Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake

I was excited to bake Elvis Presley's Favorite Pound Cake from the latest issue of Gourmet as an opportunity to use up my stash of cake flour so I acquired the extra eggs and the heavy cream that the recipe called for. As I started to mix my ingredients, I noticed the one ingredient notation that would have deterred me from starting down the path of baking this pound cake. The recipe called for "sifted" cake flour and the directions required this already "sifted" cake flour to be "sifted" another two times. In total, the precious cake flour needed not one, or two, but THREE siftings. Since Gourmet claimed "This is the best pound cake we have ever tasted," I didn't want to miss out on the experience so I decided to go against my personal vow to ignore flour sifting.

As I started to methodically sift the first cup of flour, an overwhelming feeling of resentment began to build. I started thinking, "it's just like that Elvis to demand his flour be sifted thrice...that's so typical of rock stars...does he really need sifted flour...I'll bet he never had to sift his own flour." In light of these negative emotions, I decided to skip the sifting and just give the flour a bit of a "stir." Pound cake was pretty darned tasty...if only I had my own personal flour sifter at my beck and call, the pound cake would be even more sublime. Afterall, we're talking about the King here and he deserved only the best.

A Reconstructed Conversation with plasticmom

I was reminded at dinner tonight of a conversation I had with plasticmom about our washer/dryer.

plasticann: ...and we bought a washer/dryer unit from our neighbors upstairs. Adam did the math and he figures we'll pay off the cost of the unit if we do six loads of laundry every month for two years.
plasticmom: If you do twelve loads a month, you'll pay it off in one year. You should change your clothes twice a day and do lots of laundry.
plasticann: Boah ha ha! We should try to get dirty to save more money.

Social Crutch

The context of this reconstructed conversation. Steve and I have been trying to go to school social events. I've been forcing myself to go despite my natural inclination to stay home after dark. Fortunately, getting a ride from Steve has been a motivating incentive to actually go out.

Steve: George says I should stop using you as a social crutch.
plasticann: What? You can tell George that you may not need me as a social crutch, but darn it...I actually need a social crutch.

Goofy Instructors

As you may know, Steve and I are at BIT for pre-term this week. Some of the instructors are inadvertently, but endearingly goofy. Here are some moments.

1. During our first microeconomics class, the instructor started drawing a graph on the projector. As he's finishing his supply/demand graph, he exclaims, "Oops, I think I was supposed to use this transparency [waving a blank transparency], I hope this ink is erasable." He forgot to use his Sloan issued blank transparencies and ended up drawing all over the glass. Incidentally, he also forgot to clean the graph off the glass.

2. Steve and I had discussed, briefly, whether our accounting instructor was "with child." This morning, she said, "I know your question came up last semester, but I'm not sure what the answer is. I'll have to look that up and get back to you because babies get smarter by making mommies less smart."

$28/lb

To properly commemorate my matriculation into BIT, I'm paying homage to my alma mater’s daily rag with some textbook inspired "Diamonds and Coals."

Coals: If BIT ever took a page from its "alternative" neighbor, the Garment District, my books would have cost $28 a pound.

Diamonds: Fortunately, I only had to buy four books for my first semester at BIT so I only had to make one trip to the Coop. I remember having to pick up eight separate books for just one of my classes in college, at times taking several trips to the bookstore to complete my back to school shopping.

Speaking of college, MGDub and I once took a Faulkner and Fitzgerald class with two other friends. Due to the frenetic pace of the reading list [two books a week], and the lack of incentive since we were required to take the class pass/fail, I didn't actually do all that much of the reading, in particular, I didn't read hardly any Faulkner because I simply couldn't get through more than a chapter at a time. Once our professor, in an effort to encourage us, suggested we read Faulkner several times with different colors of highlighters to code the various “voices” and points of view. After that, I completely gave up any hope of ever doing the reading. The only Faulkner I actually read was a little known super short novella titled "The Pilot," but I'll have you know, I owned all of the required reading at that point in time. After all, I'm not textbook buying slacker/cheapskate. The following two reconstructed conversations/situations demonstrate how rampant this issue was for our entire class.

Section:

One of my friends [Zim] had already graduated, but was interested in joining my section review on Absalom Absalom, a book he could never finish. He thought joining us "unofficially" for section would motivate him to finish the book. Zim shows up for section and settles in. At one point in section, it is obvious that most of us have not actually read the book.

