Apricot Cardamom Crumb Cake: Being present in the moment

For HKL and Yo-Yo Ma - and a few pretty amazing moments

Back in January, I texted back and forth with a girlfriend of mine casually catching up, only to have her drop the news that the Orange County Philharmonic Society, the non-profit she worked for, was bringing Yo-Yo Ma.  I texted back jokingly, "YOU HAVE TO LET ME COME" and she said, "Joanne. Come. You come here."

And after a few rounds of texting where I verified if yes, in fact, she was actually inviting me, and her reassuring me that she was, I quickly asked Husband if I could take off for a weekend and see someone whom I have borderline idolized for over well over a quarter of a century. (Dang - this makes me sound OLD.)  Husband, of course, was happy to see me get this bucket list item taken care of, and I gleefully booked a round trip ticket to see someone I've been waiting to see in concert for far too long.

As the date neared, Husband dropped the bomb that he'd be traveling out of town and wouldn't be around for the weekend.  I nearly sobbed audibly when I realized it was the same weekend as my long coveted trip and the disappointment was so acute I nearly became breathless.  Husband looked at me and said, "Just go. My mom will take care of the kids.  You can do this."  I looked at him with wide eyes and said, "I'll need to think about this."

The next day, I met some of my "villagers" in the school yard and nearly broke out into hives thinking about the prospect of not being able to see Yo-Yo Ma and the flipside prospect of managing my kids from afar.  One villager, EFW, grabbed me by the shoulders, looked deep into my eyes and said, "Joanne.  YOU GO.  Don't let anything stop you.  GO."  And with that, I began the crazy mental process of trying to figure out how to have multiple adults manage my children so that I could get away for a 36 hour period.

I'm not going to lie - the work of trying to figure out how to spread my normal work load taking care of three children across several people so that no one was overly overwhelmed was enough to almost make me not go. But as I began speaking to people, and asking them to help me, I was flooded with amazing offers of support and assistance to get me to Yo-Yo Ma. Each of my airport transportation legs was handled by a different person.  My children were not with the same person for more than 18 hours.  Different people fed my children.  Still another few people had to watch Son as he had baseball practice, while another mom had to deal with stressed out tween Daughter #1 who was in the midst of a major project.  All in all, for 36 hours my children were well taken care of.

Meanwhile, the night of the concert turned out to be something I'll not soon forget.  After meeting my friend, we walked in (no tickets - just her work badge) and made our way to empty seats.  I clung to her, feeling like some sort of bizarre groupie-interloper-squatter, but no one seemed to question my presence at the concert. Methinks it was the power of her badge which she kept around her neck. We scoped our location and we ended up IN THE SECOND ROW where I had such a clear view of Yo-Yo Ma. I was at a loss for words.  And when he started playing, I was overcome with powerful emotions that I shed more than a few tears. I was so moved that I think I shed tears in the form of sweat through my palms. The music, he was playing only for me.  In a room of thousands of people, his cello notes reached my ears alone and made magic.

At one point while he was playing I saw him wipe his sweat with the back of his hand and I turned to my friend and said, "I just saw Yo-Yo wipe his sweat" to which she laughed silently, shaking her head.  Later on I saw bow hairs break and I gasped quietly as he efficiently removed the wayward hairs only to have them stick to his fingers.  I was THAT close to him.

But my adventures were not over at the end of the concert.  I got to attend the post concert gala, where there would be a distinct, but remote possibility of my being in the room with Yo-Yo Ma.  My friends at home had all challenged me to get a photograph, and this would be the place I would possibly get to have one.  In this glittery room, full of powerful people and generous donors, I once again felt out of place, but was determined to see how close I could get to the great cellist. I'll only say that for about 15 minutes he whirled around the room and I kind of chased him around, looking for that one moment that I might ask for a picture with him.  (I actually got a text from one friend who said, "You march right over to him and get a picture.")

I got close.  I was so close to him that I could see the fabric of his suit in great detail.  Unfortunately it was his back that was to me, but I believe for a brief moment, we were breathing the same air.  And it was enough.  The photo was less important (the room was filled with crazy pitch of intensity of people trying to get a photograph with him) and I decided to just let the moment be one where I was present, fully and wholly, in the same room with Yo-Yo Ma. I got some tea, took a moment in the corner and just watched.  And it was the moment for me. I don't regret not getting a photograph, as I know I could not have asked for more.

So how does one come off of such a surreal experience?  Truthfully, none too gracefully.  As soon as I hit home, I had to hit the ground running with the kids, and resuming my normal programming.  Included in that normal programming was cooking and baking for different teacher events and on a day when I was too exhausted to think straight, I had to make two dishes for a teacher luncheon at school.  I was banging around my kitchen trying to avoid going to the grocery store for any ingredients and saw some beautiful ripe apricots that were almost too soft to be enjoyed.  I grabbed them and made a quick cake that I thought would be good.  I didn't get to taste it (until the second and third time I made it) but the result was something delicious, perfect for the season, and sophisticated enough with the cardamom.

While this bakes, breathe the heady scent in the air, and just be present in the moment with your delicious creation. The season for great apricots is really short, so just savor the moment.

Apricot Cardamom Crumb Cake

Serves 12-16

Cake Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

4 ½  teaspoons baking powder

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cardamom

2 eggs

1 cup milk

½  cup (1 stick) melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups chopped, fresh apricots (peels are fine!)

Streusel Ingredients

1 cup sugar

½  cup flour

6 tablespoons cold butter, cut up

Method

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cardamom. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, beat the eggs,  then mix in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix gently (batter will be stiff). Then add the apricots and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan.

To make the streusel, mix the sugar, flour, and cold butter bowl by pinching them together. Sprinkle over the top of the batter.  Using a knife or spoon, swirl and poke so that streusel is slightly swirled.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden and dry on top. Cool in the pan and cut into squares. This cake keeps for up to 4 days, covered at room temperature.

Printable recipe

Something for the moment

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