The Wonder Of Simple Things And A Simple Cake
Today is the last day of school for us. While we’ve been living here a few weeks, there is still so much to be done. Clothes and dishes and such are put away but the walls still lay bare and unemptied boxes litter the sunroom which is supposed to be my Southern Plate office some fine day, when I can stay home (and out of the kitchen) long enough to unpack them.
This weekend we are having the mother of all yard sales. It’s amazing how many things you acquire in ten years of living in one place. As we packed to get ready for the move, I had an ever growing box of discards. Things we didn’t need anymore or that had outlived their usefulness for the time. One of those things was a framed picture hanging at the end of our hallway. It was pretty, but nothing special in my eyes- A print of a waterfall in the midst of a lush forest. I had purchased it from one of those home party shows because it was on sale and I had decided earlier that week that I needed something to hang in the bare spot at the end of the hall. Getting ready to move, I walked out of my room one day and noticed it out of the corner of my eye. A large framed print adorned with a floral swag that had been in dire need of dusting for quite some time. Both were quickly plucked down and walked into the den where I placed them in the top of a large box marked “Yard Sale” with an extra thick black sharpie.
Then I heard a gasp. Two gasps, actually. “You’re not going to sell that!? It wouldn’t be home without that picture!” My son’s tone was pure anguish and as soon as he stopped, his father chimed in. “But I love that picture!”. I lifted it out of the box and turned to face them, my eyebrows arched in wonderment. “THIS? Y’all love this? This symbolizes home for you?”
Both nodded. “Oookaaaay. I reckon we’re keepin’ it.” They both sighed in relief as I leaned it up against a wall next to a “go” pile.
Bless their hearts, Mama almost sold their memories.
When my mother was growing up, she had a similar print in her house. It was an entirely different scene but she tied it so tightly to her home and her childhood that she spent most of my childhood trying to find a copy of it. Several years back, she came across one like it in an antique store- a print of a little cabin overlooking a lake. It’s simple, peaceful and pretty, but she’ll be the first to tell you it’s certainly not a work of art. Still, she loves it and it hangs in her bedroom now. When she looks at it she can’t help but tell you stories about exactly where a print just like it hung growing up and how she used to look at it and imagine fishing in that little pond, just outside of the warmth of the cabin. It’s amazing how little things like this, objects and prints and such, bind themselves so tightly to our childhoods that just looking at them takes us back in time.
For me, it was a milk glass footed planter. Mama planted a golden pothos in it (my favorite houseplant) and gave it just to me to care for. It sat in the center of our den coffee table and I named it Glenda, after the good witch on Wizard of Oz. I used to talk to that plant, stroke its leaves and will it to grow. I’d check the soil daily and hope for dryness just so that I could water it again.
Do I have a planter like that now? You’d better believe it. I found mine before Mama even found her print, saving myself the additional twenty years of searching she had to go through.
These are the simple things which have value to us, real value. Something that helps you remember, that helps you reach back and touch another part of your life so vividly that you can then pass it on just as plainly to your children as if they were living it themselves. They may not amount for much from a monetary standpoint, but they are worth more than anything else you could own.
I’ve had to think about things like this a lot lately because as we move to a new house and evaluate what we do and don’t need anymore, I don’t want to inadvertently get rid of something that my kids really value (but I bet I could have gotten at least a dollar for that print at the yard sale ~winks~). I’d love to hear some of the things you remember like this. What simple “things” make you think of home or of your childhood? Holler at us in the comments section below and lets have us a talk about simple posessions and the irreplaceable value they have in our lives.
Last night, as I hung a new shower curtain in our guest bathroom Katy asked me “Mama, what happened to your shower curtain that had all of the pretty flowers on it? I hope you still use it in your bathroom because I really love to look at that curtain. It makes me happy.” I thought to the curtain now stuffed in a laundry basket in the garage. I had bought it only because it was on sale and matched a towel I had at the time.
I guess I’ve got a shower curtain to hang later today…
Speaking of simple things, how about a simple cake which can be served plain, with a glaze, or as the perfect base for strawberries and whipped cream?
You’ll need: Cooking oil, eggs, small box vanilla instant pudding, water, and a yellow cake mix.
