Some people will go to great lengths to create a wonderful moment for a loved one. Donna Ward, from Eston, Sask., reached out to the Yarmouth library to track down a recipe for her husband\u2019s favourite childhood cake. She wanted to bake it for him as a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While at work one evening, Yarmouth library clerk River Goodwin-Clairmont received the call from Donna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe first thing she said was \u2018I have a weird question\u2019 and I got excited because I love a good quest,\u201d says River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donna\u2019s husband Lenard bought the cookbook for his mother as a gift when he was 12. His family was visiting Expo \u201967 in Montreal at the time, and he found the book in the Nova Scotia pavilion, Donna says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When his mother died, the cookbook disappeared. Knowing that he loved the cake from that cookbook, Donna began her search. Scouring the Internet, she was unable to find a decent used copy at a reasonable price. She knew the name of the cookbook and that it came from Yarmouth. From there, Donna found the name of the local library, and reached out for help.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe was able to tell me the name of the cookbook and the recipe,\u201d says River. \u201cThe book was the Bluenose Cookbook, originally published in 1965, and the recipe she wanted was called California Cake. She said it was a white cake with some sort of coconut on top. It was a favourite of the person she was hoping to bake it for when he was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
River found the book in the library catalogue while they were on the phone. Promising to call back, River found the book in the library basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI found the book, brought it upstairs, and started looking through it,\u201d River says. \u201cThere was no index of recipes, so I was worried at first. The index was only split up by category. Luckily there was a \u2018cakes\u2019 section, so I went there and started browsing. And there it was!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
River called Donna back and sent her a copy of the recipe via email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And how did the surprise and cake-baking go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt turned out very well,\u201d Donna says. Needless to say, Lenard enjoyed the cake and the surprise very much.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some people will go to great lengths to create a wonderful moment for a loved one. Donna Ward, from Eston, Sask., reached out to the Yarmouth library to track down a recipe for her husband\u2019s favourite childhood cake. She wanted to bake it for him as a surprise.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8015,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n