Curveballs and Zucchini Bread

I spent all day Thursday at a grant writing seminar at the Ohio Judicial Center, home of the Ohio Supreme Court. The Center is an Art Deco masterpiece originally built in the early 1930s for the Department of Labor. Used heavily by Labor and other departments, the building was finally decommissioned and sat crumbling and decaying, slated to be razed, until Chief Justice Moyers had the foresight to say "this will be the Court's new home."

After a magnificent and award-winning restoration, the Judicial Center is the crown jewel of Ohio's, if not the nation's, public buildings.

It had been a raggedy week. Because of a programmatic and ideological problem at my job, I arrived at the end of each day utterly drained. Wednesday was particularly bad with the phone ringing all afternoon while I was trying to make a lemon tart for my mom's birthday the next day. I was so rattled by the barrage of calls that at the point I was straining the seeds out of the lemon juice, I started to pour the juice down the drain rather than into the bowl.

I yelped, albeit to an empty kitchen, and corrected my pour immediately. I had enough lemons left over to make up for the lost juice, and held my breath and my focus until the tart slid safely into the oven.

By the time Thursday rolled around, I was tired and sad and numb from the fallout. The thought of spending a day in a seminar, when all I wanted to do was nothing, did not thrill me.

All the same, my spirits lifted when I walked up to the Judicial Center. Magnificent architecture will do that for me.

Life throws curveballs, be it a baking mishap or something more substantial. I used to be much better at hitting them. This week I just happened to be in the batter's box with no one up to bat after me. My tolerance for fast pitching is a lot less than it used to be and there was no umpire to call the count.

Full count? I'll say.

Lost in the shuffle was having time: to write, to reflect, to catch up. The zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers we picked last weekend have sat in heaps on the kitchen table and floor all week. There has been no time and less energy to turn my attention to them.

And lost in the shuffle was the sweetness of my daily life. The rhythm was all off. Warren patiently waited while handling his own daily adventures. I couldn't listen to him when the phone was ringing. I was edgy and paced a lot. While Warren knew he was not the source of the week's discord, it rolled into every corner of our home.

Last night, renewed by eight hours in Art Deco heaven, I found some reserves I wasn't sure were still there. I sat through dinner and easily talked and shared the day with Warren. Afterwards, I started in on the zucchini, cutting and bagging. 12 quarts of slices and two loaves of bread later, all the zucchini was done except for a small one for cooking tonight. Warren joined me later and together we cleaned and cut peppers. There are still tomatoes to process and tonight we will make sweet pepper/onion relish, but the piles are finally disappearing.

And I'm out of the batter's box.

There is more to write, especially since I have photos of Food-A-Thon III. In the meantime, because Christine asked for it, here is the zucchini bread recipe I always use. I've been making this recipe for years and have made so much this summer I don't even need to look at it while I bake!

Zucchini Bread
Recipe from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens, by Phyllis Pellman Good and Rachel Thomas Pellman

Makes 2 loaves

3 eggs
2 cups sugar (Note: Amish baking tends to be heavy on sugar)
2 cups zucchini, shredded (Note: I find that you can go over this amount - 2 HEAPING cups - without ruining the recipe)
1 cup cooking oil
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon (Note: I use heaping teaspoons)
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cloves
(Note: I also usually add ¼ tsp ginger)
½ cup raisins (optional)
I also usually add ½ cup crushed pineapple, drained, even though the recipe does not call for it.

1. Beat eggs until foamy. Stir in sugar, oil, zucchini, and vanilla. Note: I use a beater for the eggs, then do everything else by hand with a wooden spoon.
2. Gradually add dry ingredients, including spices. Note: I have found that just dumping all the dry ingredients in on top of the first mixture and stirring well (with that wooden spoon!) does not affect the quality or consistency.
3. Stir in raisins and pineapple if you are using them.
4. Pour into bread (loaf) pans, which have been greased on the bottoms. Bake at 325º for 60-85 minutes. Test with a knife blade - when it comes out moist but not with batter on it, it's done! The recipes says cool 10 minutes and remove from pans, but I find that I remove it that quickly, the bread often pulls apart on the bottom. I have left it overnight in the pan and had no trouble removing it the next morning.
Note: this bread has a good shelf life if kept in the fridge. It also freezes well. It is excellent with cream cheese frosting. If you want muffins, the above recipes makes 24+ muffins or a tin of 12 and a separate loaf.