TA: How many of you have actually read this book? Please raise you hands because we can't have a productive discussion if no one has read the book.
[two hands go up]
TA: Ok, how many of you have read half of the book?
[a couple of more hands go up]
TA: How about a third?
[a lot more hands go up, including plasticann and Zim]

Later, after section:

Zim: Gosh, that was really stressful. I'm not even in the class and I felt so guilty that I hadn't finished the reading.

Zim thought reading a third of the book warrented guilt, there were folks in my section who hadn't even cracked open the book. I suppose slacking off is all relative.

Final Exam:

Since I had only read one Faulkner book and it wasn't really even a book, I was in a tight spot come finals time. Granted, I only had to pass the class and we did get the questions beforehand to prepare, but I had no idea what the books were about. Fortunately, lots of folks including my friends and MGDub were in the same boat so a spirit of cooperation flourished. The following is a reconstructed conversation while cramming for the final.

Friend 1: So, what about question four, has anyone read "As I Lay Dying?"
MGDub: Oh, I didn’t do all the reading, but I read that one. It's about someone who's dying... yada yada yada.
plasticann: I read "The Pilot." It's about a pilot flying a plane. That’s the only one I read.
Friend 2: Are there any questions "The Pilot" applies too?
Friend 1: Maybe question 5, but it's a stretch.
plasticann: Remember, we get to choose which four out of the five essay questions to answer so therefore, we only have to prepare for 9 out of the 10 possible questions.
MGDub: What's Absalom Absalom about?
Friend 1: Oh, that's the only one I read, It's about Absalom and this house and blah blah blah.

In conclusion, between the four of us, we could cover about 80% of the required reading. Sadly, there wasn’t much overlap so I guess we each averaged 20% of the reading. I would say, my contribution was below average so if I were truly honest, I’d have to bump that 20% down just a tad. We all survived the exam and we all graduated, but I felt awful about the whole experience. For years, I kept my Faulkner books in hopes that I would finally complete that required reading as my act of penance since I felt like such a sham, but I finally had to let it go. I dropped them off at Goodwill and thought, "Good Riddance, go haunt someone else" and freed up some much needed mental space.

Brrrrrring!

Well, I'm here at "BIT" for pre-term and I'm re-learning my math and learning for the first time the basics of accounting. Steve and I met up this morning to go to school together so at least I have one friend. During the first lecture, the lecture room code of conduct was communicated from the front.

BIT Lady: If you haven't already, please turn off all our cell phones in class.
Audience: [sounds of cell phones shutting down]
BIT Lady: and there will be
Audience: [sounds of more cell phones shutting down]
BIT Lady: no laptops in lecture
Audience: [more phones turned off]
BIT Lady: unless otherwise specified by the professor.
Audience: [finally the sounds of the last phone shutting off...bring ga bring ga bring ga bring]
Steve: Maybe I should shut my phone off again.

I could eat it everyday...

Adam and I took Laurel out to dinner at Radius [not Diameter] to celebrate her ascendancy to Dr. Laurel-dom. The food was delicious, but some dishes were more tastier than others. The way I gauge a dish's popularity is what I like to call the "sling-o-meter," or the number of times a dish is passed around a table, especially at a high end place where slinging of plates across the table is most likely frowned upon. We were enjoying the potato gnocchi appetizer that had been slung around at least 5 times, when Adam started in on one of his all time favorite pasta dishes, the Beef Short Rib Agnolotti at Upstairs on the Square. The following reconstructed conversation does not do the situation justice, but I will try my very best. It's really my fault, I was the one who brought it up.

plasticann: Adam really likes this pasta at Upstairs on the Square.
Laurel: Really, what is it?
Adam: It's pasta with beef short ribs in a broth and it's just so delicious. We would have had it at our wedding, but they couldn't make it in large quantities.
Laurel: That sounds good.
Adam: [wistfully] I hope they'll have it again this winter.
plasticann: Would you like to take a moment to reminisce?
Adam: [not missing a beat, waxing poetically while plasticann and Laurel laught it up] It's this Agnolotti pasta that's pillowy and soft and the ribs are so tender and they're wrapped in the pasta and it's all in this delicious broth. It's so good. They also have this Pistachio Pound Cake and Olive Oil Gelato.
Laurel: You can get Olive Oil ice cream at Christina's
Adam: It's not the same with out the pound cake, the combination is just so good. I could eat the pasta and the pound cake everyday.
plasticann: We could go to Upstairs every week just to eat dessert and pasta.
Adam: Why don't we?
plasticann: We could make it a weekly priority. We'll eat pizza at Crazy Dough's and splurge on dessert at Upstairs.
Adam: We should do it.

