Sweet as Honey (34 page)

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Authors: Jennifer Beckstrand

BOOK: Sweet as Honey
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Giggling, Lily responded by putting her arms around his waist. He raised his hands as if Aunt B were pointing the shotgun at him. Rose and Poppy looked like their eyes might pop out of their heads. Aunt B narrowed her gaze, but Lily thought she might have caught a glint of amusement in her eyes.
“I have good news,” Lily said, smiling so wide she thought her lips might break. “You might be surprised to hear that Paul is not paying us enough for our honey. I've decided to sell it to Carole Parker. And it's all thanks to Dan.”
Rose beamed, Poppy gave a loud cheer, and Aunt B didn't change her expression. The honey price was secondary to the fact that her niece had her arms around a boy in plain sight in her own kitchen.
Dan risked Aunt B's wrath by sliding his arms around Lily and pulling her way too close. He gazed down at Lily, his expression overflowing with tenderness. “Are you sure it's what you want?”
She got on her tippy toes and wrapped her arms good and tight around his neck. “I finally figured out that Paul and I are a terrible match. It's over between us.”
Dan caught his breath and his face lit up like a brilliant sunrise. He immediately pulled her closer and kissed her thoroughly. Every cell in her body came to life as his lips touched hers.
In her distant consciousness, she heard loud and soft whispers and even louder footsteps. Aunt B made a muffled protest as it sounded as if her sisters were dragging her up the stairs.
Lily giggled with her lips still firmly pressed to Dan's. Aunt B was not one to go quietly.
Dan pulled away from her and smiled. “I think I'm growing on her.”
“Like mold.”
He chuckled. “If it weren't for mold, we'd never be able to make cheese.” As if he couldn't bear to keep away, he kissed her again, with more tenderness than Lily could have imagined possible. She felt the strength of his heartbeat against hers.
So much love. So much happiness.
His lips were inches from hers when he whispered, “Marry me, Amtrak?”
Her heart thumped a wild rhythm. She finally understood the deep affection behind that word. “
Jah
,” she whispered back.
His eyes got moist, and his smile got sort of fuzzy. “I knew I'd have more of a chance if I asked while you were still delirious.”
“I don't think I'll stop being delirious for the rest of my life.”
Dan glanced over at the window seat, where Farrah Fawcett lounged like a princess. “Farrah Fawcett, is it all right with you if I marry Lily?”
Farrah Fawcett lifted her head and condescended to give them a curt meow before averting her eyes and pretending she didn't know them.
“I'll take that as a yes,” he said. Once more he kissed her. It was glorious and achingly insufficient at the same time. From the warm thrumming of her pulse to the effervescent energy that traveled through her body, she might have been a bird about to take flight.
She suddenly understood why her aunt frowned on kissing. They'd have to stop soon or Aunt B would be waving that shotgun around with great energy yet.
There was so much more to tell Dan and her family. So much to apologize for. So much to rejoice in.
Aunt B would have to know about Paul's threat of shunning. It was the only thing that marred the perfection of Lily's happiness.
But all that could wait. Tonight, with Dan's arms around her and his love securely tucked inside her heart, it was enough.
With or without Farrah Fawcett's approval.
Chapter Thirty
Lily, her sisters, and Aunt Bitsy surrounded the island and formed the popcorn into small balls with their butter-coated hands. They only made Rose's honey and vanilla popcorn balls on very special occasions, and today was most certainly an extra special occasion. This morning Dan had showed up with Carole, and Carole had brought her pickup truck to take every last pint of honey they had except for the fifteen gallons they kept for themselves for baking.
Carole had written out a big check, with a promise to buy more honey as soon as they extracted later in the fall.
That alone was cause for celebration, not to mention the little matter of Lily getting engaged to Dan last night. Poppy wanted to throw a party. They settled for popcorn balls and maybe Scrabble, if Dan didn't run away in horror at the very suggestion.
Plus a new mousetrap. Dan had promised to bring a foolproof mousetrap when he came tonight.
Poppy finished forming a popcorn ball and placed it on the wax paper, grinning smugly at Lily. “Tell me again how red Paul's face got when you said you weren't going to marry him.”
