Double Batch

We have all been doing things for the past year and a half or so that we never, ever thought that we would be doing. I can remember seeing people wearing masks in stores, on the streets and riding bikes and I thought to myself, “What do these people think they are doing?” How nuts were they? I guess I should have been asking “How healthy are they?”

 

Like a lot of people I have gone thru the jigsaw puzzle phase, the baking bread phase, the bingeing on Netflix phase and the puttering about the house phase. To be fair though I have always watched far too much TV and I’ve been thankful for the pandemic to give me an excuse. Thanks pandemic!

 

My life didn’t really change too much, I was retired and take it pretty easy most days. Even when I worked I took it pretty easy most days. I consider my thirty years at the Post Office as kind of a pre-retirement training. The only real difference is that I don’t have to wear a uniform five days a week. Most days I can be found wearing an old Post Office hat or wondering what I should do with the uniforms that I still have. I kind of thought that they would be on mannequins in the KEN HARRISON MUSEUM by now. That might not happen…

 

When the twins were born (about forty years ago) we joined the Calgary Twin and Triplet club which was a support group for parents of multiple births. Having twins is a whole different thing than having a singleton and it was nice for Louise to be able to talk to other women that were bordering on going crazy. They also held a sale twice a year which allowed us to buy doubles of things for a fair price. The favourite thing was the Dukes of Hazzard pedal cars. It was a good fund raiser and another one was the sale of a cookbook called “Double Batch”. It had many wonderful recipes that we  used when the kids were small and more than a few that we still use.

 

Well, forty years takes it’s toll on a well used cookbook, so a couple of years ago I decided that I should retype the recipes so that we would have access to them digitally and if there was interest I could give the kids copies for their very own. Maybe other people as well. That was a couple of years ago and since then I have been hit or miss typing the pages. I can’t imagine the work that creating a cookbook would be. The virus came last March and I have been very busy doing nothing so the cookbook just sat on my desk collecting dust.

 

Two or three weeks ago I decided that it would get done sooner than later. I think I must have been avoiding doing some real work, but the pages started to get done. Some of the recipes are dated and there is little or no chance of ever getting made in this house. Our favourites are still there and since typing them up I have rediscovered a couple of old go to’s.

 

I just found a page that I missed containing recipes for Playdough, Finger Paint and Coloured Macaroni which will be added to the Wit and Wisdom section tonight. I will end this with the recipe for the

 

DOUBLE TROUBLE CAKE

 

 

Measure one cup flour into a bowl.

Remove Julie and Johnny’s hands from the bowl and wash them.

Re-measure the flour, add baking powder and salt.

Get eggs and milk from the refrigerator.

Sweep up pieces of the bowl from the floor.

Get a new bowl and measure the flour, baking powder and salt into it.

Answer the doorbell.

Return and remove 1/2 inch of salt from the greased pan.

Look for Julie and Johnny.

Answer phone.

Sweep up the pieces of the new bowl.

Clean up the egg on the chair.

Remove the stopper from the sink to allow milk to drain out.

Find Julie and Johnny by following the egg and floor footprints.

Wash Julie and Johnny, the floor, the chair and the remaining dishes.

Call the bakery and lie down.

 

Vivian Krogstad