It Isn't Really a Pudding

In the conception stages of coming of with this self challenge, my friend Lizzy  knowing full well what it was going to entail, gave me a cookbook.  I would be really angry about the cookbook, if it wasn't something that I thought was really interesting and had thought of purchasing before.  Cooking for Geeks is probably one of the most intense cookbooks I have ever own. I do not mean intense as in the skill to be required to accomplish the recipes. I mean intense as in the amount of information that is skillfully shoved into every single nook and cranny of this book.

I feel like my IQ increased just by looking at recipes. Every recipe is skillfully explained on what to expect and why it does what it does.  I figured that since I had mastered chocolate pudding, that Chocolate Mousse (page264) would be more of the same.  I was a fool, but now I know better. Mousse is not a pudding. Anyone who tells you differently, needs to shut their mouth.  It is a plebeian concept to believe that mousse and pudding are the same.  Pudding is a dense collaboration of taste and flavor, while a mousse is a light and airy symphony of the senses.  Okay, that might a little bit of an exaggeration, but I think I made my point.


Despite my pre conceived notions as to how this would go down due to previous pudding experience, I was pleasantly surprised. The version of mouse I made was the egg white version, which came out extremely light and airy. The taste was rich, but not thick the way that pudding can achieve.  I felt like I was a much classier person by serving a delicate chocolate mousse after dinner, than when I serve pudding.

I am very much looking forward to making more recipes out of this book and feel like this is one of those perfect books to give some one that doesn't understand cooking. The logical approach that follows through this cookbook, breaks down cooking in to simple concepts of cause and effect.  I very much would recommend a person to acquire this book for any cookbook collection, as it is useful in reference as well as recipe.

A Taste of Historic Lynchburg

 The one thing about having a cookbook challenge with rules is that your need to follow them rules once you have made them.  The rule that I am talking about at this time, is that any cookbook acquired during the challenge must be utilized.   I don't actively look for cookbooks most of the time, but that does not mean that my collection is not growing. My mother-in-law enjoys traveling and in her travels she came upon A Taste of Historic Lynchburg cookbook.  I now have said cookbook. 

This is a charming cookbook. It is the sort of cookbook that makes you feel like a lot of little old ladies sat around at a bridge game and decided that create a cookbook. There are a variety recipes in the pages, that range between delicious and horrifying. I don't know if I have ever had so much fun reading a cookbook, each recipe unique in its own way.  I sometimes wonder if we can do genealogy through tastebuds, because if so, this book would remind everyone of their grandmother. Especially if their grandmother loved jello. 

If you are ever around Lynchburg, I would recommend picking this cookbook up. While not every recipe is a winner, every recipe has merit.  If you ever get the courage to try some of the more inventive jello salad recipes, such as A Man's Salad (spoiler it is has jello in it) or Cinnamon Applesauce Salad (it also has jello in it, along with cinnamon candies) I suggest that you take a nip of the famous Jack Daniels Whiskey.  It is amazing what is normal when you have a hit or two of whiskey before, after and during making some of these recipes. I, sadly did not have any whiskey while cooking, because I don't think it is wise to mix frying anything and whiskey.  I have burned myself sober making cookie bars.  It was is my goal not to burn or maim myself in the kitchen. 

I had a lot of recipes to choose between. I found that I couldn't pick just one. I picked two. Nothing says southern cooking like fried chicken.  Buttermilk Fried Chicken (page 32) was simple.  The directions were clear and concise. I really appreciate that. Fried chicken is delicious.  Buttermilk Fried Chicken is deliciously delightful and not the slightest bit healthy for you.  I would not recommend this for daily eating, but for an every now and then treat, I will definitely be making this again. 

The other recipe that I tried was Drop Cookies (Page 89). Drop Cookies are no bake chocolate oat cookies. I wanted to follow this recipe to the tee, however I believe there is a typo in the recipe. I have a hard time believing that any cookie would call for 1/2 cup of chopped nutmeg. In my limited experience of baking, nutmeg has always been used sparingly.  For the sake of making these cookies edible, I nixed the nutmeg.  I will try this recipe again in the future, but try it with a 1/2 cup of nuts.  

Catch 22- My Thoughts

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller is a book that many people have probably not read. That is unless they had taken a course that made it part of their required reading to earn a favorable grade.  I must have missed class the day it was assigned, because I had never read Catch 22, even though I was quite familiar with the phase, Catch 22. (Catch 22 = Dammed if you do, Dammed if you don't.)  I don't know what exactly possessed me to read Catch 22. It could have been the curiosity about where such a phase came from, or it could have been that my husband spoke warmly of the book. I suppose it doesn't really matter what brings a book into my hands to read, because devouring words is a pass time that I enjoy.

