“Scientist Mohamed Babu from Mysore, India captured beautiful photos of these translucent ants eating a specially colored liquid sugar. Some of the ants would even move between the food resulting in new color combinations in their stomachs. Read more over on the Daily Mail.”
Inspired by a recent Thai cooking class I took and the eminent blog, One Man’s Meat, I am off to the store. Here is a page from my sketchbook, er, shopping list.
Twinkies introduced April 6, 1930
Twinkies were invented in Schiller Park, Illinois on April 6, 1930, by James Alexander Dewar, a baker for the Continental Baking Company. Realizing that several machines used to make cream-filled strawberry shortcake sat idle when strawberries were out of season, Dewar conceived a snack cake filled with banana cream, which he dubbed the Twinkie. The name came from a billboard he saw in St. Louis for “Twinkle Toe Shoes”. During World War II, bananas were rationed and the company was forced to switch to vanilla cream. This change proved popular, and banana-cream Twinkies were not widely re-introduced. The original flavor was occasionally found in limited-time promotions, but the company used strawberry cream for most Twinkies. In 1988, Fruit and Cream Twinkies were introduced with a strawberry filling swirled into the cream. The product was soon dropped. Vanilla’s dominance over banana flavoring would be challenged in 2005, following a month-long promotion of the movie King Kong. Hostess saw its Twinkie sales rise 20 percent during the promotion, and in 2007 restored the banana-cream Twinkie to its snack lineup. – Wikipedia
In addition to vanilla and banana cream filled Twinkies, limited editions have sometimes been found with strawberry, chocolate or blueberry fillings, and even a chocolate covered Twinkie with cherry filling.
- dissolve 1 package (3 oz.) any flavor of Jell-O Gelatin in 1-3/4 cups of boiling water
- stir in 1 pint of vanilla ice cream until melted
- chill until very thick
- fold in 1 cup of drained, sweetened, sliced, fresh strawberries or 1 package (10 oz.) drained, thawed Birds Eye Strawberry Halves
- pour into 8″ crumb crust
- chill until firm
- garnish with more berries
I remember this. My mom and my aunts used to make it – with boysenberries in black raspberry jello. It was wonderful.
From retro recipes
One day when I was in first grade, I think it was for Valentine’s Day, we spent the afternoon decorating graham crackers. I thought they were the most delicious thing I had ever tasted. In my memory, they looked just like this.
Here is Mezesmanna on Instagram also on Facebook, via This is Colossal
This is the Almond Fairy and today is Almond Day.
Almonds are native to the Middle East and South Asia. They are actually a seed rather than a nut and are relatives of peaches, plums, apricots and other drupes.
In addition to being tasty on their own, they are the basis for marzipan, orgeat, frangipane, moisturizing almond oil, almond butter, almond milk, and of course, the scent of bitter almonds.
“Happiness and the absurd are two sons of the same earth,” said Albert Camus. “They are inseparable.” Indeed, absurdity does have a way of instilling happiness in us. Take, for example, Nekozushi, the brainchild of Japanese company Tange & Nakimushi Peanuts (a name that’s equally absurd).
This wonderful collection of sushi cats is from Spoon and Tomago
Did you miss it? Yesterday was Fruitcake Day.
Now I know what you are thinking, but not all fruitcakes are the same. There are some that should never see the inside of an oven.
But if you like fruit and you like cake, you can make a good one. Just don’t put in any yucky stuff (citron).
This is a recipe for Stained Glass Fruitcake that I like very much that I found in Sunset magazine many years ago. I use dried apricots, pears, peaches, cherries and a mixture of different types of raisins, but use what you like. The orange juice adds brightness to the cake. I bake it in mini loaf pans, and it is so good, the cakes don’t stay around for long. Make them early and cover with brandy soaked cheesecloth, if you like. I like them just the way they come out of the oven.
If you don’t have an oven, check out the delicious fruitcake made by the nuns at the Transfiguration Hermitage in Windsor, Maine.
Here’s the recipe:
Cream the butter and sugar; add the eggs; mix the baking powder and salt with the flour; add dry ingredients alternating with the orange juice. Then add the nuts and fruit. Grease and flour the pan or pans. Bake at 300 degrees (low and slow) for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. If you are using small pans, check the cakes sooner because they will bake faster than a large loaf. When a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, it is done. Cool on a rack, but turn out of the pans when the cake is still warm, but not hot.
The new crop of halos are in the grocery store!
Halos is the new name for Cuties. Cuties is a marketing term for mandarins.
Mandarins are one of the three basic types of citrus fruit (mandarin, citron, pummelo). Everything else you find in the store is a back cross from these types. Actually the mandarins that are Cuties or Halos are also probably hybrids.
Bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon . . .
Sandwich Special: The 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon Melt Hickory Smoked Bacon, Black Pepper Crusted Slab Cut Bacon, Maple Bourbon Glazed Smoked Pork Belly, Italian Pancetta, Herb Cream Cheese with Bacon Bits, In-house made Bacon infused Mayonnaise, Sharp Cheddar, Fresh Romaine and Sliced Tomato
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 