Between my daughter Shannon’s wedding and my breast cancer diagnosis—with all its attendant doctors’ visits, surgery, and stress—there hasn’t been much time or energy for cooking in the past two months. But yesterday was my husband, Clif’s, birthday. Now that things have settled down, at least a little, I decided it was time to get back to some heavy-duty cooking. 

There would have to be cake, of course. Unfortunately, cakes are not my strong point, and given my druthers, I’d much rather make a pie or cookies. But what is a birthday without cake? Fortunately, for reasons known only to the gods, I can make a pretty good spice cake, which, in another stroke of luck, just happens to be Clif’s favorite kind of cake. 

So spice cake it was. I tackled this project first thing in the morning, just in case I had lost my touch with spice cake. Success! The cake rose just the way it should, and there was no falling in the center as it cooled. (My cakes have an irritating tendency to fall as they cool.) All it would need is a good butter cream frosting, which I knew I could easily whip up. 

From cake it was on to barbecue beef. In our house, the tradition is for the birthday boy or girl to choose the meal, and since we seldom eat beef, Clif was in the mood for roast beef slow-cooked with barbecue sauce. We bought a rather expensive hormone-free, antibiotic-free roast from Whole Foods in Portland. We have made a commitment to eat as organically/hormone free as possible, even though it costs more to do so. On the other hand, while the roast might have been expensive at $4.99 a pound and thus $20 for the size we bought, we knew it would easily feed four on the night of Clif’s birthday.  Add a couple of sides, and the whole meal would cost no more than $25. Now, where can you get that kind of meal for four people for $25, with the possiblity of leftovers? Nowhere that I know, even in central Maine. Roast beef from Whole Foods is not something we could afford to do for every meal, but it is well within our budget for special occasions. 

I made a simple barbecue sauce from a New York Times recipe and browned the roast on all sides. Into the crockpot, set on high, went the roast, which I then covered with the sauce. With any luck, in six or seven hours, I would have a delectable roast to serve for Clif’s birthday. 

Finally, there was the matter of bread. For the past two months, Clif and I have been eating store-bought bread, and we have not been very happy about this. Oh, we have mixed in artisan bread and English muffins with the blah sliced bread available at our grocery store, but it would be a gross understatement to say we missed homemade bread. 

After two months, would I have lost my touch with bread? (So many worries!) I took out my little mixer and began making bread, using a recipe I have adapted from Sheila Lukins’s U.S.A Cookbook. 

Again, success! The bread rose the way it should, and it was moist with a satisfying yeasty flavor. Visions of toast danced in my head.

At the risk of bragging, I must say that everything came out just as I hoped it would—the tender spice cake; the roast beef, which I was able to cut in perfect slices; and the bread. (No more store-bought bread for us.) Even the baked potatoes were soft on the inside and had lovely crunchy skins. 

It was good to be cooking again.