My friend, Andy asked me what I thought of Catch 22. The answer to that question left my mind utterly blank. What did I think of this classic novel? Part of me flip flopped from love to hate on it and then back to love.  I don't think it is love or hate when it comes to Catch 22.  I think that saying I loved it or hated it, would be too simple of answer, and not a true answer at all. It took me a long time to figure out how I really wanted to answer that question.  (By really long time, I mean it took me seven months to come up with an answer.)

Let me start by saying that I did not hate the novel.  The novel frustrated me, because I could see a lot of the dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situations being replicated in my professional life. Those sort of situations are like a coin that leaves everyone unsatisfied with the out come.  The frustration that I find professionally at times, made me frustrated when reading the book, because I just wanted to smack the characters and tell them to quit being idiots.  It is really hard to smack fictional characters, and if anyone can tell me how to do it, I would be very much interested. The thing is even though some of the characters border on ridiculous, you can't help but feel sorry for them because they don't know any better, and even if they do know better, they don't know how to change it.

It is that conundrum of how do you reach your goals without a clear path.  That gave me a lot to think about in this book. This book is about men that want to fulfill their duty, keep their sanity and go home. Much like the normal work day. It sounds simple. Sometimes the simplest thing is the hardest thing to do. I can understand why my husband  praises the book.  I can completely understand why the phrase Catch 22 is popular, even to those people that have never read the book, because there have always been situations that there are no absolutely correct solutions for.

I wouldn't say that I have a love for the book, but more of a respect for the book and all that it made me ponder.  I feel like I am a better person for having read the book, and I think that even if it isn't your cup of tea, that sometimes you need to read books like Catch 22, just to balance out your point of view and remind yourself that sometimes there are no easy answers.  We all just do the best that we can to maintain the grip on the sanity we do have and sometimes we have to do something a little out of the normal just to balance ourselves out.


P.S.- Andy, Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.  Next time will be quicker.

And That is What Fennel Tastes Like

Chocolate Fennel Pudding

 I blame my mother for a good amount of my cookbooks, and I think that she would be alright with that sort of blame.  I don't think that the blame that I have multiple books on how to prepare food to sustain my life is going to leave her with too many sleepless nights. In fact, I think she would be rather proud that I am not living off of Ramen Noodles and hot tea.  

When I was in the early stages of living on my own for the first time, my offered me some cookbooks that she had no use for, and I took them. Then I never got rid of them, because I have problems getting rid of books in general.  In the mix of books that my mother gifted me were three Food & Wine cookbooks.  They are also one of my favorite cookbooks, which means I had to go out side of my comfort zone to find something that I had not ever made or modified.  That something ended up being Chocolate Fennel Pudding out of the Quick from Scratch- Herbs & Spices Cookbook.

I want to believe that anything in chocolate is wonderful. I really want to believe that. I feel a little bit like XFiles when I say that.  However, fennel might be pushing that theory.  I do no like fennel, anise, black liquorish, horehounds or anything else of that ilk.  I want to like fennel, because it is used in Indian Food and Indian Food make me happy, and tastes like an explosion of awesome in my mouth every time I have it. My sense go in to overdrive, and the rich heady flavor of Indian Food makes me believe that peace can be found in a bowl of sauce and rice. I sincerely want to have affection for  fennel, which is why I tried this recipe. As a side bonus, I have never made a pudding from scratch, which sounded a little bit like alchemy according the the recipe.

I didn't know you could do such things with just cream and eggs and chocolate. It was amazing. It was fabulous. It actually turned into pudding, which had me hopping around my kitchen like a deranged rabbit celebrating that my stove top pudding actually looked like a pudding, in all of its pudding glory.  The final test was how did it it taste. Can I love fennel?  This question could only be answered with a spoon. Bravely I dipped my spoon into the hot pudding and tasted it. It wasn't bad. It didn't kill me. I could eat it warm and ignore the fennel aftertaste. Scooping the pudding out of the pot, I concealed it in a container and put it in the refrigerator.  Pudding is meant to be cold.

Pudding is like alchemy. Once the pudding cooled, it revealed its true flavor.  Holy Fennel, Batman!  It was like a black liquorish nightmare. It was strong in flavor and overpowered the mighty chocolate flavor.  Fennel was not happy being a byline to chocolate and stole the limelight of the pudding. The flavor of fennel demanded to be front and center like a prima donna. I couldn't consume it in pleasure, the force of the fennel was too strong for me.  Thankfully my husband, who is immune to the fennel stepped up and saved me from the pudding of doom.

While I was not able to conquer the fennel in this round, I was able to made a pudding, which I have since duplicated minus the fennel. It was a delight.  I am pleased to with this new ability, and some what ashamed of the amount of pudding I intend to make in the future.