La Prima Espresso in the Strip District

Pandemic adjustments for serving La Prima Espresso customers delicious coffee.

I had my first cup since the beginning of 2020. You can’t go inside now but they’ve found a way to offer safe service.

The coffee as wonderful as ever!

Carrie, you would LOVE it!

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Prune Cake- tastes better than it sounds, Promise

Prune cake recipe is from The Beaumont Inn Harrodsburg, Kentucky. I saw it in a newspaper when we lived in Fort Knox.

I’ve baked this recipe for decades. It’s a moist spice cake. Even better the second day.

Be sure you cook and mash the prunes first!

I shared the Prune Cake recipe and the person said later her cake didn’t taste or look like mine. I asked her about it – she didn’t like cooked prunes so she thought she’d improve the recipe by just cutting them up. The prune mash needs to distributed throughout the batter. Doesn’t work her way!

I omitted the warm sauce this time, cutting the calories of extra butter and sugar but it’s delicious that way. Keeps it extra moist.

Many blog viewers baked a spinach pie and reported great success. Not sure how many will be tempted to bake a prune cake. If you do, please let me know.

Dry ingredients with spices. Cooked prunes (mashed)

And buttermilk is key to success.

What’s Your Comfort Food?

Last Thursday on our virtual knitting Zoom, my friend Joanne showed this lovely watercolor painting titled Comfort Food.

I had to smile cause I knew Ina Garten’s Modern Comfort Food cookbook was to arrive at Joanne’s house in Florida the very next day. I’d ordered it as a gift.

Here’s Joanne’s Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Tomato Soup painting, Thanks for sending, Joanne.

And here’s the cover of the new cookbook

Can’t wait to cook some of these recipes

And the back cover. Black and White Cookies.

What is your go to comfort food in the Pandemic?

Lunch by the Ohio River

Hostess Deb created the perfect Pandemic lunch on her deck overlooking the Ohio River. We’d not seen each other since early March. Centerpiece courtesy of Donna, who gave me a kalanchoe in a tiny pumpkin, too. Asian chicken wraps and potato salad with a side of red grapes. A tall glass of apple cider from the farm stand. An oatmeal cookie.

There were two barges that went by with tug boats, several freight trains across the River. Just a few trees starting to turn.

It was so lovely to see longtime friends. Catch up before the winter sets in.

Yes that’s a mask in the middle and an oatmeal cookie in a cellophane sleeve on top of the fish napkin.
Kalanchoe in a pumpkin
I was knitting. Donna was crocheting. Deb captured her luncheon guests on the deck and cast on a pumpkin hat right after lunch.

This is where I photographed the hungry bee devouring his pollen lunch .

Another angle