Desserts

39/365: National Molasses Bar Day

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Midwest Mark

February 8 is National Molasses Bar Day! If your first reaction is “What the heck is a molasses bar?!,” you are not alone. Tara and I wondered the same thing. Turns out it’s sort of like a brownie, only without the chocolate. Which makes for a pretty pointless brownie, if you ask me.

One website describes molasses bars as “a vintage favorite brought back to life” and mentions visits to grandma’s house. Neither of my grandmothers ever made molasses bars, so I was really in the dark on what they were, but there are enough recipe links online to be able to cobble something together, which is exactly what my sweet cobbler-slash-baker, Tara, did.

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Molasses is really good when it’s turned into rum, but is too richly flavored to slurp right out of the bottle by itself. Trust me on this. When sugar cane or sugar beets are processed, the sugar crystallizes and turns into a thick syrup. This is molasses. The word comes from melaco, Portugese for honey. Christopher Columbus introduced molasses to the Americas when he brought sugar cane to the West Indies in 1493, and it quickly became an important trade item for the early Colonists, who used it to bake gingerbread and taffy when they weren’t getting plastered on rum. Molasses may be sweet and sticky, but it is also deadly: in 1919 a tank of molasses at the Purity Baking Company in Boston exploded, generating an 8′ high sticky flood of hot molasses that traveled through the north end of town at 35 mph. Known as the Great Molasses Flood, it ended up killing 21 people and injuring 150. What a horrible disas-tah. Local residents claim they can still catch a hint of molasses in the air on warm and windy days. Now, that’s morbid. And what a horrible way to go, smothered by thick, hot syrup. Kinda makes you feel bad for pancakes.

As tragic as this was, we have to remember: molasses doesn’t kill people, people kill people. Only, in this case, molasses did kill people…

Anyway. Molasses bars! Tara made them last night, and we enjoyed them with coffee this morning. But “enjoyed” is a strong word, because honestly, neither of us were blown away. They taste sort of like spice cake, and were awfully crumbly. And neither of us is particularly keen on the flavor of molasses anyway. But hey, that’s another one in the books!

Molasses Bar

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36/365: National Chocolate Fondue Day

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Anybody longing for the 1970s should get a kick out of today’s food holiday: February 5 is National Chocolate Fondue Day!

Fondue pots (along with disco, polyester, and Bert Reynolds movies) might be synonymous with the 70s, but fondue has been around for a lot longer. The Swiss have a lot of cheese, you know, and needed a way to use it up once it became hard, so they figured they could melt it down and dip things in it. Surprisingly, even though Switzerland is just as well known for its chocolates as for cheese, it was a restaurant in New York City called Suisse Chalet that actually created chocolate fondue. Chef/Owner Konni Egli was looking for inventive new dishes to promote his restaurant in 1966, and turned to the Swiss National Tourist Office, conveniently located a block away. They were looking to promote a new chocolate bar called Toblerone whose oddly-shaped triangular pieces were meant to be eaten individually, each one resembling the Matterhorn (the mountain in Switzerland, not the theme park ride in Disneyland). Konni hit upon the idea of melting down the chocolate and creating a new type of fondue, one that was sweet instead of savory.

Incidentally, Toblerone chocolates were at the heart of a Swedish political scandal in 1995 when Mona Sahlin, a candidate for Prime Minister, used taxpayer money to purchase two Toblerone bars. She ended up dropping out of the race. Which begs the question: if the chocolate is known for its distinctive shape and tastes so good you’d risk your political career for a bite, why were the chefs at the Swiss Chalet trying to melt it down in the first place? But they were, and they did, and the rest is chocolate fondue history.Chocolate Fondue ingredients

When we were discussing what to dip in our chocolate fondue, I suggested apples. Tara thought that was an odd choice, but it turns out apples and other fruit (strawberries and bananas) are popular accompaniments, as are marshmallows, pretzels, and graham crackers.

I decided, in the interest of authenticity, to make Konni Egli’s original chocolate fondue recipe, using Toblerone, heavy cream, and a splash of brandy. We don’t own a fondue pot, which is a bit shocking considering our (ok, MY) penchant for anything retro. But I set up a poor man’s double boiler (a small pot inside a big pot), melted the chocolate, added the cream, and – voila! We had a chocolate fondue dish that would make ol’ Mr. Egli proud.

