ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY//Hummingbird cake

For those of you who read my blog you know that I am not someone that spends much time reflecting on the past. I am a firm believer that whatever decisions I made in the past were made with te best intentions and to the best of my ability with the information that I had at the time and therefor, why look back there isn't anything I would do differently and I have no regrets. It is what it is. Thus, I have become someone who tries to live in ,"the present" and looks to always move forward. But that being said, it is time to share how this blog came to be because it is coming up to it's one year anniversary in a few days. I am going to break one of my rules and I am going to look back.
LIFE has a way of sometimes knocking you over, in the fall of 2007 I was looking forward to going back to teaching English to French immersions at my old elementary school.It was a part-time position that I just loved. After 30 years of teaching full time it was a nice to work the mornings and have the afternoons free, (relatively speaking, for those of you who know better, know there is no such thing as part time teaching, as you tend to spend most of your free time preparing for the next day, correcting, planning etc.) but the point was I could leave at noon and do what ever pleased me afterwards.
I had spent that summer with Ron in North Carolina and we had a wonderful rest on the coast in Naggs Head , but deep down I was exhausted and while I couldn't quite describe it I knew I was off. When we returned home I made the usual yearly Dr. appointments before returning to school, one was a routine mammogram. When I had a call back I wasn't worried because these things happen and besides, breast cancer doesn't run in my family. I think you can guess the rest. After the second mammogram everything happened super quick, the phone call, the consult, the biopsy, the surgery ,the treatment, the tears, the recovery. My two sons were absolutely wonderful, in their quiet way, they take after their dad (thank God) they took charge and took care of me. To fill in the empty spaces they encouraged me to start this blog and they put me on Facebook (I haven't quite figured that one out yet, but I'm getting there).This food blog has been such a wonderful surprise, I've turned into a foodie, I've found pleasure in cooking and baking again, I'm even getting interested in photography, but mostly I've discovered a wonderful group of supportive women and men that have inspired me, accepted me and allowed me to share and be a voyeur in their kitchens and life.
I wish I was more computer savvy, there is so much more that I want to do with this blog, but just don't know how. I want to do so much more with my photography but again ...don't know how. I'm a bit afraid of adding things to the blog but then worry if I've overloaded the system and it crashes I wouldn't know how to repair it. So, please bear with me, I'm still learning, I won't be shy anymore I'll start asking for help, hang in there with me I promise I'll get better. Hope you have enjoyed the year so far.Do take a look back, have a cup of coffee and drop me a line rita.stasi@gmail.com.

HUMMINGBIRD CAKE
3C flour
2C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/4 C vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 (8 oz can ) crushed pineapple with juice
2C diced bananas
1C chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan or baking Vessel. Measure and mix first 7 ingredients. Stir in pineapple with juice and next 3 ingredients. Pour into pan.
Bake for 70 minutes.
Cool completely and then ice with cream cheese icing.
Garnish with lemon swirls or pineapple slices or pecans.