Su, I am sooo bringing you some cake mix when you visit the states!
Su is a reader whose been with Southern Plate for ages. She lives in Australia and cake mix isn’t as common there as it is here. But, she’s coming to the states this fall to visit Graceland with her mother and planning a stop over in Atlanta. I plan on driving over there to meet her. Can’t wait!
I dearly love to get to meet y’all!
Back to the water in this recipe. On my flight out to Los Angeles, I sat by a hydro-geologist. His job is to go to places where the ground water is being polluted and help them purify it again. I asked him, because you know we all wonder these things, what kind of water he personally drank. Know what he said? “Without question, tap water. It’s the absolute best, especially if you have kids.” He went on to extoll the virtues of flouridated water and the quality of tap versus some bottled water. ~shrugs~ I just thought that was kinda neat to hear for all of us plain old folks still getting our water out of the faucet.
Toss all ingredients in a bowl.
Whistle or dance a bit because this recipe isn’t complicated so you can occupy your mind with more lighthearted pursuits.
This is my favorite plain cake. I love slices of it warm all by themselves. The flavor is simple and delicious from start to finish.
Mix it all up for about two or three minutes, until well blended.
Now you can grease and flour your pan but I prefer to just spray the living mess out of it with cooking spray.
I’m a role model for laziness, I know, but doing it my way gives you at least another forty five seconds with your family 
. See? I’m actually just promoting family togetherness!
Pour all of that in your bundt pan and bake it at 350 for about an hour. Check it at about 45 minutes.
Fortunately for me, I have little oven guards.
Apparently, this was the best seat in the house.
Voila, done cake.
Two years of high school french in action, folks!
Let it sit in your pan for ten minutes before turning it out.
Ten minutes is the magic number in cakes.
You should always let them cool for that amount of time and they turn out so much nicer!
At this point you can eat the cake plain, apply a glaze, or serve it this way.
I love strawberry shortcake and a slice of this is the perfect foundation!
To learn how to make homemade whipped cream, see this post!
Simple Easy Pound Cake
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 box (3.4 oz ) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup oil
-
Instructions
- Mix all together until well blended with electric mixer. Pour batter into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for fifty minutes to an hour. Let sit in pan ten minutes before turning out.
Google Recipe View Microformatting by ZipList Recipe Plugin
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 box (3.4 oz ) instant vanilla pudding mix
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup oil
Instructions
- Mix all together until well blended with electric mixer. Pour batter into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 for fifty minutes to an hour. Let sit in pan ten minutes before turning out.
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
— Charles Mingus
Submitted by Emily. To submit your quote, please click here! Thank you!
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on May 26 2009. Filed under Cake, Dessert.
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Thanks for the info…this blog has never let me down..and by the way, i love your theme. Catch your next post..Bye.
Christy, This brings back fond memories of my childhood. My Granny always baked a “couple” of plain layers to serve as dessert during the week. Sometimes a small slice of cake was topped with her home-canned blackberries or peaches…..sometimes homemade applesauce with extra cinnamon. No matter which one, it was always welcomed and always delicious.
Yumm, what a special treat!
Thank you for all your recipes… I plan to make this cake this weekend! I am on the wait list of your book through QVC. Have a wonderful holiday with your family!
Have been making this cake for years. It is one of my family favorites. I even give it for Christmas gifts with rave reviews.
What a great idea Alice!
[...] YUM Recipes for Memorial Day Ready for Memorial Day? Here are a few recipes to help give you a head start! Be sure and visit SouthernPlate.com where you can browse through over 400 more recipes I’ve posted! Hope you have a wonderful weekend and remember, it’s not the food but the faces around the table that make the meal memorable. Gratefully, Christy With Memorial day coming up, Here is a simple cake with a story of simple things that I wrote back in May of 2009. To get this recipe and read the story, The Wonder Of Simple Things And A Simple Cake, please click h… [...]
I’m so glad that you re-posted this! I love pothos and I’ve noticed you have it growing in your sunroom. I am making this cake for the weekend, especially since I have fresh strawberries and whipped topping! If Katy Rose was living in my neiborhood, I’d have her keep an eye on it while it baked! Thank you for taking those cute pictures of her in her little chair!! I think ALL ovens should have doors with windows for just that purpose!!
