A lesson in patience.

It's a beautiful, sunny Sunday here in Portland. I was getting ready to take my dog to the park and I looked in my backyard and saw that my plum tree is starting to flower. Oh my goodness. This makes me so excited. Over the next week the tree in my yard that I have only known as bare limbs is suddenly going to become a giant white flower.

Then, I walked out my door and took my dog over to the garden in my obligatory check of the rectangle of brown in hopes that the new sowing will have sprouted, even though I know it's too soon for that. And, lo and behold, sprouts! Lots and lots of little kale and radish sprouts. They are from the first sowing. I know this because we figured out after we put in the first seeds that we should have done our rows in the opposite direction. The second sowing has rows in the opposite direction, so if they both sprout it's going to be a confusing little plot of land in a few weeks. I just needed to be patient. The seeds that should have sprouted in about 6 days took 15 days instead. My faith is restored.

Another need for patience: pound cake. I had some people over last night and wanted to make some snacks. I also didn't want to spend much money. So, I went through my cookbooks and recipes and found a few things I could make with what I already had in the pantry. The only thing I had to buy special was a jar of artichoke hearts. Total money spent to make all the food for last night: $2.50.

Everything else were pantry items that I always have on hand. I made hummus, pita bread, veggies for dipping, cheddar artichoke quiche cups (leftovers made a yummy breakfast) and pound cake. I've never made pound cake before. I had never made any of these items before and it occurred to me about halfway through making everything that perhaps I should have chosen some recipes that I had tested. My oven also cooks hot. I've never put a thermometer in there to check, but cooking times in my oven are very skewed. I usually take things out about an average of ten minutes before the recipe says they should be done. Because of this I am terrified of overcooking and burning things in my oven. And I certainly didn't want a dry, burnt pound cake! So, I watched it carefully and took it out of the oven when I thought it was just almost done, it would finish cooking while it cooled, right? That's the way bread and cookies work. Not so much with pound cake. As it cooled it totally collapsed in the middle and revealed a gooey, uncooked center. The ends taste good though.

So, now I know to be patient with pound cake and let it cook through in the oven. And believe in your seeds. They are containers of life, and life knows how to grow itself better than I do. Now I just have to be patient and let my radishes grow. I guarantee you that there will be an entry in this blog telling you how I needed to wait longer to harvest my radishes because the bulbs didn't grow.