Quirky Vistas: recipe

Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Monday, August 20, 2012

Diabolical Mosquito Potion - Part One

Now, I'm not usually one to try what seems like a kooky remedy, especially one passed around on the Internet. Yeah, you can probably guess what the word "usually" foreshadows. Despite what I usually do or do not do, I AM going to try a kooky remedy. Fact is, I just did, and I really hope it works so I can show you some stellar results after a couple of weeks.

Here's the deal. We were minding our business at work when my employer, who is also my friend, received a forwarded email from one of her French friends. It was a recipe for catching mosquitos. She thought I might be interested in trying it. She knows they are after me.

My ears perked up. You see, this topic touches me where I live. Where I live meaning, you know... that couch where I plant my rear and work on my blog in the evenings. Because in the vicinity of that couch, a steady stream of mosquitos also seem to find great joy in tormenting me. We have been having a lot of rain all Summer, which is common in South Florida; water puddles, mosquitos multiply and I am their favorite treat. Don't ever let anyone tell you I'm a sourpuss. It's all in who you ask. The mosquitos find me quite to their liking, thank you. My ankles and arms are evidence. From the looks of the welts, I'm better than candy.

Like clockwork, around sundown each evening, through some secret gateway to their sinister hideaway, they come for blood. I invariably hear the approaching buzz and I groan, because I know my trials are about to begin. I'm about to be annoyed to within an inch of my precarious sanity, and I am also going to be their dinner. Good thing the mosquitos at my house have not been carrying any fatal diseases, because I often end up with welts galore and anyone nearby who isn't also their target gets an earful. I shake my head wildly to deter them. I flail and shoo and slap and yell at them to leave, but I'm unsuccessful in deterring their quick flitting taunts and bites, or that incessant buzzing.

A diabolical plan is in order.

I chomped at the chance to bite back, and my friend Kathryn began to read me the French recipe so I could write it down. Stop, whoa, un uh. French measurements in ml's and grams was not going to cut it. I'm American through and through. I need good old fashioned American measurements. Heaven knows I have enough trouble even with those. It took a bit of doing, but she got the general equivalents and rounded to workable measures, hoping that 54/65ths or whatever it was could be rounded to one cup, and so on.

So here's how the preparation went.

Find a two liter bottle and cut the top off.

Cover the base of the bottle in black fabric or paper. The top that you cut off will be placed inverted into the opening of bottle. Tape it in place on one side and then flip it out of the way until you are ready to pour the mixture in, after which you will flip it back in and tape the other side so it holds. If you don't tape it, the top will fall in. (Sorry, I don't have a pictures of that. Thought I did. Just look at the first picture of the cut bottle. Imagine that top piece placed point down inside (at the top of) the bottle and taped to the side of the bottle so it stays. Best I can tell ya.

Mix together the potion. Best we could figure in American measurements (and I hope we got it right) the recipe called for:

One cup of water
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of yeast

Warm the water and add the brown sugar, stirring to dissolve.

Stirring and stirring and stirring my brew...

Oooooh, oooh!

Ooooooh, oooh!

Tick - tock

Boo!

Thanks for humoring me. You were humoring me, weren't you? I've always loved that fun little song. We used to sing it (with feeling) as kids and I've not had a a good reason to use it in a very long time. This brew was a great reason.

Once the sugar has dissolved, cool that mixture.

Measure out a half a teaspoon of yeast.

When the sugar water is cool, add the yeast, mixing well to dissolve.

Don't you love the way the little granules look falling in the brew? Apparently the combination of these ingredients will create carbon dioxide. So Kathryn tells me. I'm not the scientist here. I'm just doing what I'm told.

Pour this mixture into the bottle.

Flip the top back inside the bottle opening so it is upside down with the pointy part of the top facing down. Tape it in place and set the bottle in a corner in your house.

I have placed mine near where I am routinely bitten, although I wonder if I shouldn't place it so as to catch the mosquitos attention before they get to my own alluring scent. What good will it be if my black magic potion never has a chance to lure the pesky pests because they found me first? Unfortunately, I have no idea from which direction they come for my blood.