Note: Adam would like to point out [and I concur] that the preceding reconstructed conversation is possibly riddled with inaccuracies, but I believe the spirit of the conversation has been faithfully conveyed. Adam enjoys beef rib pasta and pound cake and he could eat it everyday.

Food By Mail

Today was my last day at the Phantom Gourmet and as I was sitting in the trailer proofreading some restaurant reviews, I couldn't help, but overhear a tape about Mike's Pastry being edited. You can get Mike's cannolis shipped anywhere in the world. They send you a box of cookie tubs and a frozen bag of filling and you pipe it yourself and finish them with nuts or chips. I thought it was a pretty cute gag, until I found out that the kit cost 25 bucks, but the shipping cost a cool 45 dollars.

White Bread



Growing up, we were a two bread kinda household. There was the "Home Pride Split Top Wheat Bread" and of course Japanese/Asian white bread also known as "Shokupan." Now, we're a "Arnold's Brannola 12 Grain" household, but I couldn't resist picking up some delicious Japanese bread from the Japonaise Bakery in Porter Exchange. This little bakery stand offers two kinds of sliced bread: regular or cream. I once [daftly] asked what was the difference between the two...one has cream in it. What exactly is Japanese white bread? It's a perfectly rectangular loaf of white bread. It's so rectangular, in fact, I can't tell which end is up. It's a mystery, to me, how they manage to bake rectangular bread when the rest of the west bakes poufy topped loaves. I digress! Japanese bread is white, squishy, soft and oh so tasty. In fact, it's like gourmet Wonder Bread, but infinitely better. You can buy it in sandwich slices or thicker toast slices. I used to eat mine twice toasted. Toast it dry the first time, top with butter and toast again to melt the butter into all the nooks and crannies. For a decadent tread, I'd eat my toast with condensed milk. This morning I was inspired to make a fluffernutter with my Japanese bread. I figured there's no better carbo vehicle than Japanese bread to deliver a delicious combo of Skippy's and gourmet Tiny Trapeze Marshmallow Creme. The End!

Dr. Laurel

Well, today was Laurel's PhD defense at a place I like to call BIT. I was determined to go listen to her presentation, but I was a few minutes late and boy do they start promptly. Since I haven't taken any science classes since hiaaaah school, thanks to Zrown's [not so] New Curriculum, I didn't understand much of her research. She did a good job though, that even I could tell. I didn't really comprehend any ideas, concepts or even phrases. However, I did catch a few words such as "bovine" aka cows, "wells," "stiff" and "hello."

Refreshing Somen

I think plasticmom is still concerned about my cooking abilities since she sent me a link to Dream Dinners. On the other hand, I may be reading too much into it. Perhaps this is not commentary on my abilities, but more an expression of her enthusiasm for a nifty concept. It is a pretty cool idea and the menus do look tasty.

But, back to plasticmom. While I was trying to convince her of my culinary abilities a few weeks ago, we reminisced about a fun summer meal plasticmom would make when I was a kid. I haven't had somen, or cold Japanese dipping noodles for years, but I made it last week and now Adam is a fan. It's simple, refreshing and actually healthy.

You can buy bundles of thin somen noodles at the Asian market along with the soup noodle base needed to make the dipping sauce. Don't bother with the specialized sauces in the tiny bottles, get the general use soup base that comes in a jug and you can use the same soup base to make soup for noodles, dipping sauce for noodles and even tempura sauce, you just dilute the soup base with a different amount of water for the various uses.

A cautionary note, I was skeptical about the "serving size" indicated on the noodle package. It said one bundle yielded two cups of cooked noodles. I guess I was feeling hungry because I ended up cooking five servings for two people figuring we'd each eat two servings and have some left over. Unfortunately, the five bundles of noodles were enough to feed Adam and me for dinner on Thursday, lunch on Friday, and dinner for Adam, Dave and Aaron last night. In other words, it was seven servings.

