A Round of Donuts

Have a ball, its Nat'l Donut Day!*
*oops, a day late, its really the 1st Fri in June.

Hey, lets make it a world-wide celebration, by trying out as many different doughnut versions as we can. Here's a few to get you started:

China - Jin deui (煎堆) - a hollow fried pastry made of sticky rice-flour, w/ a sweet filling

Finland - a Meat doughnut (Lihapiirakka)

France - Beignet - heavenly pockets of yeast dough, sugared
(also a New Orleans treat - that's where I had'm - yum!)

Greece - Loukoumades - donut balls dipped in honey & spices

and here's Japan's Karinto ...



Its deep-fried, of mostly flour, yeast, & brown sugar.
...no matter what it actually looks like....

Norway - Smultring, ("lard ring") donut-like but smaller

Peru - Picarones - a sweet, ring-shaped pumpkin fritter

South Asia - Paratha - fried bread, stuffed with vegetables

West Africa - Akara - fried dough made w/ black eyed peas

Not enough? See more at this (link in new window):
List of international fried treats.

And last but not least...

Gee, dogs really do love donuts... ;)

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Flying Monkey Cake

Just what the elf ordered for your holiday
... if you happen to be an anorexic giant.


The Flying Monkey bakery in Philly invented these 'pumpple' cakes by baking a two layer cake with an entire apple pie in the top half, and a pumpkin pie in the lower one.

An entire pumpple cake weighs 15 pounds
stands more than a foot tall
costs $75
and will run you 1,800 calories a slice.

Maybe we'll start with just that $8 slice?

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Donut Lasagna

A specialty of Top Chef Casey Thompson.

Along with the usual lasagna ingredients, she adds brie, spinach, nutmeg, and cream. Then assembles it by laying the noodles on a flat surface, and spooning some of the filling on each, then rolls'm up and places them on edge in a casserole dish. Cheese on top, voila!

Casey says:
" ...I always like a little something different during the holidays; I don't always stick to the rules."

No kidding. Whats even funnier?...

In Nov. she was asked what item she least likes to cook,
and she picked lasagna ! (video from 11/2010 below)



The full recipe & article is here (Star-Telegram) but before you rush out to get the ingredients let me warn you that her special version clocks in w/ an impressive 753 calories, 29 gr fat per serving.

* Tonight is ep #3 of Top Chef All-Stars
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Seattle calls Kathy Griffin

...with the siren song of hot mini-donuts?

{seattlepi interview}

Q: Are there any places you visit regularly while in town?

Kathy: My favorite place is at Pike Place Market, you know where they sell the doughnuts. It's a small hippie kiosk where they sell these little sacks of doughnuts. They're amazing. They actually fall down from heaven. That was 90 percent of the reason I visited there. Whoever's running the board of tourism should just say, "Come to Seattle, where there are little sacks of doughnuts."

Now there's a thought.
Heaven probably does have donuts.
Bet the French part has those powder-sugar things too.

Yum. But I"m getting off track here...

KG will be in Seattle through Sunday.

Stroll to her book-signing tonight at 7 p.m. (U of W bookstore, 4326 University Way), or try getting tickets for her 8 p.m. Fri/Sat shows. (Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St)

But remember, if those don't work out, stalk her here:

'Daily Dozen Doughnut Company'

Love how this video person notes 'dirty glass', but still orders.

And the Pike's Place Pig has duct tape on his neck?
Hm. A band-aid for a bronze boar boosting beignets?

Stoned Chefs

Notice something odd about the (from top)
pork belly, raw pork, crab bits, fried fish,



and oysters?...
At an expo in Ningbo this week there were 108 dishes on display, all made out of carved stone.
(Click images to see full tables)

Reminds me of that SNL skit where Kristin Wiig et al were eating 'Quarry' breakfast cereal...
'Its not grown - its mined!'
(couldn't find a video link to it, sorry!)

Piscatory Props

This piece is called 'Sushi Bar'...

*click* for a larger image

And this one is 'Modern Times'

No idea what this one is called...


Yes, those are real fishy fishes.

artist quote:

“My brother and I played with them like dolls. I loved to have a sardine or a mackerel in my pocket.”

