Post #7 – Women’s Memoirs, ScrapMoir – Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
By Claudia Kendall Salewske
We’ve all seen alphabet picure books that begin: “A is for Apple.” The statement is often illustrated by a shiny red apple, its brown stem flanked by Kelly green leaves. Sometimes, there’s even a convivial worm present whose large, bespectacled eyes direct the child’s attention to the bold, black letters to be learned: A a. A favorite food tradition of my family involved a variation of this, for in our Marin County home, August was for apples.
After World War II, Dad built the house I grew up in from an old Army barrack my folks purchased at auction and had moved onto a residential lot in San Anselmo. One of their first landscaping acquisitions was a Gravenstein apple tree they planted in the backyard. Over time, we affectionately referred to it as “Old Faithful” for its consistently bountiful harvests of tangy, moist apples–light yellow-green-with-red-stripes apples–they were. The Gravenstein is a grand variety for cooking–applesauce, apple butter, and delectable cakes and pies were a few of our yummiest uses for them. Although they are in season by late July, our tree was usually at its most productive in August.
My mom, the youngest of four children, was a Pixley, one of Marin County’s pioneer families. The homestead where she was born and raised was called Casa Lomita–house on a little hill. It stood on a knoll above Corte Madera, near Mt. Tamalpais, and its gardens also contained Gravensteins. While our young tree was striving toward its productive stage, we made jaunts to my grandparents’ home, galvanized buckets in tow. We’d fill them, almost to overflowing, and Mom would transform this succulent fruit into various treats–foremost being multiple jars of applesauce. With only minimal sugar, 1/2 c of water, and a teaspoon of cinnamon, a large saucepan of these apples, sliced thin, simmers down to a perfect blend of sweet ‘n’ tart ‘n’ spicy flavors, so pleasing to the palate.
I have only a few memories of my Grandpa Pixley, but one is of his delighted expression when I was allowed to carry a bowl of Mama’s applesauce and place it atop the tray that spanned the hospital bed he was confined to by his failing heart.
“Why thank you, little lady,” he smiled, learning forward to savor the contents. “Ah,” he went on, taking up his spoon, “There’s nothing like homemade that’s come from your own trees!”
Another family favorite is Apple Delight Cake, which traces back on Mom’s maternal side at least as far as her grandmother. Simple to make, it fills the house with a mouth-watering aroma. It’s especially nice for family excursions, for if properly sealed, it stays moist and delicious for up to a week.
The photo of the Pixley Gals was taken in Marin’s Samuel P. Taylor State Park on the 4th of July of 1946 when my mother (2nd from left) was six months pregnant with me. It may have been too early in the summer to include the cake at this holiday gathering, but these ladies had only scant weeks to wait for the harvest and Apple Delight time once again.
Apple Delight Cake
Recipe handed down by Ethel Allen Pixley
Lightly beat 3 eggs with
1 3/4 c sugar
Add 1 c Canola or other cooking oil
Sift together and add to above mixture:
2 c flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Fold in by hand:
1 c (or less) finely chopped nuts (I use pecans)
2 c fresh sliced apples (Gravensteins are great!)
1/2 c raisins (optional)
Bake in greased and floured 13x9x2″ pan @350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. For glass baking dish, allow 5-10 minutes longer.
Serves 12-15
My paternal grandmother, Mary Pemberton Kendall, emigrated from England in 1910 and eventually made her special contribution to the family’s experience of this cake. Hailing from the land of plum and figgy puddings, she brought along her own mum’s recipe for hard sauce that’s easy to prepare and tasty without being cloyingly sweet.
Fruit ‘Pudding’ Hard Sauce
Recipe handed down by Mary Pemberton Kendall
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 1/4 c powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbs. milk or cream
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sour cream
1/2 tsp. flavoring (vanilla or rum or fresh lemon juice work well)
Cream butter; add salt and powdered sugar and blend thoroughly. Add milk, one Tbs. at a time, and blend well. Scrape whatever remains on beaters into bowl; then by hand, fold in sour cream and mix well. Last, add flavoring, stir in thoroughly, and refrigerate until serving time. If you prefer it creamier, set out about 10 minute before serving.
NOTE: A dollop atop or alongside is nice, or with a little extra milk to thin the sauce, this provides a tasty frosting for Apple Delight Cake.
We Kendalls were campers, and every summer my immediate family headed to the high Sierras where we’d tent camp. Mom’s trusty, rectangular baking pan with its handy slide-on metal top preserved the Apple Delight Cake that was enjoyed with hot chocolate at breakfast, along the hiking trails at lunchtime, or as dessert by the evening campfire.
Grandma Mary had two beloved sisters who remained in England, but they each visited California in the 1950s on separate occasions. This group shot, snapped by my Great-Aunty Gladys, captured us in 1953, enjoying our campsite.
[Note the curlers–(our next-door neighbor used to kid about the ‘beer cans’ on my head!)–worn to effect the page-boy hairstyle, popular then.]
Both aunties (and Grandma in her late sixties!) were game for 4-night stays without benefit of electricity or other amenities, in order to experience life in California’s majestic mountains. What spunk! I was too young to recall, but in reflecting on these rare and precious times with family from England, I choose to believe that surely Mama or Grandma saw to it that, even in the wilds, Aunty Edie and Aunty Gladys enjoyed their Apple Delight cake, complete with a proper dollop of Pemberton’s hard sauce on the side.
This photo is from August of 1981. Cassie 6 and Matt 4, taken at our same favorite campground northwest of Lake Tahoe. My children, yet another generation, were enjoying a breakfast that included some warmed Apple Delight cake in the circular blue pan.
The family tradition continues at home as well as on the road. Claudia serves Apple Delight cake on her mother’s lovely china.
Author Information: Claudia Salewske is a retired English professor and works part-time as an editor. She and her husband enjoy time spent with family, volunteer work, and being ‘gentlemen farmers.’ Claudia is the author of several local-history books about the Gilroy area and is currently working on a Kendall family memoir.
