We’ve been out of sorts lately. A recent encounter between a deer and our car (the deer survived, our car not so much) has us sans our all terrain vehicle. With the car at the body shop for 4-6 weeks, our normal schedule has been slightly upended.
Luckily for us, a recent trip to our local grocery store provided inspiration. Several items which have been out of stock since March suddenly appeared … namely, pickling salt and cake flour.
Bread and Butter Pickles
This is a staple in our pantry and unfortunately, we are on our last jar! The timing couldn’t be better. The pickles are used in our homemade potato salad and extra juice is used for brining hard boiled eggs.
Devil’s Food Cake
Jack recently put in a request for cake. It needed to be chocolate, packed with flavor and easy to freeze. I went to the experts of food alchemy, Cook’s Illustrated, and found what I hoped was the perfect cake … Devil’s Food Cake.
The essence of this cake is a very moist, velvety texture, combined with intense chocolate flavor. Sounds perfect. We baked it in a sheet pan to help meet the freezing requirement. The cake itself is so rich in flavor it doesn’t need frosting. What you say? No frosting? Yes, it’s that good.
Devil's Food Cake
Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa
- 1 1/4 cup boiling water
- 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 16 tbsp unsalted butter 2 sticks / softened
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 3 large eggs at room temp
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Adjust the oven racks to the middle position; heat the oven to 350º F. Meanwhile, grease a and line the bottom of a 13x9 pan with parchment. Combine the chocolate and cocoa in a medium bowl; pour the boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Sift together the flours, baking soda, and salt onto a large sheet of parchment paper; set aside.
- Beat the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer at medium-high speed until it is creamed, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat at high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatual. With the mixer at medium-high speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, beating 30 seconds after each addition. Reduce the speed to medium; add the sour cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 10 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. With the mixer at low speed, add about a third of the flour mixture, followed by about half of the chocolate mixture. Repeat, ending with the flour mixture; beat until just combined, about 15 seconds. Do not overbeat. Remove the bowl from the mixer; scrape the bottom and sides with a spatula and stir gently to thoroughly combine.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan on the middle rack. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the pan to loosen. Invert onto a large plate; peel off the parchment paper and reinvert onto a rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle a light dusting of powdered sugar on top or apply your favorite frosting.
Staying distant as possible, we took a road trip to the Prineville Reservoir. Mostly we just wanted to see what was and what was not open.
Surprisingly, there are few people at the Sunriver Nature Center during the week, so it has become a great morning destination when the neighborhood walk starts to get a bit stale.
Today we start our third week of quarantine with a bit of social distancing at the hardware store … masks on.
I’ve managed to get a couple dozen spring patterns tied, euro-nymph and dry fly. Now to start on the summer collection of caddis, stoneflies, and terrestrials.
I love our quiet moments at home, but really miss our adventures on the road. I knew we would go stir crazy without some way to get out and move. Our gym is off limits, so walking the neighborhood is our best bet. 
Luckily, we have lovely trails through forest and high desert just outside our home. 
For better than a decade we’ve kept an emergency supply pantry, as well as a stocked freezer, extra fuel, water and paper product. Prepped? Maybe. But for us it was the memory of how fast the Mount St Helen’s eruption made a mess of life in the PNW and the threat of Mt Hood’s regular awakenings. This global pandemic thing wasn’t even on my radar.
Thank goodness for Tip’s exuberance. 
If social distancing means avoiding people (and for the most part it does) we’ve been doing that for years.
We live in a neighborhood where folks lift a hand in greeting and pause to visit. I love how friendly everyone is. That said, we do have a terrible time remembering names … we usually recognize people by their dogs. “Oh, there’s the guy with the old dog that sits on the bench.” We always stop to visit, but now we do it from across the field. 
We are ready for months of isolation, quarantine and social distancing.