Summer Blues

It is the end of July 2015,  and what have I accomplished ? It seems like the days just float along and all my creative ideas have fallen into a stagnate pool. Why? It is because of an innocuous blood test from a May, yearly Dr. appointment meant to only keep me up to date on my every day functions! From out of the blue, this test came back with serious implications that could not be true. Leukemia? That was the middle of June and it is now almost the end of July and I still am not sure what it will mean for my future. So far it cancelled out my one chance to take part in the 2015 National Games just past. At 83 I was in a perfect category, 80+.  Nothing fills the void left by this major interruption and all the changes that will occur. My life has been altered.
I must gather all my strength and create a new direction. I am still baking and finding rewards with that but am I only filling time and space?
When I was younger and busy creating food events to stay alive, I pressed every minute to accomplish my daily "To do list". I wanted to think I could have it all.  Sometimes when I ran out of hours I would remind myself,," It's OK because I can work all night". I had endless energy.
So now after lots of years, challenges, surprises and disappointments I know I did have it all, just not all at the same time!

How can I get the wheel rolling again? I am searching for clues to imagine a second book, a new plot  that would be of interest to my readers. I need to keep writing ideas down, a story on a scrape of paper, a scribble on the end of a recipe. My baking must take a new twist for reasons unknown to me at this time.  I will dwell on it in my sleep and something will surface.

In the meantime here are pictures of my latest sweet treats, Key Lime Pie using 1.1/4 cups fresh juice and zest from our lime tree in the back garden. The crust uses chocolate flavored  graham wafers, crushed with melted butter, baked briefly. Then with a lime custard spooned into the crust and finished for another 20 minutes in the oven. It cuts perfectly when chilled. I loved every mouthful! This is far from the spongy, light mousse passed off as key lime in commercial pies.
Think of having a taste test between the two and you will experience the difference.
Here is the recipe
Key Lime Pie with Almond Crust 

6 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 cup crushed chocolate flavored graham crackers 
 1/3 cup sugar
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 1 1/4 cups fresh lime juice
1 tsp finely grated lime zest
two 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs room temperature, lightly whisked
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 Method
Mix crumbs and sugar with melted butter. Press into a glass 10" pie dish across and up the sides.Bake in 375 oven about 20 minutes.
Let cool on rack

In a bowl, whisk lime juice, zest, condensed milk and eggs to blend thoroughly.
Pour into crust and bake about 20 minutes, set around edges but still slightly jiggly in center. Chill well, and best over night. When ready to serve, whip
2  cups heavy cream, 1 tb sugar and 1/4 cup sour cream.
Pipe around edges of pie or in criss-cross over top. Serve with any extra cream. Yummm


                                                               

                                The Coconut Cream Pie below has a macaroon/ground almond  crust and uses canned coconut milk to increase the filling flavor. Around the edges of the custard and whipped cream topping, rough slivers of chocolate dusted with coconut and ground almonds dresses up the edges.



                                                                  

                                               You can see I can't resist custard fillings! I still keep trying new crust and filling recipes to find ever more perfect ones.

July 23, 2015
So I have now had the important meeting with the Dr. The best news is that it is good news, mostly. all the recent tests proved negative, nothing obvious. So I take a deep breath. However the white cells are still looking scary and need to be reorganized to a more normal number. Some form of Leukemia is still there in the side lines. The Dr. is still uncertain which kind it is? Maybe more analysis to fine tune. For the time being, I can carry on my everyday routine and only report in if I feel any sickness. I will do regular blood tests to determine any shift in numbers. I will continue to read all I can about it all.
The story continues.I am now a Cancer Patient!