Fruitcake

What's the deal with fruitcake? It's highly fashionable to hate fruitcake. However, bucking fashion trends as usual, I love fruitcake. An old friend sent two large hunks of homemade fruitcake, wrapped in cheesecloth to hold the brandy. It is excellent, and I've been adding more brandy. It can't hurt.

My mother used to make a fruitcake that was pretty much nuts, dates and raisins. It was close to black in color and quite wonderful. And in days gone by, when I was into the DIY style of domestic achievement, I would make a fruit cake, trecking all over New York to find real candied citron and other delicacies. My roommate and I would soak all the fruits in cognac for several weeks before we put the thing together. We ate a great deal of the fruit before we actually baked the cake.

So try it--you might like it. Just stay clear of the store-bought stuff.

Urban wildlife

Never let it be said that the inner city has no wildlife. In addition to feral cats, squirrels, raccoons, bats, rabbits, skunks and the odd deer, we have bald eagles and opossums. On Saturday, in the midst of a blinding snow storm, an eagle soared above the Lake Street bridge. As we stopped for the light, old Abe checked us out through the sunroof window, circled around a few times, and decided we were not appropriate prey and flew up the Mississippi in search of better grub.

Then, on Christmas day, we were headed out the side door to visit a neighbor. When we opened the door, there was a large possum sitting right outside . He didn't seem inclined to move, so we left through the back door. He followed us up onto the neighbor's deck, leaving those distinctive possum footprints in the snow. He had a nice coat, but his face and tail were something only a mother possum could love. Apparently, they are not the brightest of mammals. Wikipedia says they have a "small braincase".

If Tom the cat were still alive, he would have protected us from the visiting fauna. Guess we need to look for a replacement.