How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal [63]
“Mom,” I say. “Will you take the butter out of the fridge and bring a couple of knives?”
She’s happy to have a task, and I have to remember this—she doesn’t move around my kitchen as if she owns it because she’s bossy. Well, only partly because she’s bossy. The real reason is that she likes feeling useful and part of things. Why do I have to be so mean about it? I am kinder to almost everyone in the world than I am to my mother. “We had an email from Sofia this morning,” I offer.
She pulls out a chair and sits down with us. “How are things going?”
“Don’t really have much information yet. You can email her, too, if you like. Katie, after breakfast you should send an email for Sofia to read to your dad.”
She pulls the pain au chocolat apart, seems to remember that she doesn’t want to shred it, and puts it down. “What am I gonna say?”
“Just tell him that you moved here, that you have a dog. Ordinary things.”
“Cheerful things,” Lily says. “If he knows you’re okay, he can focus on getting well and coming home sooner.”
Katie nods. “Oh. Okay. I’ll tell him about Merlin and about him jumping the fence.”
“He did?”
“Yeah,” I say, but wave a hand to forestall a recounting right this minute. “Long story, Mom.”
With two delicate fingers, she picks out a strawberry-frosted doughnut and puts it on the saucer she took out of the cabinet. “I’ll send her something, too. Promise. Don’t you want a doughnut, Ramona? I brought an apple fritter just for you.”
“I’m living in a bakery, remember?”
“You don’t make doughnuts, though, do you?”
“No.” I take a deep breath in, blow it out.
“Hey,” Katie says, saving me. “There was an old lady outside earlier who said you know a lot about flowers, Mrs. Gallagher. Are you Lily?”
“I do know a lot about flowers. What would you like to know?”
“What old lady?” I ask.
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me her name.” Katie gobbles the last of her muffin, brushes her fingers off. “But I think flowers are so pretty. I would like to grow some, maybe?”
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Lily’s face lights up. “Ramona, would you mind if I take Katie to look at bedding plants this afternoon?”
“Not at all.” Maybe I can steal a nap.
Or have coffee with Jonah.
RAMONA’S BOOK OF BREADS
HEARTY BERRY STREUSEL MUFFINS
Makes 30–32
This is a muffin for those crazy mornings when you need calories in a hurry. The yogurt and nuts add protein, the whole grains add fiber, and the fruit adds nutrients as well as general seduction for picky children. The streusel can be left off to save calories, but, trust me, you’re better off with one good one. Serve with boiled eggs for a super-fast breakfast.
1 cup white flour
½ cup spelt flour (or add another ½ cup white)
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup oats
1 T baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1 cup honey (or raw sugar)
1½ cups plain yogurt
1 6-oz. container raspberry or blueberry yogurt
½ cup milk
3 T canola oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup each fresh blueberries and raspberries
STREUSEL
¼ cup flour
3 T brown sugar
¼ cup chopped, lightly toasted walnuts, pecans, or almonds
1½ T butter, melted
Prepare muffin tins with paper or oil. Prepare streusel first and set aside.
For muffins: Mix dry ingredients well. In a separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients except berries, and beat together well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry mix and beat firmly and quickly just until thoroughly moistened. Add berries and fold in gently. Divide batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan to set the berries, remove from pan, and cool on wire rack.
Sofia’s Journal
MAY 22, 20—
STILL IN GERMANY, 7:00 P.M.
This evening I went out walking. There are flowers everywhere, and I’m thinking about Grandma Lily and her ten million tulips and forty different kinds of dahlias. She and my grandfather went to Holland last year, and she came back with so many