Issue 9 - February 15, 1998
by Diana Waring
E-mail It!

Beyond Survival Things We Wish We'd Known Ancient Civilizations and the Bible Romans, Reformers, Revolutionaries World Empires, World Missions, World Wars History Tapes Encouragement Tapes Music Newsletter Web Column Laughing Corner Online Catalog Place An Order! Monthly Special New & Upcoming Meet the Warings Schedule Message Board Site Map What's New? Search Site Web Links HOME

Dear Friends, As cupids on cards are winging their way through the mails this week, I've been thinking about Valentine's Day... thinking about how this marriage of mine came about... and how desserts have played an important part of my growing up. It all started about nineteen years ago. Bill and I had been very good friends all the way through college - he was the big brother (6'5") I never had! We were as comfortable together as good friends can be, and never looked twice at each other with stars in our eyes... until post-college. We were still both hanging around our college town, and Bill and I were spending a lot of time in all the same places. On February 14, 1979, I was purchasing Valentine's Day cards for all of the family, and realized that Bill was going to be over for dinner that night. So, I grabbed a card for him, too. The card was very simple, and, as it turned out later, remarkably accurate. On the cover was a grinning cat doing a balancing act upside down with one paw on a ball. On the inside, the caption read, "How can you resist such cuteness and talent?" I signed it with a smiley face and my name. You could have knocked me over with a feather when, about a month later, my heart did a double take, and I got romantic stars in my eyes as Bill came to the door. I thought to myself, "You idiot! You'll mess up a good friendship! This is Bill, your good buddy and pal!! Knock it off!!!" But the Lord, who reigns in the hearts of His children, had other plans. So, in spite of my trying to "knock it off," both Bill and I fell absolutely, head-over-heels, in love. None of our friends could believe it. They looked at us like we were certifiably crazy when we told them we were getting married, after all, we were just friends! But they proceeded to do all of the things for us that folks do when their friends get married... like throw a wedding shower. Dessert Story #1: After college I did a short stint as a waitress in a hoity-toity restaurant. One of my most treasured gleanings from that time was the recipe for the restaurant's absolutely masterful cheesecake. Well, I have always prided myself on my cooking, so, I ask you, what could be more loving, more giving, more romantic than making my fiance the very best cheesecake in the world? Bill's reaction to this masterpiece was satisfying, he oohed and ahhed and chomped down. So far, so good. However, at one of our wedding showers, a good friend made a throw-it-in-the-pan-and-refrigerate-for-two-hours cheesecake. (I hesitate to use the same term to describe both this pedestrian dessert and my artistic masterpiece.) Bill, bless his heart, was doing his best to "take no prisoners", when, in a moment of inspiration, he said to the cook, "Wow! This is the BEST cheesecake I've ever had!!" Mind you, he had eaten my cheesecake less than a week before. I felt insulted, unappreciated, and I couldn't believe that anyone could prefer something out of two boxes over a work of art that took hours to prepare. It is probably a miracle of God that we managed to continue with the wedding after that little remark. :o) As we tried to work out this snafu, and Bill backpedaled as fast as anyone probably ever has in the history of mankind, I came to a realization. Bill could and certainly did appreciate my hard work, but he didn't come equipped with my taste buds. There really was nothing wrong with that. What really mattered was whether or not I served up the dessert with no-strings-attached love. "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." I Corinthians 13:3 May I paraphrase? "And though I make the most incredible cheesecake in the world, and spend $20 on it, and take hours to make it, if it's served in order to really impress someone and show them how amazingly talented I am, and not served with love, it profits me nothing." Well, on to the next story. We were married on July 31, 1979, in Bellingham, Washington. It was a wedding filled with beloved family and devoted friends, laughter, music, flowers and the presence of God. The tall, handsome man beside me at the altar was the fulfillment of my childhood dreams. We were such good friends already that our month-long honeymoon to Victoria, B.C. , Glacier Park, Montana and South Dakota was a BLAST! We set up housekeeping in a tiny little house in Winlock, Washington, where Bill was teaching music. Our furniture was "early newlywed", but it didn't matter a whit to us that we were sitting on old college trunks. I began unpacking boxes and boxes and boxes of books (even way back then we were book hounds!), and trying to create beauty on a zero-dollar budget. Dessert Story #2: For one of the very first meals in our new home, I decided to go all out. Since I had been a French Literature major in college, there had been many opportunities to learn to cook French cuisine. Now, I knew that my beloved husband absolutely LOVED my cooking, and that when I introduced him to my French cooking, his delight would know no bounds. So, I planned my absolute favorite "homey" French meal: Onion Soupe with French Bread, and perfectly fresh salad with olive oil and wine vinegar. I hummed contentedly to myself all afternoon as I carefully peeled and sliced the onions, sauteed them in real butter, added beef broth and wine, and waited expectantly for my dear husband to come home. When he walked in the door, the aromas hit him square in the nose. "Hi! What are we having for dinner?" "You'll see... But I'll give you a little hint: it's from France!!" Mmmm. Salivate, salivate, salivate. I could hardly wait to get to the table and take that first spoonful. Lovingly prepared, beautifully served, that