Tag Archives: 4th of July

Angel Food Cake for the 4th of July

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I love a red, white, and blue dessert for the 4th of July.

It was fun to bake an angel food cake from scratch over the holiday weekend. Especially eating it with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and fresh whip cream. Delicious! Before you continue reading, please read the disclaimer:

Remember I am a relaxed cook and baker. In other words, I’m high on ideas and low on ambition. If there is an ingredient I do not recognize, I will move on to another recipe. If it seems complicated to make, I will enjoy the photo and move on. I need lots of time and a lot of counter space. I do not cook or bake as often as many, so everything takes time. I’ve made a lot of things one time because cooking is an adventure not a routine for me. Keep that in mind. If you are an experienced cook, there is nothing new here for you. If you are a casual cook like me, this might inspire.

The story continues…

First, I prepped the ingredients. This always takes me time, but saves time later on.
The recipe called for 12 egg whites at room temperature. I wasn’t the only one sweating in the summer heat on Saturday while waiting to reach “room temperature.”
Separating the eggs does not mean placing them around the house one by one like for an Easter egg hunt. I am intimidated by the work it takes to get that white away from the yolk. It hasn’t always gone well in the past. I set my expectations lower this round. I went for “good enough” and “close enough.” After doing this twelve times, I was relieved to get to the last one! What do you do with the yolks?
Lemon juice is a better situation. I love my lemon juicing tool. I am fascinated by placing the lemon butt up and pushing. I like squeezing the device and the fresh lemon scent. I like how it catches the seeds. The leftover juice went in my ice water. Perfect.

Next, I got to beat the egg whites in the KitchenAid mixer I got for a wedding present 29 years ago. Still going strong. On both counts. This part was also fun because I got to watch for “until foamy.” Then “soft, billowy mounds.” After that came “glossy peaks.” Watching those stages actually appear in the shiny steel mixing bowl brought a smile to my face!

Next up: Folding the flour into the egg whites a little at a time. Who doesn’t love the calming curiosity brought about by folding in ingredients? It is not like folding laundry that then looks neat and tidy. It is a gentle shoveling of one thing into the other, encouraging the ingredients to blend. That’s a slow process that is calming to me. The curiosity for me comes from wondering how this will ever work, since I really just want to stir it all up quickly.
Time to plop the billowy, pillowy goodness all into our rarely used angel food cake pan.
Off to the oven to bake almost an hour. Sorry the photo is a little blurry. I was too excited by this point.
Time to watch, wait, and…clean-up. The hired help had the day off. [No kitchen staff in real life.] The house rule is: You cook or bake? You clean up. That gave me something to do while I waited hoping the cake would turn out OK.
More mystery wondering if it worked, while I endured more waiting. The cake cooled 2-3 hours before it was time to remove it from the pan. But how great are the little legs on the pan that permit setting it upside down?! Just like the three-legged stool we did in elementary school physical education, building to a headstand.

I don’t think the plate underneath was necessary, but I was wondering if the cake would just succumb to gravity and fall out. It did not.
Oh, relief! It looked OK. It was a little sticky, so perhaps it should have baked longer. But in the end, it tasted delicious and had that lovely, light texture.
I had to follow directions as carefully as possible. I need to do this a few more times to get more comfortable with it. Oh, and we will just have to eat it after my practice sessions.
Here is the source of the recipe. Who doesn’t love America’s Test Kitchen recipes?

Such a fun afternoon of baking something in the hot weather! Who doesn’t like to fire up the oven on a summer day? Ha, ha. The reward was a tasty treat we enjoyed during fireworks to celebrate the 4th of July.

Stay cool, my friends!

P.S. I made fresh whip cream to go on top. Thank you, Alton Brown.

Reinventing the 4th – Conclusion

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Continued from Part 3….

This Fourth of July was quite different for me.

Between the cautions of the pandemic, my greater awareness of what the 4th of July means to Americans with a different experience, and a speech given, I had a quieter celebration with a wider perspective. I learned more and became more thoughtful as a citizen.

We still had a fun at-home holiday. Much of it felt normal. Some of it felt very different. Some of it was new this year. We made the best of it, enjoying it all.

Hamilton

On July 3rd, we had a good time watching the movie, Hamilton, while eating ham(ilton) sandwiches and custom cookies. What a great musical for a variety of reasons! We’d seen it performed live in downtown Los Angeles two years ago. The movie gave us a much better view.

Ham salad sandwiches from Honey Baked Ham
Shortbread cookies from Simply Irresistible Bakery
Cookie Close-up
Hamilton, The Movie (on Disney Plus)

Food and Social Distant Fireworks

Over the weekend, we ate outdoors. My husband cooked great food on the grill several times. We had red, white, and blue strawberry shortcake for dessert while we watched PBS’s A Capitol Fourth and fireworks over Washington, D.C.