By the way, the Toblerone chocolate bar itself? Out of this world! I balked at the $2.69 price tag, but man, that’s some seriously good chocolate. And the little chocolate triangles really do look like the Matterhorn. Groovy.

Dig the fancy plating, yo.

Dig the fancy plating, yo.

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34/365: National Carrot Cake Day

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is both Super Bowl Sunday AND National Carrot Cake Day. There would have been less work involved today if we were celebrating chicken wings or chips and dip, I suppose, but we can’t control the calendar!

At least carrot cake is healthier than most other cakes. Carrots have been used to flavor cakes since Medieval times, when sweeteners were hard to come by and expensive. Nothing satisfied a battle-hardened army freshly returned from plundering, pillaging, and ravishing young maidens more than a big ol’ hunk of carrot cake! This practice died out once sugar became more common and cheap, and for centuries the practice of using a veggie in a dessert was about as foreign as Donald Trump ever getting a decent haircut. And then World War II came along, and with it, sugar rationing. (I’ve never understood this. There was also metal and rubber rationing, which I get. Those are both used to make tanks and Jeeps. But while sugar might satisfy the sweet tooth of some boogie woogie bugle boy from Company B, why else was it such a big deal during “the big one”)? The British government promoted desserts using carrots in order to keep its citizens happy, and there was a sudden glut of carrot puddings, pies, and cakes. Carrot cakes first showed up in the U.S. right around the same time as the Beatles in the early 1960s, and were considered a novelty item on restaurant and cafeteria menus. Until people actually tried them, and fell in love. They are now a standard dessert item everywhere.

It’s been a crazy weekend – Tara and I got engaged Friday night (!) so we’ve been sort of preoccupied with thoughts about our future, ya know? But time – and Eat My Words – waits for no man, as they say. Mrs. Smith’s used to sell a frozen carrot cake that was really good, but we couldn’t find it anywhere yesterday, so we resigned ourselves to baking a cake of our own (and by “we” and “ourselves” I mean “Tara” and “herself”).

Tara diggin' in to the carrot cake!

Tara diggin’ in to the carrot cake!

Unfortunately, we had to use a box mix.  I don’t know why I feel like I have defend that choice, but we were already at the store and didn’t have a recipe on hand, so a pre-made mix seemed like the best choice.  And the weird thing is that Carrot Cake is one of the few that I’ve always wanted to make from scratch.  I loves me some Carrot Cake!  But after the excitement from this weekend and a few Bloody Marys during the Super Bowl, this is what we got.

By the way, I tried guilting Mark into baking the cake.  I’ve been up since 4:30am and was downstairs and cleaning the kitchen by 5:30.  We crashed early last night and the house has been neglected pretty much since before Christmas…I was long overdue for some productive chores.  By the time Mark’s parents showed up for lunch at noon, I was dead on my feet.  But at least the house looks good!

Anyway, Mark is always a trooper, but he seemed reluctant to bake that damn cake.  I showed him the instructions on the back of the box and assured him how easy it would be.  He eyed me skeptically, while about to dump the dry mix into a bowl.  I quickly yanked the bowl away and reminded him that Alton Brown always has a Dry Party and a Wet Party!  So I whisked together the eggs, veggie oil, and water…added the dry mix and poured it all into a cake pan.  As I opened the oven door, Mark asked, “Is that it??”

By the time the game was over, the cake had cooled enough for the pre-made (blech) cream cheese frosting.  Mark said it was “Sooooo good!”, but it reminded me too much of plain ol’ Spice Cake.  Definitely not as good as Mrs. Smiths!

I loved it, babe. Carrot cake is always good. (And I would have made it, even though I guess I would have made it wrong). Thanks for your help, as always!

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33/365: National Heavenly Hash Day

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is one of the odder food holidays we’ll be celebrating, because there seems to be no general consensus over what, exactly, “heavenly hash” is. It’s described as a sweet confection containing marshmallows, and can refer to candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, brownies, rice pudding, or ambrosia. I even came across a recipe for a heavenly hash martini. So, I guess, pretty much anything involving marshmallows and fruit, then?

At least it’s not Groundhog Day. I mean, it is Groundhog Day, but at least we don’t have to eat groundhog. Although that would be a lot simpler, and it probably tastes like chicken anyway.

