Sandra Merville Hart's Blog, page 40
August 10, 2021
Celtic Wanderings by Cindy Thomson
by Sandra Merville Hart
A 40-Day Devotional
Daily inspiration from ancient Celtic voices.
I have read other books by Cindy Thomson so I was eager to buy her newest release. It did not disappoint!
This book isn’t like other devotionals I’ve read. All devotions begin with a scripture reference and personal thoughts on the scripture. Each ends with a challenge and a prayer.
What fascinated me was how the author wove ancient Celtic history into each devotion. I’m a Christian who loves history and it was a joy to read a devotional that combined both of these loves.
Devotions are divided into sections, such as Travel, Gather, and Remember.
Each devotion took about five minutes to read, so it’s great for busy readers.
Thought-provoking. Inspiring. Educational.
I loved it!
August 8, 2021
Fresh Banana Cake
by Sandra Merville Hart
I had a few bananas that I needed to use when someone mentioned their mother’s banana cake. My mom didn’t make banana cake but I found a recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
Tip: This recipe calls for 2 cups of cake flour. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make it. For every cup of all-purpose flour, use 2 tablespoons less of flour in the recipe.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare a 9 x 9 cake pan with cooking spray OR butter and lightly flour it. I cut parchment paper into 2 strips to provide handles for easier removal of the baked cake.
Mash 1 cup bananas (about 2 medium bananas) and set aside.
Sift 2 cups cake flour into a separate mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Cream ¼ cup butter with a mixer. Slowly blend 1 ½ cups sugar into the butter until the mixture is light and blended.
Add the banana, 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the sugar mixture. Beat well.
Add in the flour mixture a bit at a time, beating as you add until it’s all blended in well.
Fold in ½ cup sour milk OR sour cream gently until blended.(I chose sour cream.)
Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake 40 – 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool at least 5 minutes in the cake pan and then turn it out onto a rack. Allow the cake to cool and then cut it in half to make a two-layer cake. Fill it with Banana Cream Filling and ice it with Portsmouth Frosting.
The banana flavor comes out strongly in this delicious cake. The cake itself is good but when combined with the banana filling and creamy icing, it’s delicious. I even ate it for breakfast!
While neither the cake, filling, or icing took a long time to prepare—minutes for each one—baking the cake, allowing it to cool before creating two layers, and then adding the filling before frosting probably took 3 hours.
Enjoy!
Sources
Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.
August 4, 2021
James Connolly – First Modern Olympics Champion
by Sandra Merville Hart
In 393 A.D., the Romans ended the classic Greek Olympic games that had been held every four years. Different countries held informal Olympics on a local level in the 1600s. Sweden, Greece, and England held some local Olympic games in the 1800s.
Olympic games became an international event in 1896, the year when the first modern Olympic games began.
James Connolly, who grew up in Boston as the son of Irish immigrants, was a student at Harvard when he learned of the Olympic Games. The twenty-seven-year-old requested a leave of absence to attend the games in Athens. The school refused his request.
Determined to be there, Connolly withdrew from Harvard.
He joined nine other Americans on a steamer bound for Naples, Italy. His wallet was stolen in Naples and he almost missed his train ride across Italy. After another boat ride, they boarded a train to Athens.
The American athletes believed they’d a few days rest from their long journey. The Opening Ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad started on April 6, 1896—the day they arrived in Athens.
In fact, Connolly competed in his first event a few hours later. What is now known as the triple jump was then called “the hop, step, and jump,” and it was the first event. His jump was 44 feet 11 ¾ inches—he won first place.
He also competed in the high jump (second place) and the long jump (third place.)
Even more important, James Connolly became the first Olympic champion in the 1896 games—and the first in 1,527 years. Quite an achievement!
Sources
“1896 Summer Olympics,” Wikipedia, 2021/07/23 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics.
“About the Games,” Olympic Channel Services, 2021/07 25 https://olympics.com/en/olympic-games/athens-1896.
History.com Editors. “10 Things You May not Know about the First Modern Olympics,” A&E Television Networks, 2021/07/23 https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-first-olympics.
“James Connolly,” United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum, 2021/07/25 https://usopm.org/james-connolly/.
August 3, 2021
A Fork in the Road by Shelia Stovall
by Sandra Merville Hart
A Weldon novella
The author was giving this novella away as part of a promotion and I was happy to read her new book. I have grown to love the characters in this series and this short novella was no exception.
Dr. Sparky Compton has returned to her Kentucky hometown of Weldon, but she’s basically passing through. She’s been asked to work in the local doctor’s practice. That won’t happen as she intends to accept a research position.
Newcomer Carson Williams is the most eligible bachelor in town. Suffering from PTSD, the handsome stranger just wants to be left alone.
Fate has other plans.
This was a quick, easy read that took me to a place I’m learning to love—Weldon.
July 27, 2021
I Love You … Bigger than the Sky by Michelle Medlock Adams
by Sandra Merville Hart
This delightful children’s picture book is a sweet read.
The author uses different animals in nature to express the love of parents for their child.
Beautifully illustrated. A lovely book that tells the story with rhymes that appeal to children.
The book is geared to children 2 – 6.
I will look for more books by this author.
https://www.christianbook.com/love-you-bigger-than-the-sky/michelle-adams/9781546015437/pd/015437
July 25, 2021
Banana Cream Filling
by Sandra Merville Hart
I had several bananas that I needed to use and found a banana cake recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It suggested filling this cake with banana cream filling. I’m sharing the cake recipe separately. The filling only takes a few minutes to make and it’s delicious!
Mash 1 banana and beat it. (I used a hand mixer.) Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. One fresh lemon provided enough juice for this recipe. Set aside.
Mix together ½ cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of flour, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. Set aside.