“Now, Priscilla,” Aunt B scolded. “It isn't nice to dwell on another person's misfortunes.”
“I feel sorry for him,” Rose said. “To lose Lily must have been very painful.” She shook her head. “But I'm not sorry enough to wish him back.”
Lily smiled. Being free of the fear of Paul's disapproval made her giddy. She felt as if she'd finally crawled out of the hole she'd been living in for eight years. She wanted to lift her hands to the sky and shout.
They heard a firm knock, and Lily rushed to the door. Dan stood on her porch holding an apple box and looking so handsome Lily didn't know what to do with herself.
His smile was fast becoming her favorite sight in the world. “Hey, Amtrak,” he said, sending a shiver of pleasure down her spine. “Is Bitsy here?”
“
Jah.
Inside.”
“Too bad,” he said in mock disappointment. “I was going to kiss you.”
“I heard that,” Aunt B said. “Don't even think about it.”
Dan grinned and stepped over the threshold. “I wouldn't dream of kissing Lily in front of you, Bitsy. It's more fun behind your back.”
Bitsy gave Dan the evil eye. “You can't pull one over on me. I see everything.”
“I like your new tattoo,” Dan said, setting his box on the table.
Today Aunt B sported a tiny green-and-yellow snake on her right forearm. It looked quite intimidating.
“
Denki,
” Aunt Bitsy said. “Snakes eat mice, you know. I'm hoping for some good karma.”
Lily had no idea what good karma was. Maybe she was another one of Aunt B's movie stars.
Rose gave Dan a sisterly peck on the cheek. “What did you bring us?”
Dan tapped on his box. “This is the last mousetrap you'll ever need,” he said, winking at Lily.
Aunt Bitsy waved her hand dismissively. “Well, Dan Kanagy, I don't have much faith in you, but let's have a look.”
He took the lid off the box, reached inside, and scooped out a . . . cat—the ugliest cat Lily had ever seen—a black-and-white cat with unruly fur and lopsided whiskers and one ear split right down the middle. Its right eye only opened halfway, and part of its tail was missing, as if it had seen a lot of street fights in its day. The half-open eye was yellow and the other eye was light green. A deep scar ran down one side of its mouth lifting its lip from its teeth permanently.
The cat scowled at the humans and hissed at Farrah Fawcett. Farrah Fawcett gave Dan a huffy sneer, jumped from her window seat, and ran, actually ran, from the room and up the stairs. Lily didn't know how this new cat would be with mice, but Farrah Fawcett seemed a little concerned.
Aunt B scowled in disgust. “Really, Dan Kanagy, really? Haven't we got enough stray cats around here?”
“Now, Bitsy,” Dan said. “Roger Gordon, my farmer friend down the road, has had this cat since he was a kitten. Roger says he's a born hunter. He hasn't seen a mouse in his barn for years.”
Bitsy lifted a suspicious eyebrow. “Then why is he willing to part with such a cat?”
“He has two other cats, and his grandchildren are terrified of this one. So I offered to take him. He'll have your place cleared of mice in a matter of weeks.”
The cat sat in Dan's arms and glared at his new family. He'd probably be able to rid them of squirrels, rabbits, and small raccoons as well.
Rose puckered her lips and spoke directly to the cat. “Oh, you're adorable, you poor little thing.” She took him from Dan's arms and cuddled him like a baby. “Don't you worry. We'll take good care of you.”
Aunt Bitsy wiped the butter from her hands. “Now, Rose, don't get attached. We're not keeping him.”
“Of course we're keeping him,” said Rose. “This poor kitty needs a place where he'll be loved.”
“He won't be loved here,” Aunt Bitsy insisted.
“Aunt Bitsy,” Rose said, her eyes wide with childlike faith, “we can't give him back now. The grandkids don't like him. He needs a place where he'll feel acceptance.” She scratched the sparse fur on the top of the cat's head. “Welcome to the family, kitty. We love you.”
Aunt B's glare could have peeled the orange paint off the barn door. “Dan Kanagy, you have brought me nothing but a big, fat headache. I've a mind to get out my shotgun.”
Dan smiled and backed away from Aunt B's wrath. “Now, Bitsy, remember that I am engaged to Lily, and she would be very sad if you murdered me.”
Aunt B narrowed her eyes. “On a scale of one to ten, Lily, how sad would you be? It might be worth it.”
Lily laughed. “Oh, Aunt B. Don't you think we could keep him for a few days to see if he'll catch our mouse?”
Aunt B sighed dramatically. “All right, he can stay. But he's going straight back to the Gordons if he proves as useless as Farrah Fawcett.”
