff
Geneviève Page appeared in such films as Belle de Jour, El Cid, Foreign Intrigue, Grand Prix, and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. She died last week at the age of 97.
Alice Hirson was a veteran of many soap operas, including Another World, One Life to Live, and Dallas, and had recurring roles on Ellen, Murphy Brown, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She died last week at the age of 95.
Jerry Eisenberg was an artist and designer for such shows as Dilbert, Johnny Bravo, The Tom & Jerry Kids Show, and Super Friends, as well as doing work for Marvel and Disney. He died last week at the age of 87.
Along with Jerry Della Femina, Ron Travisano was responsible for classic ads for Meow Mix and Isuzu cars (the “Joe Isuzu” ads). He died last month at the age of 86.
Uploaded to YouTube by David Leisure
Julian Holloway appeared in the Carry On films as well as The Rum Diary, Rough Cut, and Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (he dubbed the voice of Kronos). He also did voice work on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and James Bond Jr. He died recently at the age of 80.
Mary Peach appeared in several episodes of Doctor Who and The Three Musketeers and in films like Scrooge, A Gathering of Eagles, and Cutthroat Island. She died last month at the age of 90.
Biff Wiff was a prolific character actor who appeared on such shows as I Think You Should Leave, Night Court, Roseanne, The Mentalist, Desperate Housewives, and many others. He died last week.
This Week in History
Assassination Attempt on President-elect Franklin Roosevelt (February 15, 1933)
The assassin, Guiseppe Zangara, did not succeed but he did kill Chicago mayor Anton Cermak and wounded four others.
First Teddy Bear Goes on Sale (February 15, 1903)
The first stuffed bear (yes, it really was inspired by FDR’s distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt) was sold by Brooklyn store owner Morris Michtom.
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Pillsbury’s Cake Flour (February 21, 1931)
Okay, that’s not a Tunnel of Fudge Cake, but it looks pretty good!
Let Them Eat Cake
In addition to Pillsbury’s iconic cake, why not also make this classic Hummingbird Cake from The Pioneer Woman or this Vanilla Cake from RecipeTin Eats. You can also try the Carrot Cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction or Joy the Baker’s Brown Butter Pumpkin Texas Sheet Cake.
And since I mentioned Presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt earlier, here’s the recipe for Lincoln’s favorite cake (from the February 16, 1957, issue of the Post), and here’s the recipe for Roosevelt’s, a clove cake.
I hate cloves.
Next Week’s Holidays and Events
Open That Bottle Night (February 22)
It was started by two former Wall Street Journal wine columnists because they were getting so many questions about when you should open a bottle of wine for a special occasion.
International Polar Bear Day (February 27)
Please note that there is a big difference between a teddy bear and a polar bear. Especially if you plan to keep one in your bed.
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Comments
Dear Editor:
The “Teddy Bear” by Morris Mitchum, missed the critical “Christmas Production”, owing to White House bureaucrcy.
Lawrence Hill Grahame, who was President Teddy Roosevelt’s best friend, and, sometime “Press Secretary” [aka: Personal Secretary] since Roosevelt was Governor of New York. brokered the deal with Mitchum well before Christmas.
He and his cousin, children’s writer Kenneth Grahame, best known for “Window in the Willows”.
The deal was, that Mitchum was to give an unknown small percentage of sales of the Teddy Bears to the newly formed, Children’s Outdoor Education Program in the New York State Parks. Bureaucarcy
The “Teddy Bear” was supposed to reach the “Christmas Sales Weeks”, but, Washington Bureaucracy notorious for its slowness, prevented Mitchtom to have them out on the “Christmas market”, and, missed by a wide margin.
Not to worry, the following Christmas Sales Week more than made up for the miss.
The deal with Mitchtom, was brokered by Roosevelt’s best friend and sometimes Press Secretary from the time that Roosevelt was the Governor of New York State, was Laurance Hill Grahame. He and his cousin, Kenneth Grahame, the well known children’s writer “Wind in the Willows”. The deal that Roosevelt agreed to allow the use of his name was that Mitchtom would donate a small portion of the Teddy Bear sales to the just new “Children’s Outdoor Education Program” in the newly opening New York State Parks. It would appear [stress on the word “appear”] that the amount of the “royalities” from the sales of the Teddy Bear were still +NOT+ settled, and, that the mechanicism to change hands of the “royalties money” to the new educational program was still not in place.
Nevetrheless, Mitchtom’s bear became a world wide success.
One sad note, was, that, the qualties of manufacture of the Teddy Bears detriurated over the years, from the very high quality that Mitchtom’s factory was turning out; that he gave Roosevelt,and, scarcely looked like the one given at Oyster Bay.
Today, Teddy Bears, can found just about everywhere, but, few, show the great quality and care of the first ones.
However, its nice to know that children in New York State began to learn about the natural world around them thanks to the toy bear that they adored at night going to bed.
Sincerely.
Gord Young – Canada
It all gets to be too much by February, doesn’t it? My friends in De. and Pa. have had enough of it too. You don’t want to (or can’t) leave your home unless you have to. I can also only imagine the difficulties of feeding/caring for livestock in freezing (and below) weather. And of course that’s when the needed equipment will break down.
Presently, our best solace is knowing we’re 33 days into a New Era for our country otherwise, despite the weather. Accomplishments at warped speed are the new normal, and just getting started. As for the man (opening picture) in that beautiful ’52 Bel-Air coupe, not so much. I’m sure he just finished clearing the driveway path, too.
Earl Mayan was definitely one of the Post’s great artists, and a reminder Norman Rockwell did not paint all of the covers when it was a weekly, and The New Yorker recently (erroneously) depicted it as a dearly departed magazine, when it’s anything but. If THEY should go by the wayside however, it’ll be no loss, saying the quiet part out loud.
Winter can’t be over too soon for me either. We’ve had more than our usual share of cold weather this year in the rural South. I despise Winter and associated cold and inclimate weather. Feeding livestock is not easy and there is so many failures associated with various farm equipment and those breakdowns always happen during the worst of times. It’s pretty bad when you can’t bring feed to your cattle or the unloader is broken inside the upright silo on Christmas Day when you have 6 inches snow and the temperatures are in the teens or worse. Yeah, Winter definitely sucks!
Now about the Asteroid…Let’s talk probabilities and realities…While I saw the news as you did and since your publication of the article, I see where they have dropped their probability. But realistically anything like this can be looked as 50/50. Trajectories can change at any time. From what I understand the asteroid contains a lot of minerals we sorely need. So it’s important to remember God is in control. Prayers that if it does hit, it does in a place where the least damage is sustained. Quite frankly, I’m not very worried about it, nor am I anxiously anticipating it’s arrival.