Peevish

A few weeks ago my father came to visit, and we took a road trip to San Diego for a few days. My dad is a horse-racing aficionado, and he really wanted to see the Del Mar track. It had been a while since I had taken some time off and, more to the point, a while since I had not cooked, baked or written anything for more than a day or so.

I absolutely love San Diego and was really looking forward to hitting my all-time favorite beach, Torrey Pines State Beach in La Jolla. No matter what?s going on, when I step into Torrey Pines, everything troublesome, heinous or fat goes away. I become a lithe, strawberry-blond Pulitzer prize-winning photographer who sings in a Warren Zevon tribute band, speaks eight languages and has eased the tension between Israel and her neighboring countries with one short conversation. (Hey, it?s my fantasy and my blog.) This trip I brought along the digital camera I recently began using.



For years I avoided using a digital camera. I told people this was because my Nikon SLR provided photos with so much more warmth and color saturation than anything digital possibly could. Then I read Annie Leibovitz?s At Work. She talks about being afraid to go digital, then finally confronting her fear and making the move into the 21st century. I revere Annie?s work. In fact, the last time I was in San Diego was in 2007, when I attended her ?A Photographer?s Life? exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art. I thought, If Annie can confront digital, I can too. I am amazed at the stuff I can get with this digital camera! The color saturation is beautiful, and I?ve seen no warmth sacrificed.

It?s a good thing I had my camera, because I?m not used to spending so many hours not doing something. At least while I was at the beach taking photos I was productive. I started becoming peevish when we were getting ready to leave. The peevishness got worse and continued through the next two days. It was alleviated somewhat when I got home and baked a cake, but as soon as the cake was out of the oven, the peevishness returned in full force. I had work to do and I wanted to write, but I felt guilty abandoning my father, whose last visit was four years ago, to creative pursuits.


As I was emailing my friend Keli to firm up plans for later in the weekend, I realized what was making me peevish: Too much doing nothing.

If I couldn?t take photos, write and cook I would be an ill-tempered cretin living alone somewhere with the TV constantly droning and no contact with anyone in the outside world save for the mailman, who would drop my mail daily and run for his life. Next time you?re feeling peevish, I suggest rummaging through your cupboards and finding some stuff to create your own cake. You will not be peevish for long.




Decadent Plum-Nectarine Cake
Makes 9 servings

This is probably decadent only to me because of the butter, eggs, half-and-half and whipped cream, which is pretty divine. The leftovers also make a sublime breakfast. Here?s how I whip cream: I pour 8 ounces of heavy cream into a metal mixing bowl. I add a capful of vanilla extract and two heaping teaspoons of confectioner?s sugar and beat it with a handheld electric mixer for about 4 minutes. You can stop when you reach the consistency of whipped cream you like. I don?t like runny whipped cream, so I tend to give it a bit more time with the mixer. Just be careful not to whip it so long that you make butter. Unless that?s your intention.

Canola oil spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Dash nutmeg
1½ sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled
¾ cup sugar
½ cup half-and-half
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
3 small, ripe plums, sliced
1 medium nectarine, sliced
1 tablespoon brown sugar for sprinkling
Freshly whipped cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray 8x8 baking pan with canola oil.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar, half-and-half, egg and vanilla and almond extracts. Stir dry ingredients into wet until combined. Stir in fruit. Pour batter into baking pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle brown sugar over top of the cake.

3. Bake until the top is golden brown, the kitchen smells like a bakery and a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Slice and serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream (optional, but why not?). This should be eaten pretty fast?within a day or two.