Then artist, Anne-Catherine Becker-Echivard, took a course of instruction in documentary photography in 1997, and she's been doing these ever since.

And her mother does the costumes.


via: Life in the Fast Lane

Easy Bake Off

...not your mother's bake off.

A girl won "EASY-BAKE 2009 Baker of the Year"
What was Catherine's winning recipe you ask?

RECIPE:

one EASY-BAKE sugar cookie mix
add a few strawberries
and a bit of lemon curd
now its time to Easy-Bake.

Impressed? You should be.

That recipe won her a trip to Disneyworld,
... plus another trip for four to San Francisco.

I know. There is no justice.




To ease your pain a bit, Easy-Bake for grown-ups,
*including a recipe for Wild Mushroom Flan
recipes in links at NPR and at Kiddio .org

Prick With A Fork

That pic, plus the bottom line? Priceless
Dunno the guy, but could be truth in advertising...

...some of the added comments:

# I'd suggest..."Prick package with a fork"... but that might be worse.

# The guy signed on to advertise the "new, thicker Fairy" that "keeps on going," which leads me to believe that his overall judgment in terms of marketing copy is seriously impaired.

# note the first letters of the top 3 lines spell "Ass."

# My dentist once said, "you might feel a little prick"

That last one had me LOL...


the original (sausage) link: the Consumerist

License to Chill

007, on ice. (click to see his, um, big one...)

LOL'd at a 'news report' about Daniel Craig, being voted Britain’s 'coolest' and having his sculpted torso recreated as a limited edition ice lolly as part Del Monte's 'Superfruit Smoothies' campaign. The article ends with these lines:

'...artists worked tirelessly to recreate a sculpture of 41-year-old Craig in the scene where he emerges from the sea in Casino Royale.'

'Do you fancy getting your lips around Bond?'

Oh my.

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Should I mention he's pomegranate flavored?

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Puts the Ick in Lick

Tired of good taste & nutrition?...

Its 'Jelly Belly' Pudding

*credit for pic from Mr. C's lol Grossery list - check it out.
Inspired to research this after seeing it on Mr. C's site...

'Requires no refrigeration'. Hm. How would pudding made with actual milk & eggs look after months on a shelf?

Some brave souls (av club video) actually ate some:

Taste: Jelly Belly puddings ranged from ridiculously sweet to shockingly horrible. Is it any wonder that most of our Taste Testers had to hold their noses while consuming the popcorn pudding?...

...to make things more exciting, we mixed up a “suicide” of all flavors for IES DaveC. -Guess what?- The suicide actually tasted better than any of the individual flavors. And it was beautiful while mixing, though the final product looked poopy.

Isn't there a quote that goes something like:
'If it looks like poo, & tastes like sh!t, its probably...'

Oh Catsup Cake

Oh to be a Canadian today...

PRESS RELEASE: ''To commemorate its Canadian centennial and thank Canadians for 100 years of support, Heinz has created The Great Canadian Heinz Ketchup Cake.''

Still don't believe? Here's the recipe:
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) cinnamon
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each, nutmeg and ginger
1/2 cup (125 mL) Heinz Tomato Ketchup
1/2 cup (125 mL) water
2 tbsp (30 mL) red food colouring
3/4 cup (175 mL) Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) dark brown sugar, packed
2 Eggs

FROSTING:
6 oz (175 g) solid cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (175 mL) Butter, softened
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
4 cups (1 L) Icing 'powdered' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease two, 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Stir flour, b powder, cinnamon, b soda, nutmeg and ginger in bowl.
Stir ketchup, water and colouring in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar in large bowl til smooth. Add in eggs. Add the flour mix and ketchup mixture. Beat on low, til combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat 1 minute.

Bake 30 min, or til centre springs back when touched lightly.

Cool cake 15 min before turning onto rack to cool.

Frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium for 2 min. Gradually beat in the sugar on low, scraping the bowl as needed. Beat on high until fluffy.

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Because if there's anything that grows well in Canada its a -tomato-?
*thankfully the frosting is tomato-free.

link in new window: Ketchup Cake.