“He's never going back,” insisted Rose.
Aunt B threw up her hands in surrender and looked heavenward to talk to
Gotte
. “You've brought the Apocalypse upon us.”
Rose giggled, then snuggled the new cat against her chin. “What should we name him?”
“How about Dandelion?” Dan said. “You've got a lot of them around here.”
Aunt Bitsy's upper lip twitched. “You should know, for as many as you've trampled.”
“What about Charcoal?” Poppy said.
Aunt B propped her hands on her hips. “I'm the one who has to put up with this animal. I should be the one to name it.”
Dan nodded. “Fair enough. What would you like to call him?”
Aunt B took the cat from Rose and met him face-to-face. “There's only one name for this cat. We're calling him Billy Idol.”
Please turn the page for some sweet recipes from the Honeybee Sisters!
Rose's Honey Lavender Ice Cream
Note from Rose: This is a yummy, different ice cream that Aunt Bitsy loves but Farrah Fawcett turns up her nose at, even when it's melted. If you like a stronger lavender taste, you can use up to ¼ cup of dried lavender. I like just a hint.
Ingredients:
2 cups milk (2% or whole is fine)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup honey
½ Tbsp. dried lavender
4 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Bring the milk, cream, honey, and lavender to a gentle boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. I add the lavender when I remove the milk mixture from the heat instead of boiling it with the other ingredients, but either way is fine.
Remove from the heat and let steep for ten to fifteen minutes. Strain out the lavender petals and let cool a bit.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm milk mixture, whisking as you pour. This helps warm the eggs slowly so they don't cook when you add them to the hot liquid.
Pour the warmed eggs back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture. This mixture is now called custard because of the eggs. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (five to ten minutes).
Strain again into a bowl to make sure you got all the lavender pieces. Set the bowl of custard over a large bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (three hours or overnight).
Freeze in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, and invite Dan Kanagy over to do the crank turning. This ice cream is creamy and smooth and pleasantly soft. It doesn't freeze very hard because it uses honey instead of sugar.
The vanilla adds a lovely color, and the ice cream is a very pretty beige. The lavender doesn't add any color. I really like watching the little lavender pieces floating on top of the milk mixture, and the smell, while it cooks, is delightful.
Aunt Bitsy's Honey Curry Chicken
Note from Bitsy: This recipe makes two chicken breasts. If you want more, you'll have to double it, and since you can read this recipe, I assume you know how to double everything for yourself. Don't overcook or you'll end up with a pool of blackened honey at the bottom of your pan.
Ingredients:
¼ cup melted butter (margarine might work too,
but I hate margarine, so you're on your own)
¼ cup prepared yellow mustard
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ cup honey
½ teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients together and pour over two raw chicken breasts. Bake for one hour (or until chicken is cooked through) at 350 degrees. Serve over rice.
Lily's Bienenstich Cake (Bee Sting Cake)
Note from Lily: Aunt B thinks this cake is too much trouble to make, but it's so delicious and so perfect for special occasions that I think it's worth the effort. The cake is very dense and moist, but it's the cream filling and the almond topping that make this cake so
wunderbarr
. I think it's called Bee Sting Cake because it is so sweet that the bees want to eat it.
Cake
1¼ tsp. active dry yeast
¾ cup whole milk, warmed just over room
temperature with 1 Tbsp. honey added
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
1 cup bread flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. table salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
Honey-Almond Topping
9 Tbsp. unsalted butter
⅓ cup plus 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar
4½ Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. heavy cream
1½ cups (4 ¾ ounces) sliced almonds
3 pinches of sea salt
Pastry Cream Filling
1 cup whole milk
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 pinches sea salt
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract or ¼ tsp. almond extract (I use almond)
To make the cake:
 