Apparently, this mixture will beckon the mosquitos through the small hole to get the tasty treat. Once inside, they will be caught in the building carbon dioxide and be unable to get back out. What do I know. Such science is foreign to me. I'm not sure some sugar mix will beat me out in the hearts of the mosquitos, but I'm willing to give it a try. That unrelenting buzzing in my ears is enough all by itself to drive me to it!

I have a feeling that the image presented in the email of a bottle full of captured mosquitos (which is my hoped - for result) is unlikely to be what I will witness in two weeks. Maybe I'd rather not find that there were THAT many in my house, although I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe the results shown is a scam or they set their bottle up at a mosquito breeding ground outside and adjacent to standing water. I dare say, it was not likely somewhere that a sweetie like myself with fresh warm blood is nearby to compete with it.

I'll be sure to share the results, although I'm not sure I can wait two weeks to look. I'm not gonna lie, I will really, really want to peek. However, I'm pretty good when I offer myself a challenge. I'm competitive like that, even with myself, especially in trivial matters like luring mosquitos to their death. Did I say "trivial"?

Bite my tongue! Or should I say, suck my blood.

I'll have a clue in a couple days if none of the little tyrants has been around to zap me. I'll even be happy with the capture of just one or two of the bad guys. Sometimes I feel like it's the same mosquito who just comes back every night for dinner.

Whichever it is... let the countdown to their demise begin.

I'll be sharing my diabolical recipe (although I don't even know yet if it works, it may not be diabolical at all, but rather just a tastey treat.) at:

Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner

All Star Block Party @ New House, New Home, New Life

Share It @ The Winthrop Chronicles

Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch

Open Call Tuesday @ Salt Tree

Cure for the Common Monday @ Lines Across

Tuesday to Do @ The Blackberry Vine

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Treat Your Tastebuds

As promised...it's time to step into the kitchen and stir up a little chocolatey goodness. Yes, I'm two days late and without a video demonstration. Not that I didn't film the process, but honestly, it's tricky to film while you stir and talk. These are skills best done with ample thought, time and perhaps an assistant. What I got for my efforts in that department are probably best saved for a blooper reel some day in the future.

See the pretty blue cups all in a row in the background here? They were a Goodwill find two weeks ago. I really had no where to store them, so they got lined up on top of the stove and have brightened things up nicely. The space above them is still waiting for me to create a weathered sign and hang it there.

I'm working on it...

Meanwhile, it's getting hot out there. It's getting even hotter in here. It's been climbing toward the muggy mid to upper 80's, and I'm holding out on using the airconditioner - yes, I'm working on maintaining a low electric bill for one more month. The stoic in me just knows we can make it without it AC until the end of May. The wimp and the whiner in me says other things, but so far The Stoic is winning.

This weather means ice cream is in the forecast. No, I don't care if it is beach weather (it's almost always beach weather here) I am not wearing a bathing suit ever again anyway, so I'd like to have a bowl of ice cream now and again, thank you.

Lately my preference has been vanilla with hot fudge sauce. I'm not too worried about having a little ice cream now and again because I'm not that big of an ice cream eater, but on the occasional evening, especially if it's hot out, sometimes it's just the thing, and especially if there is hot fudge.

Around here, Publix is one of the few brands that still give you a half a gallon of ice cream. The others have all been gypping us and have made their containers smaller while they raise the price. Tricky little devils.

So, Im thinking it's time to get some hot fudge sauce made so I can enjoy this frosty goodness.

Why not just buy jar sauce, you ask?

Excuse me?

I. Don't. Think. So.

Bite that tongue of yours and listen up. We do not eat hot fudge out of a jar, unless we made it and poured it in that jar ourselves. Got it? There are some prepackaged foods (fake foods) that are absolutely unacceptable in this house, except under dire circumstances.

Hot Fudge
Whipped cream
Frosting - definitely no store bought frosting. I can't even think of a situation dire enough in this life in which we will ever again stoop to store bought frosting. Might as well hook yourself up to a chemical pump and inject it straightaway into your taste buds as to feed yourself store bought. For me, it's pure butter all the way.

And I ask you, why be unkind to perfectly obliging taste buds! They've been such an entertaining part of your life. Sometimes sweet, sometimes sour, sometimes spicing things up and making the party happen! You owe 'em.

