Mary's Almond Cake

I'd forgotten how good this is. It's simple, too.

Mary's Almond Cake

Mix:
3/4 C. butter
3/4 C. sugar
12 ounces almond paste

Add:
grated zest of one lemon
grated zest of one orange
1 tsp. brandy (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla (I skipped the brandy and made it two tsp. vanilla.)
1/2 tsp. almond extract

Add:
5 eggs
Beat, but not too much. You don' want the top of the cake to end up frothy.

Add:
1/2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Butter a 9" round cake pan and cut a circle of parchment or waxed paper to go in the bottom of it. Butter the parchment too. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 325° for 45-55 minutes, until the cake shrinks from the sides. Cool. Top with a glaze of 2 T. apricot jam, warmed with 1 T. water. (I prefer confectioners' sugar  and water.) Sprinkle with slivered, roasted almonds.

Tallahassee Farmers' Market - LocalHarvest

Tallahassee Farmers' Market - LocalHarvest

Clark loves sunflowers, so I buy them every Saturday at the farmers' market.
Here they are in the back of the car:

And here in the beautiful blue vase Patrice gave us.

Vincent van Gogh

Van Gogh by Steven Naifeh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know I'm going to like/maybe love this book. Loved their life of J Pollock. But in the very beginning they blame van Gogh's mom. I'm not sure for what, but it's her fault.

June 13. I finished it Sunday. It was long, but I was on vacation. Also, by reading it on Kindle I never felt its many pages. When finished, I needed a breather. Now, Thursday, i can face the miseries of Vincent van Gogh. Living with him, or befriending him, or working with him in his relatives' art galleries or during his misguided pursuit of the ministry must have been a tromp in a swamp with no mosquito repellent. You come out resentful.VvG would top you and be hellishly resentful. You'd come out feeling used. VvG would think you should have given him more--LOTS more.  Cash, sex, paintbrushes, whatever.  He lived in all CAPS all the time. Even his father, a minister no less, damned him to hell.  A sister accused VvG of actually killing their father, who died of a stroke just inside his front door.  And the mother -- Long- suffering  is her name.

I knew the outline of VvG's life. Now I know in detail how tortured he was.  While mental illness is treated better these days, there are still many friendless people obsessed, ravished, and rejected -- as Vincent was -- over everything, everyone. If only all of them could paint.


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