Bena Mae’s Kitchen; It’s about time

It’s about time

This autumn, daylight saving time has us “falling back” — or gaining an hour of sleep — during the wee hours of Sunday, November 1. While that may sound like the perfect way to recover from a weekend of Halloween, it can be surprisingly jarring on the body.

It always rattles me. And I’m confused for days, sometimes weeks. And I’d like to abolish Daylight Saving Time altogether.
I set my clocks, some on the old time and others on the new time in order to establish some kind of sanity between “leaping forward and falling back”. Besides, I hate the sudden darkness at four o’clock that makes me think it’s time to go to bed. So, I say, like the old Kentuckian who espoused when someone asked him what time it was, that he went on God’s time, I agree wholehearted, Right! but what is God’s time? I really can’t answer that but I’d like to stay with one time all year long.

While reading the 1959 “Circus Dog” edition of journalist Allan Trout’s “Greetings from old Kentucky”, I was amused by his anecdote pertaining to the subject of time.

The story involves one of Kentucky’s finest citizens whom many younger folks never heard of but older folks are happy to have known and known of him. His name was Alben W. Barkley who became vice-president to Harry S. Truman in 1946. Vice President Barkley told the story in this way:

“My father John W. Barkley died in 1932 at the age of 78. One of my father’s neighbors was Joe Dunn. For many years my father possessed an old Seth Thomas clock. It kept fairly good time until one day it quit running. Knowing that his neighbor, Mr. Dunn had two clocks, my father induced him to lend him one while he had his clock fixed.

He kept Mr. Dunn’s clock for a week but never could tell the time of day or night by it. So he returned the clock and asked, “Joe, what kind of clock is this? I have not been able to tell what time it is since I borrowed it.” Whereupon Mr. Dunn replied:
“John, I ought to have explained that clock a little better when I let you have it. It is very peculiar. When both hands point to twelve and she strikes twice, that means it is half past four.”

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Before I leave the aforementioned topic, I’d like to point out something I learned in my endeavor to approach the subject of time.
If you have a clock that is numbered with Roman numerals, go and look at it. You will see that the number “4” which we are used to seeing written as “IV” is actually written “IIII.” The reason for this, I do not know. But if anyone out there could enlighten me, I’d appreciate it.

Time to go, folks.  Tempus fugit.

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This recipe is perfect for a fall dessert.

Pumpkin Upside Down Cake

Ingredients
   
Cake 
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
    (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp cinnamon
1 (2 layer) box of yellow cake mix
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
    (or more if you prefer!)
1 cup butter, melted

Topping
 8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
12 oz nondairy whipped topping
1/3 cup toasted, chopped pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9 x 13- inch baking pan with waxed paper.

Combine the pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well.  Pour into the prepared pan.   Sprinkle the cake mix over the pumpkin mixture.   Sprinkle the pecans over the cake mixture.  Drizzle the butter over the layers.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 60 – 65 minutes.  It will still be a little bit jiggly, but it will firm up when it cools. 

Cool in the pan about 30 minutes before turning it out onto a flat platter.  Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan by passing a knife between them.  Do not try this while the cake is still hot.

For the topping, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and whipped topping in a bowl and mix well.  Spread over the top of the cooled cake. To serve, cut into 2” squares (it is pretty rich).  For serving to a crowd, it works well to put the squares into cupcake liner papers.”  These are a huge hit!!!

Yield:  24 servings.