Shortcake...Long Summer

It's time for The Next Big Thing. And I don't know what it's going to be. It's a just feeling that I get sometimes and it hit me bigtime yesterday morning. I opened the garage door, walked a few steps down the driveway into the fresh air and the morning sun and there it was...I knew that The Next Big Thing was just around the next time-space corner...it was so strong and so exhilarating that I actually twirled around. Just once, but, yes, I took a deep breath, raised my arms in the air and did a little celebratory twirl right there in the driveway. (Nik is used to my spontaneous and completely heartfelt choreography. On more than one occasion in the old neighborhood, where neighbors were a very close 10 feet away, I would demonstrate for Nik my "dance move of the day" how and when the feeling hit...you can't deny the dance when it strikes you. Of course, that meant that sometimes it might be in the front yard or the driveway or maybe in the carport, only to realize at the end of my 2-4 second performance that our next-door neighbors had been the unintended audience as well. Our current neighbors are 500 or so feet away - the cheap seats, as it were - they might just think I'm stomping bugs or swatting flies.)

The Next Big Thing is ambiguous. It's an eager nervous excitement. I suppose in some contexts those same physical sensations could be discomforting...the increased heart rate and the tingly feeling all over are probably not unlike that felt by a bomb squad just before the red wire is cut. (We interviewed a new graduate at work yesterday, and it went well. I could almost sense when his anxiety crossed that fine jumpy line from bomb squad to dance move.) But my pirouette-inducing thrill in the driveway yesterday was open-ended, unrelated to explosives, employment, or gastrointestinal distress. Certainly there are a few exciting events planned for the near future (Martie's play, Disneyland) but this clearly wasn't about them...and that's the joy of it, it wasn't about anything. It just was there. The electricity I felt was vague, and fleeting, and thrilling.

I have this feeling a few times a year, often when I sense a change in the seasons. Yesterday was the spring-to-summer moment. The air and the light were different. It smelled like summer. Something new was about to begin. An invitation to start. An invitation to create. I love that. It's the feeling of potential. The physical correlate of possibility. But it's ephemeral. Gone almost as soon as I'm aware of it. I did try to prolong the sensation yesterday, to keep that window of creative opportunity open for a few moments longer - by literally opening the windows and letting the fresh air blow through the car as I drove over the pass. Wonderful!

But then you get to work, and you step into a small airless elevator, or somebody does something stupid, or you feel defeated, or whatever...and The Next Big Thing is gone...without leaving so much as a cloud of pixie dust in its wake. Gone, until summer turns to fall, or winter eases into spring...but not this time. I was not about to let that uplifting on-edge anticipation go that easily. When I got home I sat in the sun and enjoyed the heat, and I turned on the sprinkler for Roy and let the water hit me too. Jack and I splashed around in the pool for this first time this year, and Mercedes learned to swim...and Summer began...and The Next Big Thing is still out there...I won't let it vanish this time, at least not so fast...the potential is always there. I gotta remember that.

This cake was NOT The Next Big Thing. Rather, it was The Next Homely Thing, or The Next Thing That Tastes Great But Looks Like The 5th Place Winner At The County Fair. But it is summer on a plate. And is there anything better than that?

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

CAKE

Cake Flour.............................2 1/4 cups

Baking Powder........................2 1/2 tsp

Salt.....................................1 tsp

Sugar...................................1 1/4 cups

Butter..................................4 oz, room temp

Eggs....................................2

Vanilla Ex..............................2 tsp

Milk.....................................2/3 cup

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter 2 8-inch cake pans. Line with parchment.

2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

3. Beat sugar and butter until creamy.

4. Add eggs to batter, one at a time.

5. Combine milk and vanilla.

6. Add flour and milk to batter, alternating dry/wet

7. Divide batter between cake pans.

8. Bake until golden, 20-25 minutes.

PASTRY CREAM

Milk..................................2 cups

Vanilla Bean........................1/2

Salt..................................1/4 tsp

Cornstarch..........................3 1/2 Tbl

Sugar.................................1/2 cup

Eggs..................................2

Butter................................4 Tbl

1. Split vanilla bean and scrape seeds into half of the sugar.

2. In saucepan, combine the milk, salt, and the vanilla sugar. Bring almost to a boil.

3. Combine remaining sugar and cornstarch.

4. In medium bowl beat the eggs slightly. When the milk is almost to temperature, combine the eggs and sugar/cornstarch.

5. Slowly add the hot liquid to the egg mixture, whisking constantly.

6. Return to saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk/Stir constantly until mixture has thickened. Let cook 15-20 seconds, stirring.

7. Scoop the hot pastry cream into a bowl, set over a bowl of ice. Cool completely before using on cake.

ASSEMBLY

Whipped Cream, slightly sweetened

Strawberries

Simple Syrup

1. Place one cake layer on plate. Brush with simple syrup. Top with a layer of pastry cream. Cover with sliced strawberries.

2. Top with second cake. Brush with simple syrup. Top with whipped cream.

(I found this cake to be better/moister the next day, refrigerated overnight.)