Jennifer Snowdon
  • Buteyko Breathing
  • Workshops & Webinars
    • Traumatic Stress & the Breath
    • Intro to Science of Breath
    • Intro to Yogic Breath
    • 300h YTT
  • Read/Watch/Chat
    • About Jennifer
    • COVID-19
    • Second Breakfast
    • Newsletter
    • Contact
Second Breakfast

Slow as Molasses

15/1/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
When I was growing up, I often heard the expression, "slow as molasses," and it was often followed by, "running uphill, in January." Growing up in "Winterpeg" January was a pretty cold month — nothing moved very fast then. Besides this simile, we also often had molasses in the house. My dad had grown up in New Brunswick, and molasses was a staple. His birthday cake was often a molasses cake. Christmas baking — molasses cookies. With cinnamon and cloves, anything baked with molasses has a warm-on-a-winter's-night kind of feeling for me.

A few years ago someone told me about the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. On January 15, 1919, a massive molasses storage tank burst in north Boston, and as much as 2,300,000 US gal came rushing out into the streets of Boston, killing 21 and injuring 150 people. How is that possible? It was January, in Boston — apparently a warmer day at +5°C — but how can molasses move quickly in January? That molasses came rolling out of the tank and down the streets in a wave 8m deep and moving at speeds up to 56 km/h. If you'd like to read more about the incident, the clean up, the research into it many years later, Wikipedia has a page with photos. It's worth the few minutes to read it.

Today, in honour of the 100th year of the Great Molasses Flood, I've baked a molasses cake (using my Aunt Louise's recipe). It's something of a novelty to my Irish husband, and a warm memory of growing up to me. I suppose I could write  about how things aren't always what they appear to be, or about expecting the unexpected, but I just wanted to commemorate those 21 people who died in one of the strangest ways I've heard of. Here's to good engineering that has prevented more molasses floods, and to good cake.

Picture


​EDIT:
I was asked to post the recipe. This is not a healthy cake! I try to improve it's nutrition by subbing in half whole-wheat flour, and I usually cut the white sugar in half (but then I sprinkle icing sugar on top). Make this sparingly, eat small servings (it's really good warm with a cup of tea), and it freezes well, so cut some chunks off and freeze for another time. (Download the recipe pdf below.)
molassescake.pdf
File Size: 45 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

      

    Welcome to my blog. It's about yoga, movement, breathing, design, books, and me.
    ​
    I tend to take in food like I take in information in small, digestible bits, even eating breakfast in two or three parts. Second Breakfast is something small to read, something to feed the brain or the soul, and goes well with a cup of tea.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    March 2017
    October 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    October 2014
    July 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    Anatomy
    Breathing
    Design
    Food
    Meditation
    Movement
    Philosophy
    Trauma
    Walking
    Words & Pictures
    Workshop
    Yoga
    Yoga Life

    RSS Feed

PRIVACY POLICY
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Subscribe to my Newsletter

​Jennifer Snowdon  ©2021   ✉️ ​breathe@jennifersnowdon.ca​
  • Buteyko Breathing
  • Workshops & Webinars
    • Traumatic Stress & the Breath
    • Intro to Science of Breath
    • Intro to Yogic Breath
    • 300h YTT
  • Read/Watch/Chat
    • About Jennifer
    • COVID-19
    • Second Breakfast
    • Newsletter
    • Contact