So much confusion reigns that one intrepid blogger contacted several ice cream companies to ask them the difference between Heavenly Hash and Rocky Road (which Wikipedia claims are basically the same thing). The responses are amusing (and still somewhat inconclusive). Rocky Road is a mixture of chocolate ice cream, mini marshmallows, and almonds, while Heavenly Hash is a mixture of chocolate and vanilla ice cream, mini marshmallows, and nuts. Since both Edy’s (Dreyer’s on the west coast) and Ben & Jerry’s agree – and because we’re both slightly hung over and thinking too hard hurts – we’re keeping it simple. We bought a pint of Rocky Road, and we still have leftover vanilla ice cream from our Peach Melba challenge last month. We just mixed the two together and created our own Heavenly Hash. If by definition that’s good enough for the Ice Cream Conglomerates, then it’s good enough for us!

I don’t even have a history on Heavenly Hash (though Rocky Road was created during the Great Depression and its name was meant to make people smile. “We’ve got a rocky road ahead of us.” Ha-ha, yeah, that’s a hoot. Said people jumping to their deaths from tall buildings after losing their life savings in the stock market crash). I guess in that regard, Heavenly Hash is an appropriate name, too…

Heavenly Hash

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32/365: National Baked Alaska Day

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Happy February! Today is National Baked Alaska Day – one of a handful of holidays that gave us pause when initially looking over the food calendar. Because Baked Alaska isn’t a real common dessert, and can be difficult to find when dining out. Plus, it’s a pretty complicated recipe to make yourself. Which wouldn’t be a big deal – Tara and I can handle anything – but we just happen to have plans tonight involving a concert and an overnight stay in Portland. So, we were sweating it a little – until my mom came to the rescue.

“I’ll make a Baked Alaska for you,” she said.

“That’s okay, you don’t have to do that, it’s an awful lot of work and we’d hate to put you out, but…well…okay, if you insist!” we replied. “What time should we be there?”

Whew. Thank you, mom. Growing up, we used to dine often at the NCO Club on Hickam AFB in Hawaii, and I remember my mom was always fond of the Baked Alaska. The servers would light it on fire and carry it to the table, which was a pretty cool spectacle for a kid. Plus, it tasted phenomenal. Ice cream wrapped in sponge cake and topped with meringue – what’s not to love? I hadn’t had Baked Alaska in probably 30 years, before today.

The dish has been around for awhile, and was originally called omelette à la norvégienne (Norwegian omelette). My idea of an omelette differs from the Norwegians’, apparently (where’s the cheese and mushrooms and meat?). Actually, the name makes sense, since meringue is nothing more than whipped egg whites. In 1876, Secretary of State William Seward purchased the Alaska Territory from Russia for $7.2 million, which amounts to two cents per acre, from Czar Alexander II (the same dude who may or may not have been the inspiration for the Brandy Alexander). Despite what seems like a really good deal on paper, critics scorned the move, calling it “Seward’s folly.” One New York Tribune writer said Alaska “contained nothing of value” and “would not be worth taking as a gift.” And then gold was discovered in the 1890s and everybody started praising Seward for his magnificent foresight. Lot of good it did the poor guy, as he was dead by then. Anyhoo, chef Charles Ranhofer at Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York didn’t think Seward was off his rocker, and wanted to celebrate the purchase of Alaska with a dessert. He whipped up a Norwegian omelette and simply renamed it Baked Alaska. Not exactly original, I suppose, but kudos to the guy for not getting all up in Seward’s grill.

A slice of Norwegian omelette. Err...Baked Alaska!

A slice of Norwegian omelette. Err…Baked Alaska!

Since we have plans tonight, we met up at my parents’ house for lunch today. Nothing like a sandwich topped off with a slice of Baked Alaska! There hasn’t been a more interesting combination of hot and cold since Heat Miser and Snow Miser squared off in the Rankin-Bass Christmas classic The Year Without a Santa Claus. The result? Pretty freakin’ delicious! Good job, mom. Not only was it her first time making a Baked Alaska, but she had never even done a sponge cake, either. It turned out great, and saved us a lot of time and trouble.

I told her she was free to make us a carrot cake on Sunday, but she kind of rolled her eyes. I guess the buck has to stop somewhere.

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27/365: National Chocolate Cake Day

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Midwest Mark

January 27th is one of those days where you can have your cake and eat it, too! In fact, if you’re celebrating National Chocolate Cake Day – like we are – that’s pretty much an order! What a delicious order, too. Few things in this world are more sweetly satisfying than chocolate cake.

