FOR the LOVE of TEA...."Caraway Seed Cake"

"I must drink lots of tea or I cannot work. Tea unleashes the potential that slumbers in the depths of my soul.." - Leo Tolstoy

CARAWAY SEED TEA CAKE (grandmother's recipe)

           This cake was also the favourite of William Wordsworth(the poet), and, apparently, his sister, Dorothy. It first appeared in the 1700's quickly becoming a staple for tea in later years. Largely forgotten these days; plain cake, kind of like a fragrant pound cake.

"Afternoon tea should be provided, with thin bread and butter, fancy pastries, Cake......." - Isabella Beeton "Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management" (1861)

Pinch salt                            2 ½ cups flour

¾ cup butter                      3 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ cups sugar                   ½ cup citron peel (optional)

½ cup milk                         ¼ cup grated orange peel

Dash almond extract           1 Tbsp caraway seeds

Dash vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients  together, quite vigorously . Don't be shy to mix it really well....

(The Caraway seed name come from the Arabic" al-karwiya", and dates back  to Egypt and Mesopotamia where caraway seeds were used to calm the digestive system.)

When you feel it is smooth,  plop  batter  into a greased, parchment lined loaf tin.

              "A party without cake, is just a meeting.." -Julia Childs

Bake at 320 degrees for about an hour. 

Check with a sharp knife to see if it is done.

Long ago, this cake was made to celebrate the end of the planting of spring wheat in the fields. My mother used to make this all the time, and we'd sit on the back steps with tea and warm slices of this cake.

" 'But I don't mind some seed cake if you have any!' (Balin) "Lots!" said Bilbo, scuttling off to the pantry to find two beautiful round seed cakes which he had baked...." -Tolkien  ( The Hobbit)

Will freeze for 3 months, if wrapped properly. ( You can even freeze separate slices...)

                                             
"With an eye made quiet by the power or harmony, and the deep power of joy, we see into the life of things..."

                                                                                        - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

      ........................................1860's cookbook (reproduction) with Seed cake recipe

"Far from the world I walk, and from all care.." - Wordsworth

Photographs 2025

 

BEYOND the RAKE ....

"In every walk with nature, one receives more than he seeks..." 

                     - John Muir

CENTAUREA......

"The best place to find God is in the garden. You can dig for Him there..."_ George Bernard Shaw

"They run like deer, leap like deer, and think like deer..."

                          - Charles Barkley

                                     Peony.............

"Shut your eyes and dream of the garden you'd love most..." -Jackie French

"You are the sky, everything else is just the weather..." -Pema Chodron

Mr. Spencer, from the hill, snoozes in the afternoon.....

"There is a garden in very childhood,  an enchanted place...." 

                                                                                          -Elizabeth Lawrence

"In nature, nothing is perfect, and everything is perfect..."

                 - Alice Walker

"My soul can find no staircase to Heaven, unless it be thru Earth's loveliness.." - Michealangelo

"In all things of nature, there is something of the marvelous.." -Aristotle

"My feet will tread soft as a deer in the forest. My mind will be clear as water from the sacred well. My heart will be strong as a great oak. My spirit will spread an eagle's wings, and fly forth." --Juliet Marillier

Wild Sweet Peas.....

                                          ......Columbine.....

"Look deep into nature, and the you will understand everything else.." - Albert Einstein

"I don't have to take a trip around the world or be on a yacht in the Mediterranean to have happiness. I can find it in the little things, like looking out into my backyard and seeing deer...." - Queen Latifah

                   .......Peace and quiet....

"As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for you. You alone are my heart's desire and I long to worship you.." 

               -Marty Nystrom

 PHOTOGAPHS 2025

MY BACK YARD...Discovery Passage

"Ocean is more ancient than the mountains , and freighted with the memories and the dreams...." - H.P. Lovecraft

 

Discovery Passage is the strait between Vancouver Island and the islands of British Columbia. I have heard it called " the wild , blue yonder." It can be very wild, and very yonder. But it's my back yard.

"Smell the sea and feel the sky. Let your soul and spirit fly..." - Van Morrison

"Take me to the ocean, Let me sail the open sea. To breathe the warm and salty air, and dream of things to be. " -Erica Billups

The eastern shore of the passage is Quadra Island, with Sonora Island at the northern end, where it sweeps into Johnstone Strait.

"You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water..." -Rabindranath Tagore

It's long and deep. About 25 kilometres ( that's around 16 miles) .....

    "Meet me where sea touches sky." -Jennifer Donnelly

With some of the biggest and widest sunrises and far reaching sunsets.

“We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.” - Mother Teresa

Ferries navigate between Quadra, Hornby, Denman islands, Bella Bella, Shearwater, Klemtu, Ocean Falls......

Where orcas play, salmon run, tourists  rent fish boats.....

and Cruise ships pass  like massive toys bobbing along  like tub toys.....

"My soul is full of longing for the secret of the sea, and the heart of the great ocean sends a thrilling pule through me..." -Longfellow

The Inside Passage tours Desolation sound,  Discovery Islands, and the Broughton Archipelago...wild, untamed, back yard of those of us who this home.

Campbell River to Port Hardy passes through Sayward, Telegraph Cove and Port McNeil....and blue, blue coast mountains rising out of the passage....

"The sea is an underwater museum still awaiting its visitors.." 

                                                                   -Phillipe Diole

 Photographs 2025 Campbell River, B.C.