Wins, Losses, and How Not to Make Zucchini Bread

by Michele Husfelt

 One of my kids’ favorite sayings is, “You win some; you lose some.” And I usually add, “As long as you win more than you lose.” Sometimes I find it interesting to count each one during a particular day or event just to see whether I end up winning or losing.

 One such tally began with two huge zucchini our friends gave us from their garden. They had kept our pretty perfect goldendoodle while we were out of town, and I suppose as a token of gratitude for our generosity in allowing them to keep her, they sent us home with this bounty. Win one.

I thought about a stir-fry but decided instead to share my good fortune by baking zucchini bread for a few neighbors. Not having baked much since our move to the tiny village of Upperville, I was pretty impressed with the quality of ingredients I had on hand; fresh eggs from a local farm, tupelo honey (aka liquid gold from Wewahitchka, Florida, where my husband first pastored a church), pecans purchased in Alabama on our recent road trip, and olive oil a friend brought back from Italy. Win Two.

After setting the eggs out to become room temperature, I cracked the first one. It was hard-boiled. First Loss. After the initial surprise, I chuckled as I grabbed my credit card and started across the street to our local tavern that happens to sell eggs from their farm. Win Three. Although they cost a small fortune. Loss Two. As I walked down my driveway, I noticed two neighbors chatting in their driveway, so I decided to stop and say hello on my way to the tavern. Because it’s always fun to see them and catch up, I chalked this “divine intervention” up as Win Four.

 As we ended our conversation, I mentioned my silly mistake and my mission to buy eggs at the tavern. Lo and behold, one friend happened to have plenty of eggs and insisted I use hers rather than “paying $5 an egg at the pub.” (She was exaggerating a bit, but that was Win Five.)

I went home with a spring in my step, cracked the eggs, whisked them in the bowl, and went to the pantry for the flour. No flour. Are you kidding me? Loss Three. “Could almond flour be substituted,” I wondered as I remembered having a few cups leftover from another recipe. According to Siri, indeed it could be. Win Six. I measured the “almond flour” and just as I started to pour it into the egg mixture, I noticed the texture seemed finer than what I thought it should be. Upon a finger-dipped taste, my suspicions rang true; it was powdered sugar. Loss Four.

This time it was off to buy flour; thankfully the next town over has a small grocery store only ten minutes away. Win Seven. And flour was on sale for 88 cents! Win Eight. Thirty minutes later (Loss Five), I was back home and eventually pouring the mixture into the loaf pans. Armed with four loaves of warm zucchini bread, I was able to visit one neighbor who just had surgery (the one who gave me the oil from Italy!), repay my friend who gave me the eggs with a loaf, gift a loaf to another neighbor who was also recovering from surgery, and welcome a new family to town with the other. The blessing of being able to share Jesus’ love by sharing a loaf of bread is huge. The biggest wins thus far; Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve!

Just when I thought of how my wins far outweighed my losses, I received a text from a dear friend asking me to stop at her office to pick something up. She handed me a bag with a few vegetables from her garden and what do you know? A tasty loaf of fresh zucchini bread smiled at me from the bottom of the bag. Winner, winner!

At the end of the day, and the end of our time on earth, we who are in Christ will always win.