Combine the yeast and milk with honey and let sit for five minutes.
Cream the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.
Add the yeast mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until combined.
Add bread flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. This is thick like dough, so if you are not Amish and you use electricity, you can mix this together in a stand mixer at low-medium speed for two to three minutes. If you are Amish, you've just got to use your muscles. (We often ask Poppy to do this part.)
Add eggs and mix.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for sixty minutes until the dough is a little puffy. (It won't fully double.)
Butter a nine-inch round springform pan. Stir the batter a few times to deflate it slightly, then scrape it into the prepared pan and spread it until it fills the bottom.
Cover with plastic wrap (don't let the plastic sag and touch the dough) and let it rise for another thirty minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
 
 
To make the honey-almond topping:
 
In a medium saucepan, stir butter, sugar, honey, cream, and salt over medium heat until butter is melted. Stirring frequently, bring to a simmer and let boil for three to five minutes, until the mixture goes from a yellowish color to a light beige.
Remove from heat and stir in the almonds.
Once the cake has finished its second rise—remember that it won't rise significantly—press the dough lightly to deflate it. Spoon the almond topping evenly over the top of the cake.
Bake cake for twenty to twenty-five minutes until the top is a lovely golden brown color and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Be sure to put a foil-lined cookie sheet under your springform pan in case the almond topping drips. This is very hard to get out of your oven when it's baked on. It puts Aunt B in a bad mood.
Transfer to a cooling rack and let it sit in the pan for ten minutes. After ten minutes, run a knife between the cake and the pan and remove the outer ring. Let cool completely.
 
 
To make pastry cream:
 
Warm milk in a medium saucepan (not too warm or it will scald). Set aside.
Rinse saucepan with cool water and dry it. In the cool saucepan, whisk the egg yolks and sugar for one minute. Whisk in flour and salt until smooth. Drizzle in warm milk a spoonful at a time while whisking continuously. Once you add half of the milk, you can add the rest in a steady stream, whisking continuously. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook on medium-high heat until the mixture bubbles. Keep whisking (this is a
gute
job for Dan or some other boy who hangs around the house all the time), and simmer for one to two minutes.
Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and either the vanilla or almond extract. Cool the pastry cream completely—either in the fridge or over a bowl of ice water.
 
To assemble the cake:
 
Once both the cake and pastry cream are cooled, place the cake on a serving platter and cut it horizontally into two layers with a serrated knife. Spread pastry cream over bottom half of the cake. Place the top half of the cake on top of the pastry cream.
You can make the dough and pastry cream a day ahead and refrigerate it. It's quite a bit to do in one day.
Honeybee Granola
Note from Poppy: We make this wonderful-
gute
granola at least once a month. Eat it for breakfast with milk, or as a snack anytime. Aunt Bitsy likes it with raisins. I don't.
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups sweetened coconut
½ cup raw sunflower seeds
½ cup wheat germ
1 cup bran flakes
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, or pecans—I prefer pecans)
2 cups raisins (optional—I don't put raisins in, but Aunt Bitsy loves them)
Mix all the above together. To the dry mixture add:
1 cup honey
½ cup safflower oil (I use regular vegetable oil when I don't have safflower oil. The safflower oil is healthier. The vegetable oil is cheaper.)
2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir until well coated. Spread on large cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for twenty minutes, turning occasionally with a spatula. Do not overcook.
Remove granola from the pan immediately after taking it out of the oven. Store in plastic or glass container with a lid to keep it fresh. Does not need to be refrigerated. I usually double this. It is less likely to overcook, and it disappears as fast as I make it.
Honey Cookies
Note from Aunt Bitsy: I hear these cookies are good for when you have morning sickness. This may be an old wives' tale, but since I am not an old wife, I wouldn't know. The boys who come to bother us love these cookies. Warning: don't pass them out if you don't want the boys to come back. They're like stray cats.
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground ginger
4 cups all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a saucepan over low heat, stir together sugar, shortening, and honey until melted. Let cool.
Mix together eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and ginger. Gradually add to cooled honey mixture.
Slowly add four cups of flour to mixture. Stir until well blended. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees until golden (about ten to eleven minutes). Do not overbake. They're better soft.

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