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Chalk Fest planned for Oct. 3 at Millenium Circle

Sasquatch operates in mysterious ways, even in birthday cakes created 43 years apart.
				My oldest brother &mdash; of &ldquo;Uncle Jake&rsquo;s Favorite Recipes,&rdquo; to regular readers &mdash; has his birthday today. He visited the old West Hazleton Homestead last weekend, and I offered to stop by and make dinner and a birthday cake Sunday to celebrate the occasion a few days in advance. He had no menu preference, so I used my fallback decision system and made what I craved.
				MT and I tossed around cake ideas, and I settled on a single-layer cake with trees on top and a backpacker hiking through them. Alas, edible trees for cakes were not immediately available. Plastic decoration trees were, but I already have a lot of little plastic trees. I&rsquo;m a Lego buff, a big one.
				So my Lego addiction collided with my craving for mom&rsquo;s recipe for molasses crumb cake (the light brown topping ideal for a forest floor) and our shared backpacking experiences (Jay and I have traveled by shank&rsquo;s mare through the forests since 1976).
				You can see the results in the photo, but wait, there&rsquo;s more!
				The diorama needed a punctuation mark, and at the last minute I carved out a large footprint in front of the Lego backpacker. Thus Sasquatch enters the story in classic tradition as usual: sensed but not quite seen.
				This actually re-imagined a shaped birthday cake I made for Jay in 1977: A backpacker is seen from behind, his pack so huge only his arms, boots and ankles are visible. His right hand holds a curved walking stick (Jay has such a stick, found in the woods). His raised left hand tilts the last drop of water out of a canteen. A sign pointing left reads &ldquo;Spring.&rdquo; Unfortunately, the hapless hiker is also standing in a giant footprint of something clearly traveling in the direction of the spring.
				Now you know the whole story. Except &mdash;
				MT liked the cake, but said it was a bit dry. She helpfully suggested adding some applesauce next time. I said it&rsquo;s supposed to be dry, like a coffee cake. My late father loved molasses confections, so we have multiple family recipes for desserts flavored with the dark, sweet syrup.
				&ldquo;If I wanted it to be moist, I would make our shoo fly cake,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;If I wanted it to be moister, I&rsquo;d make shoo fly pie. If I wanted it to be even moister, I&rsquo;d make the wet-bottom shoo fly pie.&rdquo;
				Without missing a beat, Jay added, deadpan. &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s not moist enough, just drink the molasses.&rdquo;
				Now you know the whole story. Except &mdash;
				My sister Deb was not present at the repast (I served cold-water lobster tail with melted butter, shrimp scampi Trieste, grilled scallops wrapped in bacon, grilled potatoes and a salad from MT). But Deb conveyed a birthday card to Jay. After the meal was cleared and cake carved (Lego accoutrements removed), he opened the card.
				It had a Bigfoot theme, and, no, Deb and I did not collude. I didn&rsquo;t even know there was a card, much less what was on it, until Jay showed it to me.
				The front had a lovely forest scene with a white silhouette of a Sasquatch and the words &ldquo;Bigfoot wanted me to wish you a happy birthday.&rdquo;
				The punchline inside:
				&ldquo;Just kidding. He doesn&rsquo;t believe in you.&rdquo;
				Here&rsquo;s the old family recipe, sans Legos. It makes a 9-inch square cake. For bigger crowds, double it and use a 13 by 9 pan, though be sure to reserve at least double the crumbs.
				&ldquo;Dobru Chut!&rdquo;
				Molasses Crumb Cake
				2 cups flour
				1 cup sugar
				&#189; cup shortening
				1 egg
				1 cup buttermilk
				1 teaspoon cinnamon
				&#189; teaspoon cloves
				&#189; teaspoon nutmeg
				2 tablespoons molasses
				1 teaspoon baking soda
				Preheat oven to 350&#176;
				Mix together flour, sugar and shortening to make crumbs. Reserve 1/3 cup for topping.
				In separate bowl, beat egg with fork or whisk, add molasses, spices, buttermilk and baking soda. Add crumbs and mix well. Place in 9&rdquo; square pan, spread reserve crumbs on top. Bake at 350oF for 35-40 min.

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Molasses crumb cake as inexplicable as Sasquatch