Yes, I'm aware that many of you will now have "It's A Small World" going through your head for the rest of the evening (unless American Idol drowns it out). Sorry. However, I wanted to share this very small-world occurrence. There's a bit of a long story to get there...and one of my most closely-guarded recipes is at the end.
My high school chorus director, Mr. Joseph Messina, or Mr. M., is retiring in June after over 40 years of teaching in Melrose, MA. When I was in high school, the alumni used to come back every spring, and would sing a piece or two with the high school chorus at the spring concert. (Incidentally, that's where I first met Mr. Throwing Spoons.) It was a lot of fun. Sadly, that tradition fizzled out when I was in college.
Last summer I bumped into the Messinas at a production of "Bye Bye Birdie" (which was, coincidentally, my senior show). Mr. M. was seriously considering retirement, and Mrs. M. said to me, "Wouldn't it be neat to organize the alumni to sing at his final concert?"
"I'm on it," I replied excitedly.
Mr. M. looked a little wary. "I'll only do it if you can get twenty people," he said.
I laughed in his face.
"All right, I'll only do it if you can get forty people," he then said, by way of challenging me...or so he thought.
Cut to late March. I'd put the word out through email, Facebook, and Classmates.com, and it was in the local paper. I was pretty confident (and hopeful) that we'd have a good turnout. Mr. M. wasn't so sure. He showed up at our first rehearsal with a "Box O' Joe" and a box of Munchkins, figuring that it would be enough for the six to eight people that would show up - and indeed, when he arrived, there were six of us standing around, waiting to be let in.
Fifteen minutes later, there were over forty of us in our old chorus room. Mr. M. has never been one to get teary, but he was that evening. Over the following weeks, different people showed up to different rehearsals; we had as many as 60, but as different people kept showing up, it was hard to get an absolute count.
He worked us hard; most of us hadn't sung for years, but we (as always) put in our best efforts for Mr. M. We worked on three pieces to sing with the high school, two to sing on our own, and one to sing with the middle school, the children's choir, and the high school as the grand finale.
By the night of the concert, after a mere eleven rehearsals, we sounded fantastic. There were between 80-100 alumni there, spanning four decades, some traveling from New York and Virginia back to Massachusetts, to pay tribute to this man who'd meant so much to all of us.
One woman who sang with us, Sandra, wasn't even an alum. She let me know early on that her son had been in the chorus and the show choir with Mr. M. throughout high school, and would be joining us for the concert though he couldn't make rehearsals, and that she'd like to sing with us as well.
After the concert, I emailed everyone to thank them, and to request snail mail addresses, in order to complete a database for future use, as there's interest in continuing this group. The responses started coming in, and I started plugging them into the database, but Sandra's email stopped me in my tracks. I sat here for a good two minutes, just staring at my laptop screen and saying, "No way. Get out. You're kidding me."
Sandra, you see, bought my grandparents' house when my uncle put it on the market. It's the house my dad grew up in; my grandmother lived there for about 60 years.
I have such fond memories of that house and yard. Grampa Bill had a huge garden, including grapevines (both Concord and Niagara grapes), vegetables, and cherry and peach trees. Gramma Betty, Mum, and I used to make cherry preserves and grape jelly from the fruit from the backyard. Gramma (a former art teacher at Smith College) gave me drawing lessons at the kitchen table. Her attic and "junk room" were treasure troves to be explored.
I've often wondered about the fate of that house; I still drive by sometimes when I'm in town. As soon as I recovered from the shock, I emailed Sandra back, and received a warm invitation to come and visit anytime.
I wish I had the recipes we used for the grape jelly or the cherry preserves to include here, but I don't. I actually have very few recipes from Dad's side of the family. This does, however, seem to be the appropriate place and time to share the famous Hayes Mocha Cake - a hot milk sponge cake with mocha buttercream frosting. This comes from my Grampa Bill's side of the family.
When going through her kitchen things, my uncle found a half-dozen or so recipe cards for this cake. The funny part is, they were all slightly different! I don't know if Gramma Betty was working on perfecting the recipe, or what the story is; by then it was too late to ask her. This is the version that she gave my mum. The cake is good, but it's really the frosting that makes it. It is scrumptious, and really pretty easy. (I've been known to double the frosting recipe and use it on the
Perfectly Chocolate Cake. Holy. Moley.)
Hot Milk Sponge Cake1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon butter
2 eggs at room temperature
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cake flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
Preheat oven to 375˚F
Put milk and butter in oven-proof measuring cup; put in oven ‘til butter melts and milk is hot.
Grease and flour two 8” round cake pans.
In medium bowl, sift together cake flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Beat eggs and salt until light (pale yellow).
Gradually beat sugar into egg mixture.
Add vanilla to egg mixture; beat.
Slowly beat hot milk and melted butter mixture into egg mixture.
Add sifted flour & baking powder to egg mixture; beat.
Pour into pans. Bake 15-17 minutes, until springy and edges have pulled away from the sides of the pan. Remove from pans to cooling racks immediately upon removing from oven. Cool completely before frosting.
Mocha frosting
NOTE: I often do 1 1/2 times this recipe - as written, it is a fairly thin layer of frosting all around.
Combine:
1 stick less 1 teaspoon butter (what you have left over after taking butter for cake), softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons hot, STRONG brewed coffee
(1 tablespoon instant coffee to 1/4 cup boiling water)
Beat all together until light and fluffy. Frost cooled cake.
(Scrape bowl and lick spatula.)
