Orange Blossom Pound Cake

I have always labeled myself an extrovert. I love people. I love gathering. I find energy in connection. All the hallmark signs of a true extrovert, right?

But if there is anything this quarantine has taught me (other than the fact that I really dislike wearing pants), it’s that I am actually, in real life, a card-carrying introvert.

Or maybe more appropriately, a situational introvert. 

Which basically means, in terms of socializing, I’ve done pretty darn well over this quarantine.

Sure, my parenting, maybe hasn’t been a shining example of grace and mercy while in lockdown, and yeah, neither are my teaching skills or my fashion sense or, once again, my desire to wear pants. But this social distancing from friends, I’ve handled like a pro.

Hear me out on this one before you judge and call me a misanthrope or a sheep following the masses or a blind follower who isn’t “woke” to the government’s tools of socialism and tyranny (btw: I’m so over this nonsense and will delete your comment faster than lightning if you @ me with links to videos or anything that tries to prove how this is a hoax. I do not care. No one’s opinion has ever been actually changed by your posts on FB, I can guarantee it. And if you think I can’t form my own opinion because I don’t share them on FB for everyone to see, you’re dead wrong. So stop). END RANT.

Anyway, I have loved so many things this quarantine has created. The space. The time. The joy.

I’ve been able to find them all, and even in the midst of all of your grumbling and Snopes research, I can bet you have too.

Two nights ago, a few of our neighbors came over. We hung out on our patio, completely safely socially distanced. Our kids played on scooters in our newly fenced-in driveway. (Also a gift of the quarantine). We turned the twinkle lights on. We sat and sipped on wine and laughed and watched the kids play and stayed up way too late. And it was glorious.

Glorious because it was a product of the quarantine. In our regular life, instead of sitting and sharing community with our neighbors and friends, we would have been rushing from practice to practice, shoving dinner in our mouths on the fly. Quarantine made this magical night, one I will always remember and hold dear, possible.

And I’m grateful for it.

Quarantine has taught me who matters, in a very, very big way. 

Friendships that I might have taken for granted before, mostly because of the repetition, I’ve realized how much I need their conversation and insight and support and encouragement. I knew it before, but this just made it real and solid and so very apparent. My carpool pickup buddy, the one I talk to every single day as we wait for the bell to ring, we’ve transferred our daily conversations and therapy sessions to daily Marco Polo streams. And I love it. My mom friends who I count on for middle school carpool and elementary school support, I realize I need them even more for the check-ins and support as we navigate trying to raise a middle schooler while keeping our sanity in check. And my church friends, those I need the prayers and encouragement and check-ins too. 

These are the people that matter, and I’ve realized now more than ever that I don’t need a big circle, I need a strong one. This, my friends, is the introvert in me. 

But maybe, more than anything else,  I’ve come to see my family and our lives through a whole different lens. A lens that I hope I am able to carry on, even after these restrictions are lifted and life goes back to “normal.”

This lens looks like this:

Grace. Intense grace, every day all day.  Grace for those moments when I am not my best mom self and just need a second of peace and quiet from all of the bickering so much so that I hide in the bathroom. Grace for those moments when I bound up the steps, two by two, to break up a screaming match that has been going on, with just the teeniest of tiniest breaks of silence, for two hours.  And when I do so, it’s not my best moment. Grace for all of the moments in between. For those moments I’m the fun mom who is trying to make the most of quarantine as much as those moments where I’m the meanest mom on the planet. Grace for both.

And grace for each other. When we’re at our worst. When we can’t seem to get along. Grace for when we’ve intentionally been a butthead to a sibling and grace for when they are a butthead back. This is grace, all the time people. If quarantine has taught us anything at all it is our need for grace is intense and consistent, never fading, never diminishing. Without grace, this quarantine would break us.

The lens has lots of these:

Magic moments I wish would last forever. Moments of relaxing, family movie moments. Moments of fun when daddy creates a fun game of makeshift Pictionary and we spend hours just laughing as a family at our own ridiculousness and complete inability to draw. Moments when my kids create a game using a Nerf bow and arrow that keeps them entertained for hours, no electronics, no friends, just my three normally polar opposite children playing an imaginative game (this means nothing unless you understand that three kids, aged 13, 11, and 9, do not play imagination games anymore). 

These are the moments that fill my cup and remind me of what really matters. The important lessons of quarantine–slow down, settle in, enjoy the people closest to you. This is what I’ve learned.

I have no idea what the future holds. Texas has already started slowly lifting restrictions. Life will soon go back to normal if, and only if,  we let it. I’m challenging myself, though, as we start to open up, to hold tight to some of these things I’ve learned. I know what I want to carry into the future and I know, conversely, what needs to be cut so I can maintain some of this peace. The onus is on us, you and me, to make sure that our lives match the beatings of our hearts. So think carefully about the space, the time and the joy. Find it and find a way to carry it on. Re-opened life can be beautiful, it doesn’t have to be the same. And that, my friends, is a very good thing.

Also, I’m still not wearing legit pants when this is over. I’m just not. So deal with it.

Orange Blossom Pound Cake

The other thing that quarantine has taught me is just how much I like to bake. Nay, NEED to bake. It is something that calms my soul, brings me joy, and gives me something to do with my hands and mind. Baking is comfort, y’all, so it’s no wonder that flour has just about disappeared in the quarantine. (yeast, though, that one’s a mystery). 

So it’s no wonder that I got to work on this little citrus-scented jewel. I am obsessed with my grandmother’s pound cake recipe. It’s one of those classics that needs no improvement because it’s just perfect in its simplicity. It’s beautiful and rich and all the things pound cake should be. But I had a hankering to spice it up a bit. That, coupled with the overabundance of oranges in my fridge (thanks to a WalMart online grocery pick-up substitution gone crazy), is the birthplace of this delicious Orange Blossom Pound Cake. 

Baking with citrus is an exercise in delicacy. Too much and you’ve got a mouth-puckering piece of garbage. Too little and you’re all “where’s the orange?” So you’ve got to be careful. I slowly built the flavor into this one, adding bit by bit, until I was satisfied. And the result? I love it. Delicate and light, the orange builds bite by bite in this delicious Orange Blossom Pound Cake. It’s a light flavor balanced by the richness of the cake. 

Pair it with fresh whipped cream or top it warm with vanilla ice cream. It’s even better the longer it sits, so break it out for breakfast or brunch the next day and enjoy. It’s a quarantine treat you’ll enjoy long after normal returns.

Peace love and stretchy pants,

Meg 

Orange Blossom Pound Cake

May 8, 2020

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By: Meaghan Dawson

Ingredients

• 1 pound unsalted butter, softened to room temp
• 1 heaping teaspoon orange zest (2 oranges)
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs, room temp
• juice from 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups sifted flour
• pinch salt

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 325 and grease and flour a loaf pan. Set aside.
• Step 2 Combine orange zest and sugar and rub gently with your hands, working the zest into the sugar and releasing all of the oils.
• Step 3 In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and orange sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Step 4 Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Step 5 Add in orange juice and vanilla, beating as you do.
• Step 6 Add sifted flour and pinch of salt, little by little, until a smooth and completely combined. The secret is almost to overmix.
• Step 7 Pour into loaf pan being careful not to overfill (you might have some leftover batter).
• Step 8 Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes or until completely baked through. If the top looks like it’s getting too dark, put foil over it to let the browning stop but it will continue to bake through.
• Step 9 Let cool on wire rack before removing from pan.
• Step 10 Enjoy!

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