was the description of this savory soup. "Uh, Diana, um, what is this?" "French Onion Soupe!" "Aha." Well, Bill manfully emptied the soup bowl, and then peered into the kitchen. "What else do we have?" "Nothing, dear, except for salad." "Aha. Well, I guess you better give me some more." I was so busy enjoying the delightful dancing of my taste buds on the onions that I didn't even notice Bill's slowness to ask for more. However, as we finished up dinner, he hit me with the "D" question: "What's for dessert?" A hopeful glance. "Nothing." Period. The end. "Nothing?" Silent mortification. "No, nothing! Why do you need dessert? I just made you a marvelous dinner!" Slight outrage. "Onions? Onions for dinner? You serve me onions for dinner? You serve me onions for dinner and nothing else? And no dessert? My mom ALWAYS had dessert for us after dinner!" "You're kidding!!!!" We laugh at this episode now. We didn't laugh much at the time. Here I was, the French chef, proud of my culinary skills. I didn't like to make dessert, I didn't like to eat dessert, I didn't see the need for dessert. However, my dearly beloved husband liked desserts. In fact, he REALLY liked desserts. In fact, he REALLY, REALLY liked desserts. "And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." I Corinthians 13:2 Diana's translation: "And though I have the ability to make outrageous French Onion Soupe, and toss an absolutely incredible salad, and have the skill to make good presentations of food, so that I can dress a table, but have not love enough to make a dessert, too, I am nothing." One more story. Last week, Michael (our son) made dinner. I had previously purchased some cans of sauerkraut because every once in a while I get an incredible yen for that sour wonderfulness. My family thinks I'm loony, and will not usually permit me to sit with them at the table when I partake thereof. As Michael was setting out all the bounties of his preparations, he espied a can of sauerkraut and thought, "I bet Mom would enjoy this with dinner!" So, when we all came to the table, upon perceiving the bowl of kraut there was general groaning all around with one dissenting "Hurray!". Now, it had been a long time since I'd had sauerkraut. And it had been a long, long time since I've made dessert. (Our daughter, Melody, has taken over this department.) So, in my idea-crazed mind, I thought of bringing the two together. I knew that somewhere in my dozens of cookbooks, I had a recipe for Sauerkraut Cake. Finding it, I knew that the dessert to outdo all desserts was upon us! With utmost cunning and craftiness, I stole into the kitchen the next day. No one observed me as I carefully rinsed the leftover sauerkraut and added it to the cake batter. However, as the cake began to bake and the aroma began to diffuse throughout the house, everyone wandered through and said, "Hi, Mom. Watcha making?" "Chocolate cake." Total innocence. "Really?" Amazed surprise. Mom does not normally do this kind of thing. In fact, we can't remember her making a cake since last Valentine's Day. "Really. And just you wait, it's going to be GREAT!" Surreptitious smile. It was. It was absolutely, undeniably the BEST chocolate cake I've ever made. And my dear, beloved husband enjoyed every single bite! - even after I told him what the surprise ingredient was called!! "Love... believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." I Corinthians 13:7 My translation: "Love believes that this recipe will work, hopes this recipe will work, endures the suspense to see if this recipe will really work, because blessing and surprising our family is worth it!" Dear friends, real love is about giving. Giving with no strings attached, giving when it is not comfortable, and giving with the idea of blessing those who receive. I have not attained perfection in this, but God is steadily growing me up in the lessons of love. Blessings, Diana P.S. Here's the Sauerkraut Cake recipe. Be sure to try it (but don't tell anyone the special ingredient until they taste it!): Sauerkraut Surprise Cake 2 1/4 cups sifted flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup cocoa (Dutch preferred) 1 teaspoon vanilla 2/3 cup sauerkraut 2/3 cup butter or margarine 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 cup water Sift the flour with the baking powder, soda, salt, and cocoa. Set aside. Rinse and drain the sauerkraut. Snip it into smaller pieces with kitchen scissors. Cream the butter or margarine until fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and cream until light. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and beat in well. Add the vanilla and blend. Now stir in the flour mixture alternately with the water, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in the sauerkraut last. Turn batter into 2 8-inch round layer pans that have been buttered and floured. Tap pans lightly on a counter top to release excess air. Bake in a 350 °F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto racks to cool. Cool cake thoroughly before frosting. Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting 9 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/3 cup butter or margarine 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup commercial sour cream 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar Combine chocolate chips and butter or margarine in the top of a double boiler and melt over hot, not boiling, water. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and salt. Gradually beat in enough of the powdered sugar to make an easy-to-spread frosting. Return to the List of Newsletter Issues

HOME  •   Catalog  •   Books  •   Study Guides  •   Tapes  •   About the Author
Online Resources  •   Message Board  •   Newsletter  •   Web Column  •   Site Help

P.O. Box 378  •  Spearfish, SD 57783-2331  •  Phone: (605) 642-7583
E-mail: diana@dianawaring.com  •  URL: http://www.dianawaring.com/
© 1997-2000 Diana Waring, all rights reserved

LOST? LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC PAGE? NEED A MAP TO GET AROUND?
Try our Site Map!