Somen Noodles

1. Cook Somen noodles according to the instructions. Rinse cooked noodles with cold water and let the noodles chill in a water bath in the fridge.

2. Make the dipping sauce according to the instructions.

3. Additional Ingredients: Thinly sliced cucumbers, chopped scallions, cubed firm tofu, chunks of avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, strips of ham, thin strips of scrambled eggs [see #4], and pretty much anything you want to dip in sauce...even cantaloupe or watermelon.

4. To make thin strips of egg, heat a nonstick frying pan, beat up two eggs in a bowl. Pour the egg into the pan and quickly swirl the egg in the pan to spread it out thinly. Use a spatula to flip the egg pancake over until the egg is cooked through. Cut the egg pancake into thin strips.

Instructions for eating:

1. Set out the noodles and all the other accompaniments.

2. Fill each bowl with 1/2 to 1/3 cup of dipping sauce.

3. Dip the noodles and other ingredients into the sauce and enjoy.

Very Logical

The following reconstructed conversation occurred right after lunch.

plasticann: [sniffing] Are you eating curry chicken salad?
Adam: Yes!
plasticann: But, we just ate lunch, are you still hungry?
Adam: No, but I went to the fridge to get something to drink and there was no water.
plasticann: So you ate some curry chicken salad instead.
Adam: Precisely, I'm glad you see the logic.

Orange Flesh Honeydew Granita



There's a first time for everything and now that we have newfangled gadgets like a "blender," I was inspired to make Cantaloupe Granita from the latest issue of Gourmet. We didn't have Cantaloupe, but we did have Orange Flesh Honeydew so I figured it was close enough. I diced up the fruit, added some lemon juice, sugar and ice cubes and pulverized the mix in the blender MGDub gave us. Then I stuck it in the freezer and watched an hour Rachel Ray before coming back to scrape the slush up with a fork. I was so excited about my granita, I wanted to pulverize everything in our fridge and make more. Judging from the contents of our fridge, I could have easily made "grape/cucumber/coke/peach granita", but I decided to show restraint and look for actual recipes before I created an unusual combination in my overly enthusiastic state. I did some research on granita recipes and I'm excited to try the root beer float granita on epicurious. Looks wicked easy, but I need to find an occasion.

Blue Ribbon BBQ

Thanks to my newfound fascination with the bus that stops right in front of our apartment, Adam and I finally made it to Blue Ribbon BBQ after years of hearing only rave reviews. We shared the half slab rib platter with cheezy potatoes and cole slaw. Adam was excited about the various sauces available at the self serve condiment bar, but was decidedly less excited when he, full of bravado, dipped his cornbread in one of the hottest sauces. Unfortunately, I was not able to buy Adam a glass of milk cool his palate. I patiently stood in line while I watched Adam hacking across the restaurant. As for the food, fantabulous. Succulent ribs fell off the bone and the price was very nice. Multiple friends have claimed, "you'll never go back to Redbones." We concur, especially now that we've figured out how to get to Blue Ribbon BBQ by way of public transit. On a related note, I ran into a friend from high school at Blue Ribbon BBQ. Let's call him, "Zuge." A enthusiastic and extroverted fellow blessed with a high metabolism, Zuge raved vociferously about the ribs and the beef brisket. Next time, I'm hoping to try the key lime pie.

beard papa's fresh'n natural cream puffs: part II

I picked up the beard papa's cream puff frequent buyer card I got yesterday and noticed the following. "Cream puffs are perfect for all occasions: Birthdays [Naturally], Weddings [Creative], Holidays [who likes fruit cake anyhoo]," yada yada yada and of course, "BREAKFAST." Woohoo...you got your diary, your carbs...add some bacon grease and a sprig of parsley and your're all set.

Papa Beard's Cream Puffs

Adam saw an article in the Dig about a Japanese Cream Puff store opening up in Quincy Market so I insisted we check it out pronto. I've never had a Papa Beard Cream Puff, but I have many fond memories of the Japanese custard filled cream puffs of my youth. So ingrained are these custard filled puffs that I avoid any traditional whipped cream filled pastry. We trekked down to Fanueil Hall yesterday afternoon to check out Papa Beard's Cream Puff. Adam demonstrated a high level of patience and enthusiasm for this journey downtown especially since he can't really eat cream puffs.