“Neiborhood”??!!! Is that by chance the same thing as a neighborhood? ~snickers~
Oh, this looks absolutely delicious and so simple. I’m definitely trying this this weekend. Couldn’t pull up the homemade whipped cream.
Hi Christy, the link on ”how to make homemade whipped cream” doesn’t work it comes up with an ERROR PAGE NOT FOUND….HELLLLPPPPPP
I’m so sorry! I’ve fixed it now and here is the link to save you trouble from having to look up again
http://www.southernplate.com/2009/09/good-n-easy-cake-with-homemade-whipped-cream.html
Have a GREAT Memorial Day!
*phew* thanks a million Christy, going to go make this now
I made this cake for Easter and added a bag of butterscotch morsels to the batter before I baked it. Yum! Okay I need to go to the grocery store now.
I do the same cake with chocolate cake mix and everyone loves it. I add chocolate chips to make it even better
Oh, the curls! Even though my girls are grown, I still miss the babies they were.
This looks so good and EASY. Your post suddently reminded me of a planter we had at the bottom of our stairs that I used to love to water. It was nothing special to look at, but I loved it. And it was right next to a tiny rocking chair that my parents still own and that my young son loves to sit on. Thanks for brining back to great memories.
I so enjoy reading your posts.
HOW DO YOU PRINT OUT SOME OF THESE RECIPES? EXAMPLE: A SIMPLE CAKE
Highlight the recipe, go to print, click on “selection” and “apply” and click “print”. Hope this helps.
Wow!!! looks soo yummy!!! How did you get the strawberries so moist and juicy???
Made this cake for dinner with in-laws. It was SO GOOD!!! Served with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Can’t wait to make it again.
I am so glad to hear it was a hit Elaine!!
Thanks for this very good and very easy recipe. I made it for Memorial Day to go along with my sister’s peach ice cream (she makes the best I have ever eaten). I knew it was a keeper when my brother-in-law went back for seconds. Thanks again Christy.
My mom printed the recipe a couple of weeks ago so I could make this for her…wasn’t that sweet of her =D
I made the cake exactly as the recipe says the first time and it turned out beautifully.
I made a second cake last Thursday using a Duncan Hines Orange Supreme cake mix instead of a plain cake mix and it was absolutely wonderful (from what I hear). My dad and uncle took it on the road with them from Birmingham to Tennessee and I don’t know that the cake ever made it out of the truck when they got there. They kept it all for themselves as a road trip snack as they traveled.
Im thinking we will try lemon next.
Love this cake! But my bunch just loves chocolate,so substituted chocolate cake mix and pudding mix, Microwaved canned vanilla frosting an drizzled it over the cake. WOW,what a cake.
What a beautiful story! For me, it’s Mom’s treadle (did I spell that right??) Singer sewing machine cabinet and her old crockery bowl that she made bread in. The bowl was that cream color with the blue band around the top. When we moved her out of Houston, it was such a rush that we couldn’t get many of her things. I know I’ll find one of those bread bowls one day!
Denise in Dallas
[...] bought a flat of fresh home grown strawberries and I have made the Fresh Strawberry Pie and the Simply Easy Pound Cake to help use them up. With fresh home made whipped cream they both were delicious! My family loves [...]
i remember my mom’s feed store calender on the back door she had five of us in 8 years while my dad was in the navy she wrote down weather conditions what fields we worked (after the navy my dad farmed everything in south white county, arkansas that would stand still) how much cotton we picked that day or soybeans, it was a history of our life my dad died two years ago and my mom has cancer and wants to go see my dad and brothers and her mama so she is dividing up her wealth my sister’s call it stuff well i told her i better get the calendars so i can share with my sons and their families and let the weather bureau look at what the weather was like back in 1950 have a great father’s day love you joy a ross
I remember as a child growing up in the early 50′s till 1962, when my grandmother passed away, she had a large pin cushion hanging on the wall where she kept her hat pins. She aways wore hats when she went out and used pins to hold her hat on. When my grandfather passed away in 1982 I ask for the pin cushion but someone else got all the pins. I can still see that pin cushion hanging on her wall behind where she alway sat.