Tuesday SOL: If you give a baker a zucchini...

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 

to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.

Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna

for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday 

                                                      and nurturing our writing lives.

If you give me some zucchini from your garden . . . 
chances are it won't end up on the table as a vegetable for dinner.
I'll start wondering about my mom's chocolate zucchini cake recipe,
so I'll call my sister Kay in California to see if she has the recipe.
When I call back the next day, I learn that Kay doesn't have the recipe, 
and we get sidetracked searching online for a jelly roll pan 
with a lid just the right size for yum yum cake.
Kay mentions that she found a recipe on the internet.  
She emails a copy to me, but never sure about internet recipes,
I turn to my tried and true cookbooks.
In a 1983 church cookbook given to me by Barb, 
I find Leslie's recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake.
I swing by Leslie's to ask about the chocolate chips,
1/2 cup for the cake? and more for the topping? 
She's not home, so I phone and leave a message.  
She calls me back and says 1/2 cup plus a bit more
in the batter with a generous sprinkling on top.
You have to love a cook who loves chocolate!
I wait for the cool of morning to bake the cake.  
I make a mess grating the zucchini and discover
that my baking powder expired in Jan. 2014
which may account for some recent baking failures.
So I head to the grocery store for new baking powder.  
I finally finish assembling the cake, throw it in the oven,
toss the dishes in the sink, and head to the shower.  
A delicious chocolate aroma fills the house!
I cut two slices and pack them in a disposable container 
for my friend Donna that I'm meeting for lunch near the airport.  
I tuck napkins, paper plates, and a  plastic fork in a 
paper sack, a nice treat for later in the day at her hotel.
Too bad I can't add a tall glass of cold milk.  
I dash out the door, typing in the address for her hotel
as I hop into the car.  When I'm several blocks away,
I can't remember if I shut the garage door.
So I call my neighbor, Nancy, who isn't home, and 
then Angelique who is home.  She steps onto her deck
and reports that all the garage doors are shut.  Whew!
I arrive at the hotel, reach into the back seat to 
retrieve the treat I packed . . . only to realize that I 
left it on the island.   So I ask Donna if she would like to see
Mercer Island.  We grab lunch at Bennett's and 
swing by the house for cake on the deck, 
complete with that glass of cold milk.
We're running out to time, but we make a quick stop
at Island Books where we convince Laurie to take our picture.

  

Donna leaves tonight for a 14 day Yukon tour,
her tenth time leading this tour, but the first time 
I've connected with her as she flies through Seattle.  
One of these days I hope to join one of her tours.
Just remember that if you give me a zucchini, 
it's likely that you'll get chocolate cake and a slice of life in return.