Folklorama is in full swing here in Winnipeg!
it’s a wonderful way to travel the world - you can visit forty countries in two weeks, yet still sleep in your own nice comfy bed.
For a senior it can’t get much better than that!
Visiting some of the pavilions reminds me of meals I enjoyed when I was a child in College Point.
We had neighbours from around the world - especially folks from Ireland, Germany and Poland.
We would eat leftovers for lunch at school, and bored with the familiar, often traded our lunches.
It was a fantastic way to enjoy really good home recipes which had been prepared by very experienced cooks.
Just like going to a Folklorama pavilion!
One of the recipes Ma got from a neighbour was Irish Tea Cake.
It’s an easy recipe - just perfect for when it’s too hot to go to too much trouble with something complicated.
The cake is similar to a pound cake, and can be served with fresh fruit as is or topped with whipped cream or ice cream.
Or you can serve it just as it is.
Hints:
This recipes can also be baked using two loaf pans.
Want a bit more flavour? Use lemon or almond extract instead of vanilla, or a mixture of 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons lemon or almond extract.
Or use a mixture of 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon or almond extract.
You know what your family likes and what is in your cupboard.
If the batter is too stiff, you can add up to two tablespoons of additional milk.
If you’re using loaf pans, let them bake 1 hour.
After they’re baked, remove them from the oven and let cool for an hour, then remove the loaves from the pans.
Ma used a generous dusting of confectioner’s sugar.
The cake is also good without the dusting, or with a lemon frosting:
Place in a medium mixer bowl
2 Tablespoons butter, at room temperature
Beat at medium speed until light.
Beat in
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
Turn down the speed to low and add, 1/2 Cup at a time
1 1/2 Cups confectioners’ sugar
Spread over the cooled cake.
Irish Tea Cake
Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans
Combine together in a large bowl
3 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350º F
In a large mixer bowl place
1 Cup butter, softened
2 Cups sugar
Beat together until light and fluffy.
Beat in, one at a time
4 eggs
Stir in
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Making 3 dry and 2 liquid additions, add the dry ingredients alternately with
1 Cup milk
Divide the mixture between the 2 prepared pans and spread evenly.
Bake for 50 minutes, until golden brown and a tester inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool 45 minutes, then remove cakes from the pans and turning them out onto serving plates.
Before serving dust each cake with
1/4 to 1/2 Cup confectioners’ sugar
Slice and serve as is, or with fresh fruit.
About the sky, thanks to the folks at The Farmers' Almanac…
August 11—The Dog Days of Summer come to an end. Beginning on (or about) August 11th, Sirius comes above the east-southeast horizon just far enough ahead of the Sun to be visible against the bright morning twilight. In the days that follow, Sirius rises a little earlier and gets a little higher in the sky with each passing morning. Although we have come to say that the Dog Days end with the first appearance of Sirius, actually seeing it strongly depends on your location and clarity of the sky.
New Moon at 5:58 a.m. This New Moon (also a “supermoon”) brings in a partial solar eclipse in the daytime in the Arctic, far-northeastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and most of Asia for about 3.5 hours. Read more about this eclipse here!
August 11-13—The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks. August is often regarded as “meteor month” with the appearance of one of the best displays of shooting stars of the year. These showers are named for the constellation Perseus (hence “the Perseids”) where they appear to emanate from, but are bits and pieces of the Comet Swift-Tuttle which visited the inner part of the Solar System in 1992. These meteors, no bigger than grains of sand, enter the Earth’s atmosphere about 80 miles above its surface. This year’s display is expected to be one of the best because the Moon will be gone from the night sky. Read more about this year’s shower.
August 13—Look to the western horizon after sunset to see the thin crescent Moon with Venus. But better catch them before the dip below the horizon at nightfall!
August 14—You have a chance to spot Venus with the Moon! Look to the east, one hour before sunrise.
August 14-16 — After sunset both Venus and Jupiter can be seen alongside the waxing crescent Moon. Because it’s moving east, throughout these nights the Moon will move closer to Jupiter as its path takes it away from Venus.
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