Raspberries, blueberries, strawberries with shortcake, ice cream, and whip cream
Hosted by Vanessa Williams and John Stamos
Fireworks over the Lincoln Memorial

Afternoon Virtual Jazz

Earlier that afternoon, we listened to a virtual outdoor concert while seated in the backyard by the pool (see photo below). We relaxed to a few hours of great music using a wireless speaker and my phone. The Front Yard Groove Social Distancing Concert was expertly performed by talented young musicians, via Facebook live, from the front yard of a friend in Inglewood.

The tech set-up – speaker and phone
Our virtual view of the Facebook Live concert on my phone
We watched the concert poolside, dipping our feet in the cool water.

Anyway, the 4th of July, though bright and sunny outside, was clouded for me. I continue to kindly sort it all out. It is a tension to be managed. I was happy to celebrate the 4th of July, but it was a most unusual set of circumstances this year. It will continue to be one of my favorite holidays, but now with the hope to do better for all people who call the USA home.

This concludes this Reinventing the 4th series.

Stay hopeful, my friends.

Reinventing the 4th – Part 3

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Continued from Part 2….

This Fourth of July was quite different for me.

The third component of my quieter, more reflective July 4th pertains to the recent words of our President. I felt sad and disappointed by the speech he gave at Mt. Rushmore on July 3rd. His words were divisive, harsh, and felt too partisan for the context of the evening. That was painful and will not be without consequences. I grieve the many ways on how divided our country is currently. The chasm is growing and dangerous. Leaders have the responsibility to heal, not hurt.

My favorite 4th of July t-shirt

National pride is complicated, layered. Patriotism can be expressed in many ways. I am so glad to be an American, so grateful to live here, to experience this historically young federal republic. But I lament for the broken, bruised, and bleeding flaws, too. For the systemic injustices we have yet to overcome. We have more compassionate and wise work to do.

Continued in the conclusion.

Stay engaged, my friends.

Reinventing the 4th – Part 2

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Continued from Part 1….

This Fourth of July was quite different for me.

The second component that impacted my celebration of Independence Day 2020 relates to my continued choice to respond thoughtfully to the recent social unrest regarding racial injustice. I am listening and learning as stories are shared by the black community. On the weekend of the 4th of July, the historic speech given by Frederick Douglas came to my attention again and in many formats. I was reminded of some harsh truth. That speech impacted me, and I thought more deeply about the experience of others this year. Here is a video of one of the best recitations of that important speech that I saw or read this past weekend.

I lament the power and wealth disparity in our nation that I believe feeds on the suppression of certain groups. I will take steps to change that in the days to come. But for this July 4th, I sat quietly at times, to honor others and their stories.

Continued in Part 3….

Stay compassionate, my friends.

Reinventing the 4th – Part 1

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The 4th of July, traditionally, is one of my two favorite holidays. Here are some of the reasons:

  • Time off work
  • Great food
  • Time outdoors
  • Fun with family and/or friends
  • Community traditions: local fireworks shows, concerts in the park, parades, “taste of” events.
  • No shopping for presents and busting the budget
  • Decorations are minimal – easy to put up, remove, and store.
  • We often have a lazy schedule, waking up without an alarm.
  • It lasts a couple days, not a couple months.
  • It is not a three-month retail event.
  • The red, white, and blue theme are so summery.

This Fourth of July was quite different for me.

This year was a much quieter, more subdued event due to three current events. Maybe yours felt different, too. Between the cautions of the pandemic, my greater awareness of what the 4th of July means to Americans with a different experience, and a speech given, I wasn’t sure what the 4th would look like for us, but I knew it would be different.

First, we are in the middle of a pandemic. I felt sad because this holiday would be different due to the “safe at home” order we are following here in California. But I didn’t know exactly how that would work out. We chose to stay home and celebrate with just the two of us. We did not gather with family or friends, share a great holiday meal with a crowd of loved ones, go to the beach, or watch a fireworks event. We spent the day similar to every day for the last 110 plus days. At home. Simple living.

Though bright, sunny, and hot outside, it was clouded for me emotionally. I realized that was OK. I was happy to celebrate the 4th of July, but it was a most unusual set of circumstances this year. It will continue to be one of my favorite holidays, but now with the hope to do better for all people who call the USA home. We will always make the most of it.

To be continued in Part 2….

Stay thoughtful, my friends.

Flags for the Fourth

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Every July, I like to see the American flags flying from local houses as I drive through the neighborhood. This year, our flag was not out front at our home. Don’t judge! We moved our flag to the backyard this year. In the front yard, I rarely saw it, since we don’t go out front much.

With the flag flying in the backyard, we could see it frequently. We enjoyed it when we sat in the backyard and when we looked out from the kitchen or den windows. It was illuminated at night, too, which is proper flag etiquette.

We started out with it on the gazebo.
We moved it over to the fence near our very large backyard pool. (Ha, ha. Foot bath?)
The moon was almost full on July 4th.

Do you have an American flag? Did you display it at your house for the 4th of July this year? Did you see many on display this weekend in your neighborhood?

Stay charming, my friends.