Correspondence

We welcome your opinions and letters – with name and address. We will edit when necessary. Include your name, address and phone number for verification. Mail them to Bay Weekly, 1629 Forest Drive, Annapolis, MD 21403 •E-mail them to [email protected]. or submit your letters on-line by clicking here.

30 Years of Fish

Dear Bay Weekly:

I appreciated your July 23 editorial [Eating Locally — with Reservations] about eating fish, even though it made me terribly sad. After 30 or so years of being a pescavegetarian, I may have to go back to eating some meat.

–Kathy Gramp, Fairhaven Cliffs

The Peace of Rural Medicine

Dear Bay Weekly:

I loved Bonnie Lefkowitz’s Owensville health care reform article [July 9]. I asked Dr. Bierbaum why he stayed in rural medicine. He said, “I’d rather have peace than a piece of the rock.”

–Val Hymes, Annapolis

Recipe for a Prize-Winning Cake

Dear Bay Weekly:

In the summer of 1980, my husband and I were living in Indonesia and had come home for a short leave. In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, we visited with my former college roommate, Patty, and her family. Her mom, Emily, was so excited that we were coming that she went to the local farm in late July and got a fresh-killed turkey and made an incredible dinner. (She said we looked too skinny from all the rice we must be eating over there) For me, the highlight of the meal was the dessert. It was the moistest chocolate cake I had ever tasted. I asked her for the recipe and have made it ever since.

When I saw the signs for the Fourth of July celebration at the Salem Avery house in Shady Side with an invitation to enter the bake sale, I thought of Emily Silen’s cake and thought why not? — though I have never entered any baking contest.

I had always made it as a sheet cake, and one box of confectionery sugar was more than enough to ice it. But for the contest, I made two nine-inch layers. On the morning of the Fourth, I realized I did not have enough icing. It was too late to go to the market for more as it had to be at the museum by noon. With only the middle and the top frosted, I was considering not entering it. But I knew that the cake would be sold to raise money for the museum, so off we went. To my surprise, I won first prize!

I emailed my former roommate, and she wrote back congratulations. Her mom’s recipe [had been lost] and her family had joked that her mother probably took her recipe box with her so she could feed the angels. Could I please send the recipe to her?

I am so happy that not only did my cake raise money for such a wonderful place but also cheered my former roommate and her family. If it had not been for the Salem Avery fundraiser, this would not have happened.

–Linda Carullo, Shady Side

Editor’s note: Here’s Emily Silen’s prize-winning recipe:

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Add all together in a large mixing bowl.

2 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup Crisco oil
1 cup cocoa
3 cups flour
1 cup sour cream (room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1⁄2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup strong boiling coffee

Mix well until smooth. Pour into one 9-by-13-inch greased and floured pan or two 9-inch pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes.