My mother would buy the square Tea Cake from Amy's Bakery in Montebello, CA since I can remember. They still sell them. You can see the image of it on their website. Take the 60 fwy, exit Wilcox or Garfield Ave. Go south to Beverly Blvd. and Amy's Bakery is on the NW corner of Wilcox & Beverly. Make sure to grab a number as soon as you enter. Once when I worked in Lancaster, CA a rep came in and dropped off a pink box of little pink & yellow tea cakes in our lounge. I knew exactly what they were but no one else did but the box did not have a bakery name on it. They went for the other box of pastries and needless to say by the time the day was over I had eaten the entire box! (good for me) :) Last time I bought a tea cake from Amy's (in the 80's) I ate the whole cake before we got it home. (with my bare hands) No, I don't do that kind of stuff! It surprised me too! Yes, these cakes are that good. The cake from Amy's Bakery is like a 9x9 and has the light brown colored glaze/frosting on it. In my opinion, it's the best.

Susan, First, I was intimidated by CP at first because I was afraid i would not know what trace looked like. Well, it is very easy to see. Once you add the lye water to the oils and start stirring you will see the mixture start thickening, as you stir you will see track marks in the soap, you can actually drizzle some of the soap over the mixture and you will see "traces", with the recipe I am going to give you this will happen in about 4 minutes if you use a stick mixer, (if mixing by hand could take hours). I recommend the stick mixer, I did by hand the 1st time but got very disconcerned with the stirring. This recipe is not organic but you can probably purchase the items organically. Here is a very easy and mild CP recipe: 38 oz veg. shortening 24 oz Olive Oil 24 oz Coconut Oil 12 oz lye 32 oz distilled water 3-4 oz EO or 2 oz FO 1/4 oz herbs (optional) Items needed: 2 plastic pitchers 2 candy thermometers 1 stainless steel pot mold freezer paper Goggles rubber gloves 2 wooden spoons scale that weighs in ounces and pounds old blanket piece of cardboard that fits into mold so lay on soap as not to create soda ash Wearing goggles and rubber gloves weigh out 12 oz of lye into a plastic pitcher, in another plastic pitcher weigh out 32 oz of distilled water. Slowly pour the lye into the water stirring as you add. The mixture will be very hot, stick a thermometer in and start on the oil phase. In a stainless pot add weighed veg shortening and coconut oil, let melt, as soon a mixture melts remove from heat, add olive oil. Add a 2nd thermometer to the oil mixture, let both (lye and oil) mixtures cool to between 90 - 100 degrees. While waiting for mixtures to cool you can prepare your mold by greasing and lining with freezer paper. Also get your additives ready. Both mixtures will need to be at exactly same temp before incorporating. If one cools faster than the other put the warmer on in a cold water bath until it reaches the correct temp. Once both are at the same temp slowly pour the lye water into the oil. If using a stick blender you will see the mix thicken and then you will see "tracks" or "trace" in the soap, this is when you will add you FO, EO, additives or color. You can also superfat with 2 oz of Shea butter or Avacodo butter at this time. Use your stick blender to stir again until trace then pour in prepared molds. You can lay a piece of freezer paper directly on soap then place the card board or a lid on the container. Wrap in a blanket, leave in blankets for 18 hours, then uncover and let sit another 12 hours. After 12 hours remove soap from mold and cut into bars. This makes (1) 4LB block or (2) 2LBS loafs, I get 20 bars from this recipe (you can get 24 depending on your mold. ***Clean up tip: I let the mixture in the pot and blender sit and begin to set up so it is more of a soap mixture when I clean than oily.** ~~If you are nervous about making just make sure you have everything ready before you begin and read the directions several times before attempting. I have to say as nervous as I was all of my soaps have turned out great, not one messed up batch~~ Good Luck Elle By the way Susan, ordered the Coffee FO today for the Kitchen Soap

I'm doing limited shopping. Costco twice in 6 months, Target only curbside, food co-op every six weeks, Farmer's Market every 2 weeks and Trader Joes every 2 or 3 weeks. A local high-end grocery every 10 days or so. Haven't found paper products that I prefer, because I used to buy them at Target but they won't deliver or do curbside and I'm not going inside. Someone posted (here?) about Staples having TP, so I looked at they had the Scott 1 ply I need for my septic, but they had their own house brand that looks identical for much less $$, so I bought 2 packs of 20 rolls. Delivered in 1 day for free. They also had some sanitizing wipes (their brand) and a free hand sanitizer if you spent more than $30. I have NEVER been able to make their website work for me, so I ended up in a chat, then a phone convo, but it all worked out. I should be good for many months.

We could look back 50-60 years and find simpler times and some frustrations. By decade. Fine print contracts, shipping AND handling charges. Cell phones charged by the minute. The first texting, both parties were charged. NYC was disgusting in the 80's. Phone companies in shambles, garbage workers on strike...gum stuffed in pay phone coin slots. etc. 'Germ-a-phone'. My first gardening order was an advertisement in the back pages of OrganicGardeningMagazine. 20cent seed packets. They would send a (hard too read) fax page, then check boxes. Send a 10 or 20 dollar bill wrapped around your order. Simple envelope. I do miss some of that time. (I think they are still in operation at 25cents per pack). My mother at 90 still wants to get off the phone in 3-5 minutes. We lost internet last week for 4 days. Fine by us. I have a personal hot spot set up by work. No real need for TV/cable. The real suffering are my younger co-workers in small apartments with roommates...or anyone younger with debt. No savings. Paycheck-to-paycheck. Or any of our fellow Americans/world wide peoples suffering... caught without the ability to provide for their families. Sickens me. Post covid hospitalizations with maybe years of rehabilitations costing so much in suffering. And $$costs. Years of medical rehabilitation costs.