NEWS

5 Sand Street

I’ve written before about my childhood on the beach in Milford, CT. Lest you think my family inhabited some Nancy Meyers-inspired fantasy seaside compound, I present to you my grandparents’ cottage.

Though this photo isn’t entirely accurate. The cottage of my childhood had tidy paint and landscaping, including a mimosa tree in the front yard. But this image is seedy and weedy for a reason. This is the last photo taken of our little cottage before it was torn down. Unbeknownst to us, it was sold (by one of our relatives, who’d been living there) to the current owner, who demolished it to make room for a multi-level eyesore with a two-car garage.

I’m grateful to my sister for taking this photo, among the more than 100 she captured of the interior and exterior. Because this humble dwelling is holy to me. And remembering is my religion.

I remember the breeze from these open jalousie windows, and the round puzzle of North American birds my grandmother glued together and hung on the wall. After our post-beach showers, we’d relax under a blanket on a black vinyl couch that sat on this tiny porch, waiting for whatever delicious thing was being cooked up for dinner.

A thin layer of sand coated this linoleum floor, which my grandmother was constantly sweeping, as if she thought she could ever keep the beach fully outside.

A faded red picnic table once occupied this spot, with a grape arbor forming a canopy over it. The grapes were so so sour, and then only very slightly, fleetingly sweet. My grandfather spread out newspaper on that table to gut and clean fish. And later, we’d gather around the table for dinner, the musty smell of grapes all around us, eating the fish, salad with veggies from the garden, and plenty of corn on the cob.

On so many occasions, I sat on this stoop with my sister, our legs dangling over the edge as we ate juicy triangles of watermelon, spitting the seeds into the back yard. It was here that I watched my grandmother hang laundry on the line. It was also where I waited in a queue with my sister and cousins, as we all took turns rinsing off after the beach in the outdoor shower my grandfather made. It used to stand just to the left of the stoop here. The shower was surrounded in dark green striped fabric, with a barrel of water on top that heated in the sun, so our post-beach showers were always warm and comforting.

The kitchen table sat beneath this light, surrounded by white bentwood chairs. That’s where we rolled gnocchi, or watched my grandmother stuff and fry zucchini flowers, or dipped freshly-dug steamers into melted butter.

Just around this corner on the left was the oven, where I made my first attempts at baking under my grandmother’s tutelage. So many boxed cake mixes. Then, when I was ready to level up, I baked zucchini cake from her recipe, made with squash from the back garden.

I wish I still had that recipe. It’s somewhere at my grandmother’s house back in Connecticut, just waiting to be unearthed by my sister. But in the meantime, I’ve come up with my own recipe over the years, inspired by the original. I think my grandmother would approve. (Though she inexplicably DETESTED chocolate chips. Sorry, Louise.)

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

Ingredients:

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp vanilla

2 cups grated zucchini

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

5 tbsp baking cocoa

1 tbsp instant coffee granules

5 ounces of mini chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli, and that’s half of a bag)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 baking pan (I “flour” it with baking cocoa).
2. Sift together all of the dry ingredients. Set aside.
3. Combine the eggs, sugar, and oil until glossy and light yellow.
4. Add the vanilla and zucchini and mix until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients, half at a time, until just combined.
6. Fold in the mini chips.
7. Pour into the baking pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

For jumbo cupcakes (makes 12): Grease and flour the tins, or use cupcake papers (I do, bc I hate cleaning up lol). Fill each halfway. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 degrees and 25 minutes at 350 degrees to ensure rounded tops.

My grandmother served her cake with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. But if you want to get really fancy (and give yourself a major treat), I like to top the cake/cupcakes with mascarpone frosting:

MASCARPONE FROSTING

Ingredients:

2 cups COLD heavy whipping cream

1 8 oz tub of mascarpone cheese

1/4 to 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar (I start with 1/4 and add more to taste)

A glug of vanilla

A pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. Set aside.
2. With your (stand or handheld) mixer, start whipping on a low speed. Gradually increase the speed to medium and whip for 3–4 minutes until soft peaks form. (I usually put the whisk attachment in the freezer overnight beforehand so it’s nice and cold, too.)
3. Add in the mascarpone mixture. Whisk on low speed until it’s incorporated.
4. Now mix it on high. Keep stopping it to check. You want stiff peaks, where the whisk attachment holds the frosting when you turn it upside down. STOP when it gets to that point, otherwise you’ll make butter!!
5. Refrigerate the frosting until you’re ready to use it.

My heart is still in this cottage, and this cottage is always in my heart. And if I’ve been able to infuse even a bit of its magic in the world I’ve created for WITCHYCAKES, I’ll have accomplished true witchcraft.