I am at 'work' for the river coalition, but really just killing time for another hour and a half until the highway opens up and I can go home. I have been here since 7 this morning. I do a lot of the coalition projects from home when I don't have meetings here in town, and that's nice, but I enjoy being around the city employees who all have their noses to the grindstone. I have my own loaner cubicle.

After a cold snap, the hot sun is pouring in the windows, and we are in for some melting of the snow before the next storm, whenever that is.

My father-in-law's 91st birthday is February 2, and I have no inspiration as to what to give him. He adores shoo-fly pie, that Pennsylvania Dutch delight that mostly tastes like molasses, so I'm thinking of that. A few years ago I discovered Shoo-Fly Cake, which doesn't require a pie crust in order to get the same effect. It's better than the pie. I've provided the recipe so you can get an idea.

Shoo Fly Cake
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 pound butter
2 cups flour
1 cup molasses (can use part Karo syrup)
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix brown sugar, butter, and flour until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup. Arrange the remaining crumbs on the bottom of an 8 by 8 inch square baking pan and press down. Mix the liquid ingredients well and pour over the crumbs. Top with the reserved crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes, until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. This can be baked in two pie plates, where it resembles a pie with a graham cracker crust.

This is 1/2 of the recipe that is supposed to make an 9 by 13 inch cake and take 45 minutes to bake. I made the full recipe once, and it made 3 of the 8 by 8 inch pans.