The verdict, Papa Beard's Cream Puffs are truly delicious...even better than the ones I grew up with because they're freshly filled when you order them. The golden brown puff remains crisp and crunchy and it's the prefect complement to the custard filling flecked with vanilla bean. It's kinda like a freshly filled Modern Pastry cannoli, it's way better than a pre-filled Mike's cannoli.

Papa Beard's is serious about their cream puffs, they only offer three menu items and a handful of beverage choices. Get ready for this, the menu items are: vanilla filled cream puff, chocolate filled cream puff and if you're feeling really wild and crazy, an "éclair" cream puff that's the vanilla custard puff dipped in chocolate. And because they were running a special, I got a free iced coffee to boot with my cream puff purchase. $1.65 for a freshly filled cream puff and an iced coffee...not too shabby.

plasticmom has heard about the freshly filled puffs that are ubiquitous in Japan, but has never tried one. Next time she's in town, we'll have to trek down to Fanueil Hall or if they're already open, to Harvard Square. Blasphemous, but I think these cream puffs may supplant my devotion to the other Kremes, that is Krispy Kremes.

Zakun's Zerry Zerry Zreakfast

In a not so secret attempt to use all of our frozen berries, we had a couple of folks over for a "Berry Berry Breakfast. I think it was a success, at least everyone left having consumed their caloric intake for the day. We've gotta figure out how to better time the food so we're not rushing around in the kitchen at the last moment.

Menu:

Coffee [Godiva Creme Brulee courtesy of MGDub]
Tea [Kushmi Prince Vladamir]
Orange Juice [Tropicana Grove Stand with Calcium]
Berry Smoothies

Berry Sour Cream Muffins [from the Barefoot Contessa]
Maple Smoked Bacon [Hormel]
Scrambled Eggs with Avocado [from Food 911]
Berry Pancakes with Brown Sugar Syrup

Along with Adam...

...came a pantry full of canned goods and frozen veggies. Now, I'm determined to use the food we have. Tomorrow, we'll be hosting the "Zakun Zerry Zerry Zreakfast" to use up the bag of frozen berries Adam got from Costco. There will be Zerry Smoothies, Zerry Muffins and Zerry Pancakes. Last night I made pork parm and I souped up a jar of spicy eggplant marinara with a can of artichoke hearts. This morning, I decided tried to make corn chowder with a can of Campbell's condensed cream of chicken soup. I added diced potatoes, green beans, fresh corn and bacon which added a lot of flavor, but even all those add-ins could not mask the fact that the soup base was Campbell's condensed cream of chicken soup. Next up, the boxes and boxes of rice/pasta roni.

The Favors



Up next, the favors for our guests. Reynolds wax sandwich bags filled with pink jordan almonds and two molasses clove cookies. We got personalized labels to boot. The jordan almonds place is awesome, they had multiple shades of almonds for every color. Plus, they can mix your own shade to your specifications, but you do have to buy an obcene amount, 150 pounds. Team bridesmaid, my roommates and Corinna spent an afternoon cranking through multiple projects, including these favor bags.

The Cake



Now that I've got my cable internet up and running, here are some photos from our wedding. First up, the much mentioned cumbersome cake. It looked really awesome and was super delicious. Kudos to Upstairs and to our florist for decorating with lovely peonies.

Elusive Sheets

Well folks, we finally got our bed [a fabulous sleep number bed] thanks to the mama and the papa. I can mix things up with the softest setting one night and the firmest the next. The options are endless...almost. On to the next tricky issue...sheets. We got a "California King" which is slightly longer and slightly narrower than a regular king also known as the "Eastern King." Being from La La Land, I was unaware that the "California" in "California King" was an actual geographic designation, not just another standard size. We called up a bunch of area stores looking for sheets and we were told that we wouldn't be able to find "California King" sheets anywhere in the Northeast and we would have to order them on the web. Heck, I know lots of people with California King bed. Unfortunately, they're all in California. I was lamenting about my sheet issue with Wheezy over the phone this afternoon. Ever confident in my abilities to cope, Wheezy assured me that I'd be able to find a solution. Well sports fans...I did. I simply took two twin sheets and clothespined them to our freakishly sized bed. We've got vintage Raggedy Ann & Andy on [of course] my side and Laura Ashley on Adam's side. That should tide us over for a while...if not weeks. Problem...SOLVED!