It's a great week for Bacon Science

This was sent to me by my good friend Scott, and it made me laugh, so here you go.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=102992901

Oh the cuteness!

As I was reading my favorite blog today, Cakewrecks, I happened upon a link to the blog of a 16-year-old who is really talented in the field of cake decorating, and fell in love with her little robot cup cakes. It's not the first post on the page, so click the link and scroll down. I didn't want to steal her pic and post it though, so here's the link:

http://mmmeliacakes.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

Allergy thy name be Banana.

So, for any of you who are allergic to a food that you like, this post is for you.

Today in Foods we started our pie unit, and as such it was my obligation, and pleasure, to offer a demo on how to make a pie crust. Since we had plenty of pies for the kids to devour at the end of class (which they did; I love teenage boys for that reason, they always appreciate and subsequently get rid of whatever you make) I got to take two empty pie crusts home.

As I was pondering what to do with said pie crusts the thought of banana cream kept filling my head, which is odd for two reasons.

1. I don't like cream pies
2. I'm allergic to bananas

Now, my banana allergy is really very un-severe which I find very fortunate and am grateful for. I can eat them as long as they're covered with enough flour, fat, or sugar that my stomach doesn't notice they're in there, and they really only make me slightly ill, and only if they're spotty. So the trick, I guess, is to get green ones and hide them well.

But I just couldn't shake it, so I went to Harmons to get bananas. They had strawberries on special, and I being the impulse buy-er I am thought that sounded like a good combo. So I decided to try it. I had a great debate in the pudding isle, but decided to shun the evils of instant and even cook 'n' serve. Sorry Jello, but box-pudding can never compete with home-made. Which is pretty much true of anything, really.

The recipe I found in my ancient (or I suppose Vintage is a better term) Better Homes and Gardens tome told me I should use 3 egg yolks in the pudding for the filling, and use the whites for merengue on top. The last time I've bothered with a merengue was in junior high, so I thought I'd give it a go. If only I had a kitchen torch. *sigh*

My roommate's fiancee came over during the course of the evening and had to comment. We sort of have this running gag that when he comes over I'm always making the house smell good. Yup, apparently my calling in life is to make people hungry.

Anyway, I thought it turned out quite nicely:


Although it needs more color. Maybe I should get one of those cool ceramic pans that have the pretty blue or green or whatever color glaze. I actually have a theory that the crust would bake slightly differently since everything bakes better in ceramic, right?

I was a little worried that since I had to re-bake the thing with the fruit inside that some of the moisture from the fruit would seep out into the pudding or crust causing it to do the whole syneresis thing (when the starch releases the trapped water and you get the clumpy pudding with the water in the bottom of the pan after a day or two) prematurely, but we'll have to see about that tomorrow. There was some excess moisture from the strawberries on the top, but it seems to be ok.

See, you can kinda see the little tiny puddle in the crust there. I hope it doesn't get too soggy by morning.

So, speaking of food allergies, I meant to post this photo a while ago, since I found it tragically amusing.


So the story goes, part of my family and I were at one of our favorite restaurants of all time, Maddox. We've been eating there since the dawn of time, and I think hamburgers are just about my brother's favorite thing in the universe. Ever since he was little. And Maddox hamburgers are the best of the best, heck they have the cows right out back (you think I'm joking? I'm not.) So for the first time in years we go to Maddox and he, of course, orders a hamburger.

Now, in the past few years the poor guy has developed an allergy to Sesame seads, and any kind of nut under the sun (which has some poetic justice since he used to torment me about not liking walnuts and them always being in Mom's cookies). So, he goes to do something that's so second nature to him, and is greated with the perfect hamburger on a fluffy sesame seed bun of certain doom. Tragedy has struck.

Here's the face of realization:

Well we solved the problem by switching the bun on the hamburger with the bun from my neice's hamburger since the kid's sized ones were sans sesame, which is why the burger in the picture is so disproportioned.

I suppose the point of all this is to say that, my heart goes out to all who can't eat the foods they love because they're body disagrees with their tastebuds...and maybe to show off my pretty pie.
Now I'm going to go take some benedryl and have a slice.