Hello, bloggers! I am back and I have great news…I am engaged! I am very excited about this, of course, and eager to start this new chapter in my life. But don’t worry. I have not forgotten about my other true love: baking. And in the month of January, I find that I love baking even more, though I usually don’t have enough time to actually bake something from scratch. After the holidays, the public schools have a long period of uninterrupted vacations and then I have to give out midterm exams to my students, leading to many days where I want nothing more than to drink chamomile tea and head straight to the warm covers of my bed. But that just makes the pleasure of taking a fresh-baked cake out of the oven, when I do have the time to make one, so much more enjoyable.
Unlike many people, I actually love the month of January. It is crackling with the anticipation of the coming spring. The nights are hushed and still, with the moon providing lacy-white and sophisticated illumination through the bare tree branches. The stores in the local shopping mall start displaying jaunty sundresses and pastel windbreakers to signal the coming spring. One of my favorite January traditions occurs at the beginning of the month, on the holiday of the Epiphany, when I make a splashy King Cake decorated with green, yellow, and purple sugars (I make another King Cake on Mardi Gras). To me, the cake, with its bright jeweled tones and circular, sun-like shape, reminds me that life is bursting through underneath the snow. So to celebrate January, I chose one of the most life-affirming movies ever: Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. Here are Dan’s thoughts.
The Apartment
Much was made of Billy Wilder’s boldness in directing The Apartment, a film that so forcefully knocks down the barriers of the Production Code. Credit should be given where credit is due, but the initial shock stirred by the film buried its humane qualities. The label “dirty fairytale”, while comically not unfit, detracts from the ultimate message about becoming a mensch, a human in other words.
It’s no easier to dislike C.C. Baxter than it is to dislike Jack Lemmon himself, but the fact of the matter is, he will do anything to move up in the business world, including loaning his flat to philandering higher ups at his firm. He never sees the women being hurt by the flings he is enabling, until Ms. Kubelik, the sweet elevator girl at his firm played by Shirley MacLaine, puts a face on them. Every man at the firm has his eye on her, but only Baxter’s love is sincere. The conflict arises when Baxter discovers that Ms. Kubelik is his big boss’s mistress.
No, no one in The Apartment is entirely innocent or blameless for their misfortunes. But the object of the movie is to watch Baxter and Kubelik evolve into decency and discovering that there are more important things in life than success. Throughout there are tears and smiles, as well as insight into what it meant to be a man toward the end of the Eisenhower years.
After striking gold with Some Like it Hot the previous year, Wilder was eager to work with Jack Lemmon again. In The Apartment he pulled more out of his performance, showing sides of Lemmon not seen before and this is where the heart of The Apartment lies. We can see from the start that Baxter is a good man with the all too human fault of letting his desire for success cloud his integrity. It takes a special woman to bring out his inner mensch. Because of what Baxter and Ms. Kubelik bring out in each other, we can forgive them their past mistakes and applaud the happy ending. For once, a movie has taken sympathy on two people who truly deserve it.
Thanks, Dan!
In honor of The Apartment and its martini-drinking characters, I made a swanky old-fashioned rum cake. Normally I’m not crazy about rum cakes, but Dan likes them, and this was a birthday present for him. I must say that I was very impressed with the cake. It’s unbelievably soft and balances the rum flavor very well. It’s also healthy and has a creamy texture, a must for me when it comes to cakes (there’s nothing I hate more than a dry cake. Yick!) So enjoy…responsibly!
Rum Cake
Adapted from Taste of Home: Healthy Cooking Magazine
Ingredients:
- ½ cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 1 package yellow cake mix (kind with pudding in the mix)
- ½ cup skim milk
- ¼ cup dark rum
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 eggs
Glaze:
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter, cubed
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp dark room
1) Coat a 10-in. fluted bundt cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle with a little bit of flour. Sprinkle pecans evenly around the bottom of the pan.
2) In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, milk, rum, canola oil, applesauce and eggs. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds; then beat on medium for about 2 minutes.
3) Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before inverting from a pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
4) In a small saucepan, combine glaze ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook and stir for 4-5 minutes or until thickened. Drizzle over cake.
Next time: Red Velvet and Casablanca
