Monkey Business

I often monkey around in the kitchen. My nona did, too, but then she had a real spider monkey to hang out with. His name was Hoy and he actually belonged to my father while he was still a swinging single (Daddy, not the monkey). Hoy didn’t work out so well in his rented bachelor pad so Daddy “temporarily” dumped him on his fiancée (my mother) and her parents.

Hoy moved in and never left. And why would he want to? Nona brewed him milk coffee every morning, baked his favorite cakes on weekends and even sewed him a little clown costume for Mardi Gras. He slept in a little house Grandpa built for him.

The only bummer was during the day, they would chain him to a cinder block near his little house so he wouldn’t get into trouble. Yeah right.

One nice spring day, Nona left a cake cooling on the kitchen table. Hoy smelled it and got tired of waiting to be offered a piece so he took matters into his own hands – literally. He picked up the cinder block (those little fingers are strong) and marched chain, brick and all up the back steps, opened the screen door and made off with the cake.

History does not record what type of cake it was, but it may have been a pound cake. My family was fond of those. As Hoy knew well, it is delicious with a cup of milk coffee.

CREAM CHEESE POUND CAKE

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 8-oz. package of cream cheese, softened
3 cups of granulated sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. of almond, lemon or orange extract (optional but oh so good)

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until the yellow disappears.

Combine flour and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating a low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and other flavorings if desired. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 10-inch Bundt or tube pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 35 minutes (my oven actually takes about 5 minutes longer, especially if I use extra large eggs) or until a long wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

MILK COFFEE (ALSO KNOWN AS WHITE COFFEE OR CAFE AU LAIT)

Brew coffee to your liking. * In a small pot pour one cup of milk (on the boats they used evaporated milk which would make it BOAT COFFEE). Heat milk until it just comes to boil. Do not let it boil completely. Add a good spoon (regular spoon, not measuring spoon) of sugar to the milk. Pour in one cup of coffee. Stir.

* If you want to be truly authentic with this recipe, brew your coffee the Point way -- in a sack. First you have to make the sack out of a piece of muslin or handkerchief. You want about a 4-inch deep sack. My grandmother's cousin Frances, stitched her sack to the frame of an old hand-held soup strainer with the mesh removed. You can also make the frame yourself, using an old wire hanger. Boil one cup of water in a small pot. Just before it comes to a boil, add 1 spoon full of ground coffee to the water. Remove the pot from the heat after it comes to a boil. Set the sack into an empty coffee pot. Pour the coffee/water mixture into the sack and let it drip through. The sack will serve as a coffee filter.

Photo: My nona, Mary, with Hoy, late 1950's.