Still worried about a few calories, some fat or carbs or whatever dietary demons it is that lurk there in hot fudge sauce? Well, I ask you, "how short is this life?" Too short not to make some gooey homemade goodness once in a while. If you haven't reached the age whereby you understand the fleeting nature of these moments called life, give yourself a decade. Come back and tell us the tales of how just about every moment has dwindled to half the length it used to be. It will happen. You'll see time morph in ways you never knew possible. Loosen up and live it up once in a while!

So, now that you know you need Hot Fudge Sauce to make your life complete, here's the 3 ingredient recipe my mom made when we were growing up. We often made other homemade goodies and candy after church on Sunday afternoons. My mom had a sweet tooth, as I remember her telling me...and I willingly followed suit. Boy, those were the days. If we weren't making fudge, we were making penuche or pulling toffee. The glory days. Then again, today can be a glory day too. It's up to you.

There is no special trick to this recipe, and it's an especially nice treat for a party or as a gift at Christmas or to give a hostess or whatever the occasion. Pour it in one of the smaller mason jars. Tie it up with twine or colored ribbon of your choice to reflect your style or the style of the recipient, add a tag or other embellishment if you are so inclined. It will be a hit! You can quote me on that.

Hot Fudge Sauce

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 can of Evaporated Milk
1 cup of sugar

If you don't have these ingredients, go get them. I'll wait. You should also consider keeping these items always on hand in case the need for a hot fudge fix overwhelms you. Your family will thank you. Well, I would if I was your family.

Begin by melting the squares of chocolate over medium low heat in a small amount of the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk so that the chocolate blends smoothly with the milk and doesn't burn or clump.

Continue to add milk gradually, mixing it with the chocolate as more of it melts, making sure to whisk and stir away the little chocolate flecks and lumps that will try to form. It doesn't really alter the flavor if they are there, but the appearance will be much more appealing and smooth without them.

Once all of the chocolate is melted and blended creamily in with the milk, add the sugar and continue to stir. Raise the heat to about medium or a bit higher and continue to stir until you reach a boil. Turn down the heat a bit to maybe medium low to medium to maintain a low to medium boil.

Pull up a chair, barstool or whatever and CONTINUE TO STIR while the fudge boils for 15 to 20 minutes. 20 minutes is preferable in my estimation as the fudge will get thicker. If you like it a bit thinner, cook and stir for 15 minutes. If you don't have stirring stamina, call in the kids to do their duty to the sugar fix. If there are no willing hands available and you do not have one of those Jetsonesque robot stirrer thingies, bring your computer in (if you have a laptop) and set it on the counter so you have something to read while you stir. The time flies right by reading all your lovely blogs.

In 20 minutes time, the fudge sauce will be getting thick, and it will smell divine. There is no need for a soft ball test or a thermometer. Just watch as it thickens.

Soon husbands and children and even you, yourself, will be happy as clams with this delight melting in your mouth and making your taste buds glad they are your own and that you cared enough to treat them to the very best.

I pour the finished product into a Ball jar or whatever container has a good tight seal and store it in the fridge once it has cooled. (Ever try to pour fudge from a pan into a small jar with your non-dominant hand and take a picture with a huge camera in the other hand at the same time? Oh, you haven't? Nevermind then. I'm just telling ya, it takes skill. You can see by the jar that I have not yet mastered that skill.)

If you intend to enjoy this right away, let it cool uncovered until it is warm enough not to melt your ice cream, and pour it on. If you don't care if it melts your ice cream, just go ahead and dig in!

Make your family and friends happy, and splurge this week. After all...

Life is short.

Treat your tastebuds!

Tempting

More tempting...any questions?

Ready.

Okay, it was in the mid 80's out when I tried to get photos of the hot fudge on the ice cream. Despite keeping the ice cream in the freezer until the moment I wanted to take a photo, in under 30 seconds, the ice cream turned to mush. The hot fudge just slid off. Not exactly the presentation I had hoped for. Product shots sure are tricky. It was also nearly dark and I didn't get one clear shot of the sauce on the ice cream in my rush to beat the "melt". So it goes. Use your imagination. You are creative people. I trust you.

Just remember this simple recipe:

2 Squares of Unsweetened Chocolate
1 can of evaporated milk
1 cup of sugar

Blend til smooth and stir, stir, stir for 15 to 20 minutes.

Thanks for reading!

Liz

I'll be sharing this recipe with: