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I’d gone straight to the black walnut cake recipe in this cookbook because it was on the es with the spatters and the spoon rest stains were the ones used ood And this one was no exception Given to the First Methodist Church cookbook by a Mrs Myra Oglesby of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, this black walnut recipe was "in enerations My mother used walnuts from her mother’s trees, picked by hand and shelled by the fire"

I loved this idea I loved that the cookbook had grease stains and chocolate speckles throughout I loved that soo sat by a fire and shelled walnuts In much the same way a quilt could tell a story, so could a recipe You could approach an old recipe like a detective and whittle out clues about the people who had written it Did a recipe call for shortening or butter? Margarine or oleo? The tere, so I could often date the recipe based on this one word Occasionally, I’d get very lucky and find an old recipe box that contained handwritten index cards, and I’d marvel over the penmanship People used to write! In cursive! On purpose!

And how char, to find that some of these handwritten recipe cards included measurements only the fa the old blue enalass cruet" "Add salt till Uncle Elmer’s face pinches"

The black walnut cake was a labor of love for Mrs Myra Oglesby, and for anyone who used her recipe to bake for their family and friends Of all the recipes I’d coh with three layers, and flecked alnuts and cinna from a cup of butterhout the cake But the highlight? Delectable crea whites and creamy butter

As I pressed the final touch of chopped walnuts onto the outside edge of the cakes, I glanced out the diner’s big frontand saw that it was alone? I quickly hurried the cakes into the old-fashioned glass display case by the cash register, where the desserts had lived since the thirties, and turned off the lights Letting myself out the front door and into the soft early su, I stopped, suddenly overco it for granted all these years?

The streetlights were just coainst the sunshine peeking over the old elledy-piggledy, as many of the small towns in the Northeast were Old Indian trails, post roads, even cow paths had over the years become the roads we see today The toas built at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, and some of the oldest homes were built almost directly into the hills the Main Street

After being inside all day, I walked the long way around the block to where I had parked, breathing in that special June twilight, where even the air sees Kids were outside, taking advantage of those extra hours of sunshine, riding bikes and yelling back and forth in that unconcerned way all kids have of being present in the moment, and your entire world is whether you can talk yourdown Locust and down along the river walk, the Hudson sparkling gold and orange A ot closer to the water, clean and a little silty froreat little town If you liked that roll-the-sidewalks-up-at-eight kind of thing

The next afternoon after the diner had closed, I headed over to Maxwell Far shotgun Mountain laurel and spiky chokeberry trees dotted the woods, and here and there the pines thinned enough to get a gli, hu the sun bake into h the s I felt a little like I was on a field trip, heading up to see the farm with the rest of my class But this time I’d be escorted around by the farmer himself

The very cute farmer

This would be the time to elaborate on my farmer fantasy I read the Little House books cover to cover when I was a child, over and over again I loved everything about this little fales with pioneer life I’d marvel at the fact that Ma and Pa left Laura and Mary alone, on the prairie, while they went to townfor hours! They were six and eight years old, and they were building fires,on their nine-block quilts! That was free-range parenting at its finest

When I got a little older, I’d pile onto the old couch withat Nellie Oleson and wondering what it must be like to have a Pa ould cry at the drop of a hat

And then somewhere around season six, a certain blond fared Laura’s life, and little Miss Roxie Callahan’s life as well He was , and lean, and cute as a button, and I sighed along with Laura whenever he drove his buggy through town Even as an adult, if I was flipping through the channels late at night and an episode of Little House was on, I’d watch long enough to see if Al to show up And if he did

Let’s just say that if I was driving ht, he was a helpful addition

And in tonight’s fantasy, ladies and gentlemen, the part of Almanzo Wilder will be played by Leo Maxwell