We are on vacation so posting has been light, but I did want to share this recipe. I read about Afghan Biscuits – on Gastro Obscura – and I looked up the recipe. These biscuits (cookies) are apparently a New Zealand specialty. I had never heard of them. Now that I have made them (twice) they have become one of our favorites, too.
You know that Pie Fixes Everything. We were recently on the coast in the vicinity of San Francisco and met up with some friends. Light Words and husband, and HMS Defiant and I had a lovely visit and PIE at Fat Apple’s Restaurant and Bakery in El Cerrito (I think). There we enjoyed chocolate cream . . .
olalliberry . . .
and olalliberry a la mode . . .
Did you know that, “The olallieberry (pronounced oh-la-leh, sometimes spelled ollalieberry, olallaberry, olalliberry, ollalaberry or ollaliberry) is the marketing name for the ‘Olallie’ blackberry that was a selection from a cross between the ‘Black Logan’ (syn. ‘Mammoth’), developed by Judge James Logan in California, and the youngberry, developed by Byrnes M. Young in Louisiana. According to Logan, ‘Black Logan’ was from a cross between the eastern blackberry ‘Crandall’ and the western dewberry ‘Aughinbaugh’. ‘Youngberry’ was from a cross of ‘Phenomenal’ x ‘Austin Mayes’. ‘Phenomenal’ in turn is a cross of the ‘Aughinbaugh’ western dewberry and ‘Cuthbert’ red raspberry and so has a very similar background to Logan’s ‘Loganberry’ and shares a parent with his ‘Black Logan’.” (Wikipedia)
I didn’t either. Anyway, the pie was delicious!
More from Fat Apple’s . . .
As you can see from the shelves, it was getting near the end of the day. Yet it was very much worth the trip.
Need some extra cuteness for your hot chocolate this winter season? How about a cat paw? Or even better, a whole cat? The Yawahada Marshmallow Shop creates adorable cat-themed marshmallows modeled after a cat named Hirokichi. (Depending on your vantage point, these can either be taken as uber-cute or a cruel image of a cat drowning.)
The marshmallows come with a vanilla coating and chocolate ears and paws to create its likeness. The cat-shaped sweets, which can be ordered online, go great even with tea or coffee, says the shop owners. With New York getting it’s very own cat café, we see a bright future for the marshmallows.
Re-blogged with thanks to Spoon and Tamago.
In addition to all of the other wonderful things that we celebrate in February, it is also National Cherry Month.
Why February, when cherry season is months away? I don’t know.
Cherries are stone fruit – like apricots, peaches, and plums. They are members of the genus Prunus.
The English word cherry, French cerise, Spanish cereza, and Turkish kiraz all derive from the classical Greek (κέρασος) through the Latin cerasum, which referred to the ancient Greek place name Cerasus, today the city of Giresun in northern Turkey in the ancient Pontus region, from which the cherry was first exported to Europe. The ancient Greek word κερασός “cherry” itself is thought to be derived from a pre-Greek Anatolian language. – Wikipedia
The top five cherry producing nations are Turkey, United States, Iran, Italy and Spain.
This is also a good time to trot out my Chocolate, chocolate, cherry, oatmeal, cookie recipe. Also known as the Best Cookies You Have Ever Eaten. See the recipe at this link.
Here is a tattoo . . .
The game Scrabble has a history dating back to at least 1938, when a board game based on Lexiko (which had no board) was designed by Alfred Butts, an architect living New York. Butts did an analysis of the frequency of letters in the English language to determine how many tiles of each letter should be included in the game. Here is his tally sheet.
(from Wiki)
The game passed from company to company, and varied in design. It had been around in the US for a while, but was sold for this first time in Australia and the UK on January 19, 1955.
Scrabble remains a popular game, now with on-line versions available. The game is available in 31 different languages including Afrikaans and Croatian. The tiles below represent neither of those languages.
Scrabble has been the influence for a number of different products over the years, such as those below:
Today marks the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition (January 1920 through December, 1933). This was accomplished by ratification of the 21st amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.
It is difficult for me to believe that an amendment such as the 18th was ever proposed, let alone ratified, in the first place. It must have been a very different time, or I am just exhibiting my proclivity for leaving the Constitution alone.
Nevertheless, today is National Sacher Torte Day. So raise a glass (or not) and enjoy this Austrian delicacy, which was developed in 1823 by Austrian pastry chef, Franz Sacher.
Franz Sacher
In honor of National Chocolate Day, sappy cat blogging features the York Chocolate Cat.
The York Chocolate (or simply York) is an uncommon and relatively recent American breed of show cat, with a long, fluffy coat and a tapered tail and most of them are mostly or entirely chocolate-brown. The breed was named after New York state, where it was established in 1983. This breed was created by color-selecting domestic long-haired cats of mixed ancestry.
It is National Chocolate Day. Time to make candy for Christmas. Time to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Time to bake chocolate chip cookies for your sweetie.
There is lots about the history of chocolate on Wikipedia, including the fact that chocolate, when eaten in moderation (ha!) can lower blood pressure.
What is your favorite chocolate treat?
From The Dessert Lovers Handbook (a vintage cookbook from my collection), here is a recipe for chocolate pudding.
Today is Cornflake Day.
The invention of cornflakes was the result of a failed attempt by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, back in 1894, to create a healthful snack for patients at his sanitarium out of some stale grain. Dr. Kellogg had some strange ideas about health and well-being. You can read more about them here (bizarre alert.)
The flakes that resulted from his experimentation were a success. Dr. Kellogg and his brother tried the process with other grains including corn, and a cereal empire was born.
In addition to being a part of Kellogg’s astounding number of breakfast cereals, cornflakes can also be used in recipes, such as these from Pepper: Cornflake Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Cookies: Genius with a Touch of B*tch.
A cornflake tattoo? I could not find one. This is the closest I came:
By the way, did you know that Butterfinger candy bars are made with corn flakes that have been sweetened, mixed with peanut butter, and covered in chocolate? I didn’t either.
Firearms, fibers, any news or behaviors that make me say, "hmm, let me take another look at this."
I still miss my man, but my aim is getting better.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 