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JUST THE WAY YOU ARE

9/22/2016

5 Comments

 
Picture
My phone has alerted me that effective Thursday, September 22nd, we will officially forsake summer for autumn. I cannot allow summer to slip out the back door of the kitchen without succumbing to one final head cold of the season. It’s too hot for both chicken soup and flannel pajamas but just right for the last of the lemon popsicles. Feeling terribly sorry for my stuffy self, I settle down to watch the three remaining episodes of the recently concluded Great British Bake Off.
 
Somewhere between Victorian Bakes and Cream Buns, I feel myself dozing off. In my feverish slumber, I swear Mary Berry is speaking directly to me. Sporting a smart cropped jacket in a floral print, Mary tells me my pie pastry is over baked but not burnt. “But what about the flake, Mary? Does it have a good flake?” I ask. Mary tastes the tiniest forkful of pie and says, “I don’t like it.”
 
Fortified by Advil Cold and Sinus and an herbal cough suppressant from a not-so-nearby Alpine village, I return to work. In my absence there have been rumblings about next week’s High Holiday. I pretend not to acknowledge a customer inquiry about a Rosh Hashanah order. Believe me, there’s no rush. Temperatures in the high 80s speak summer to me. Likewise, the basket of clean-shaven nectarines on my kitchen counter and the pint of raspberries in my fridge.
 
The date I’ve scribbled in black Sharpie marker on a clear Cambro container speaks volumes; we are barely a week shy of October. It is impossible not to acknowledge four wooden crates overflowing with apples. Stacked impatiently in the corner, they await their tube pan fate.
 
I am momentarily interrupted by a phone inquiry pertaining to the upcoming High Holidays, or what we refer to on the Hebrew calendar as the Year 5777. One of my people wants to know why I can’t make the Jewish apple cake gluten free.
 
I’ll tell you why; because I don’t want to. Because Jewish apple cake, I love you just the way you are. Perfectly agreeable with coffee or tea, chock full of apples, fragrant with cinnamon and a splash of orange juice, there’s no reason to change a thing.
 
Because it is the Jewish apple cake plucked from my grandmother Minnie’s familiar green recipe file. Despite a diet rich with gluten and daily cups of coffee enriched with cream, Mama Min lived to be 92 years old. Come to think of it, my grandfather Milton also enjoyed his fair share of gluten until his passing, also at the age of 92.
 
The woman on the phone assures me that she doesn’t ‘need’ a gluten free Rosh Hashanah dessert because “no one has celiac or anything like that…”
 
She orders the apple cake. If it’s well received maybe, just maybe, I’ll move on to the next round; Yom Kippur.

5 Comments
AlexandraFunFit link
9/26/2016 11:13:41 am

It sounds delicious. And I wouldn't want a GF version either.

Reply
Haralee link
9/26/2016 01:00:46 pm

I am making an applecake for Sunday Night. No GF here either! It is a recipe from an old neighbor. Another neighbor I gave the recipe to wanted to make it. It is made in a bunt pan. This neighbor came to the door wanting to borrow my pan. My husband gave her a jello mold pan. It worked. Good to know!

Reply
Camille link
9/26/2016 04:31:34 pm

Good for you for sticking to your guns...uh...gluten! I've grown weary of the gluten free fad, while at the same time respecting those for whom it is a necessity. Unless it would help me lose 5 lbs. Then I'd be on board in a hot flash! ;-) Thanks for posting.

Reply
Ellen Dolgen link
9/26/2016 07:54:40 pm

I hear ya! Some people are just GF for the hell of it. But my son-in-law has Celiac Disease and therefore for the last 4 years -- all holidays and/or all meals with them are GF. My daughter has learned how to masterfully cook the most amazing food GF. Trust me, our holidays are challenging!

Reply
Ellen Gray link
9/26/2016 10:21:14 pm

Understood, Ellen. Celiac is serious business, as are all food sensitivities/allergies:ailments.
Your daughter is to be commended for navigating holidays with dietary restrictions.
Happy, Healthy holidays to you all!
Thanks for reading.

Reply



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    Professional Pie-isms & Seasonal Sarcasm

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© Ellen Gray All Rights Reserved 2014
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