Heat 1 cup of milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat until it’s almost ready to boil. Remove from heat.
Stir the milk into the dry ingredients until well-blended.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Using low heat, whisk constantly for 4 – 5 minutes until the custard turns smooth and thick.
Stir in 2 slightly beaten egg yolks and cook a couple more minutes.
Remove from heat. Let it cool, stirring occasionally, and then stir in the reserved banana mixture.
Delicious! Smooth and creamy and thick. The flavor reminded me of banana pudding. As I said, I used it as filling for banana cake. I poured it into the cake pan to set so that it was the right size. I froze it initially to set it and make it easier to add as a cake filling.
This is a creamy filling and has a nice banana flavor. My husband loved it!
I will definitely make this again.
Source
Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.
July 21, 2021
Civil War Hospital Trains
by Sandra Merville Hart
Civil War soldiers wounded on the battlefield were first treated at tent hospitals or in local buildings. With a combined total dead and wounded at Gettysburg for both armies at over 40,000, wounded soldiers filled the courthouse, churches, homes, barns, and every available public building.
The overworked, exhausted surgeons at Gettysburg couldn’t keep up with the demand. As soon as a patient was able to survive a trip, he traveled by hospital train to a city hospital.
A typical Civil War era hospital train contained between 5 to 10 hospital cars and a passenger car for wounded soldiers able to sit. Additionally, there was a surgeon’s car for the medical staff, a kitchen car for the nourishing food provided to wounded, and a box car for supplies.
The outside car panels had “U.S. Hospital Train” painted in large letters. A yellow flag flew on the slow-moving engine. Three red lanterns hung under the engine headlight at night. Ten-car trains carried up to 200 patients.
Injured soldiers were carried on stretchers to a hospital car. Four India rubber rings hooked onto wooden posts to support the stretcher. There were 3 tiers of stretchers stacked in a 50-foot hospital car. A nice period sketch of these cars may be found at http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1864/february/hospital-train.htm.
Early in the war, a surgeon noticed the agony that sick and wounded soldiers suffered from the locomotive jostling over tracks. He suggested the above design for hospital cars, greatly increasing patients’ comfort while traveling to the general hospitals in the cities.
A Rebel in My House Book Blurb:
When the cannons roar beside Sarah Hubbard’s home outside of Gettysburg, she despairs of escaping the war that’s come to Pennsylvania. A wounded Confederate soldier on her doorstep leaves her with a heart-wrenching decision.
Separated from his unit and with a bullet in his back, Jesse Mitchell needs help. He seeks refuge at a house beside Willoughby Run. His future lies in the hands of a woman whose sympathies lay with the North.
Jesse has promised his sister-in-law he’d bring his brother home from the war. Sarah has promised her sister that she’d stay clear of the enemy. Can the two keep their promises amid a war bent on tearing their country apart?
A promise to her sister becomes impossible to keep …
Sources
Compiled by the editors of Combined Books. The Civil War Book of Lists, Da Capo Press, 1994.
“Hospital Trains,” Son of the South, 2021/03/23 http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1864/february/hospital-train.htm.
Wilbur, M.D., C. Keith. Civil War Medicine 1861 – 1865, C. Keith Wilbur, 1998.
July 20, 2021
Deadly Probabilities by D.L. Koontz
by Sandra Merville Hart
Book 1 of Risky Changes Series
Ann McCarthy is good at her job as part owner of CRS (Corporate Response Specialists) yet can’t wait to leave it. When a stranger on a bicycle knocks her down, it’s not an accident. He gives her a message and leaves her a sinister warning.
Her new client, Logan Kassell, reports an explosion at his company and needs her company’s expertise to navigate the press. The former SEAL recognizes a fake bomb in her pocket and realizes she’s in danger.
There is danger at every turn but which one of them is the target? Action-packed. Suspenseful. Unexpected twists and turns kept me turning pages to the end.
Believable, likeable characters drew me into the story and had me pulling for them the whole way. I tried to guess who was behind the attacks and danger along with the characters. I couldn’t put down the book for long as I had to know what happened.
The suspense as well as the love story kept me turning pages. This isn’t the first time I’ve read books by this author and I will look for more.
Looking forward to the next book in this series!
https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Probabilities-Risky-Changes-Koontz/dp/1946758345/
July 13, 2021
Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders
What a great middle-grade mystery novel!
I read in a variety of genres and enjoyed this story about Coop, a thirteen-year-old boy. After he lost his dad, he and his mom moved in with his grandfather. Gramps had raised his dad as a single parent and Coop adores him.
When a body is found at the playground, the skeleton is identified as Coop’s grandmother. She had left a note forty years ago and never returned to her husband and child. Now everyone knows why … she was murdered.
This story held my attention with its twists and turns that deepen the mystery. It’s told entirely from Coop’s point of view. This clean read is geared to middle-grade readers yet I’d also recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery.
I will look for more books by this author.
-Sandra Merville Hart
July 11, 2021
Portsmouth Frosting
by Sandra Merville Hart
I baked a banana cake from a recipe in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. It suggested icing the cake with Portsmouth Frosting. It’s a quick, easy frosting that will taste delicious on many types of cakes.
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter. Set aside to cool.
Whip ¼ cup heavy whipping cream in a mixer for a minute or two until it thickens and begins to form soft peaks. (I used a hand mixer.) Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla or rum. (I chose vanilla.) Gently stir in the melted butter.
While using the mixer, add 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, beating the mixture until it is thick and creamy.
I frosted a banana cake with this icing. It wasn’t quite enough to frost the entire cake and I made a second batch.
This is a delicious frosting with a light, smooth, and creamy consistency. It takes between 5 – 10 minutes to prepare and I had all the ingredients in my fridge or pantry. Recommend!
I will definitely make this again.
Source
Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.