Cake has been around for a long time. The word dates back to the Viking times and the Old Norse word “kaka.” Umm…I’m glad we modernized the spelling, because around these parts “kaka” means something else entirely (and is most definitely NOT tasty). Cakes, breads, and pastries were interchangeable back then, and basically all referred to anything that was bread or bread-like. Modern cakes are sweet, and associated with special occasions such as weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and vasectomies. Once upon a time baking a cake took real skill, but in the 1930s the first boxed cake mix was introduced by the Duff Company. Duncan Hines and General Mills followed suit with cake mixes that required nothing more than the addition of water. They were so easy, even a caveman could make them! Hey, that would make a good tagline for some company…

Today, the most popular cake is chocolate. There are dozens of varieties: Black Forest, Devil’s Food, Ganache, German Chocolate, Molten Chocolate, Red Velvet…the list is endless. Tara made one of her favorite recipes. I’ll let her tell you all about it! 

Wow…Mark actually asked me if I wanted to contribute this time.  He’s such a blog hog!  😉

Anyway, the chocolate cake recipe.  It’s awesome.  I found it in one of those Parade newspaper inserts several years ago and though I was a little bit leery of making a cake from scratch, I quickly found it was very easy.  It’s also the right blend of moist and not too sweet, which is a plus for someone (me) that can tear through half an entire cake in one night.  Okay…that only happened one time and it had been a helluva week.

Buttermilk Brownie Cake

Cake:

2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400° F. Grease a 15″x10″ baking dish (I used my 9×13, it works fine)

Combine sugar, flour, and cocoa.  Mix well

Combine water, oil, and butter in a medium sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Add to flour mixture and mix well.

Add buttermilk, baking soda, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat well and pour into pan.  Bake 20-25 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool.

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
1 pound confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine butter, cocoa, and buttermilk in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Gradually beat in confectioners sugar and vanilla until well blended.  Spread evenly over cake.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake

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23/365: National Pie Day

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Pie Day, and to be honest, we were caught a little off guard. The chart we have been following indicated it was Rhubarb Pie Day, which made little sense given that rhubarb won’t be in season for another few months yet…but then again, not all of these holidays make sense. We were able to find a cheap strawberry-rhubarb pie in the grocery store, and that would have sufficed, but then a friend pointed out that it was actually Pie Day – no specific ingredient – and that changed everything. Especially since there is a Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie Day in June. Given the choice, Tara and I would prefer a different pie, maybe a cream version. We got our wish – more on that in a sec.

Pies have been around since about 9500 B.C., and were created as a means of transporting foods over long distances, such as ocean voyages. Ship manifests used to include a butcher or cook and live animals, but this proved to be uneconomical and a waste of cargo space (have you seen how much head room a giraffe needs?!). So when flour was created and baking invented, pies proved to be an easy, nutritious, and long-lasting food to bring along on a journey. The first published recipe was for a goat cheese and honey pie with a rye crust. Most early pies were made with meat; the Romans, who weren’t just skilled world-conquerors but also pretty good cooks, were adept at using salts and spices to preserve and flavor meat. A favorite meal of Caesar’s was four and twenty gladiators baked into a pie. Pie cooking spread through Europe; songbird pie was a big hit with English royalty. During his coronation in 1429, King Henry VI was served a “Partryche and Pecock enhackyll” pie consisting of cooked peacock and topped with a cooked and mounted peacock, colorful feathers and all. This tradition of placing a cooked bird atop a pie was a popular way to identify what was beneath the crust. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather just take a bite myself. Fruit pies were (thankfully) developed soon after.

Once we found out today was actually Whatever-Kind-Of-Pie-We-Want Day, we decided to ditch the cheap strawberry-rhubarb pie (I anonymously gifted it to my coworkers) and swing by Shari’s, a restaurant known for their – everybody ready? – chicken fried steak.

Just kidding. They’re also known for their pies. And with a dozen varieties to choose from, we were in pie heaven. Could we have baked our own? Sure. Should we have baked our own? Maybe…but this challenge is tough enough without having to worry about making everything from scratch. Come June 9, I’ll bake my own strawberry-rhubarb pie. In the meantime, we enjoyed individual slices. I got coconut cream, she got chocolate silk. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed ’em both!

National Pie Day

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22/365: National Blonde Brownie Day

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today we celebrate all things Deborah Harry! From “Heart of Glass” to “Rapture,” Blondie had a string of hits beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the…oh, wait…wrong Blondie. January 22nd is actually National Blonde Brownie Day. My bad.

Blonde Brownies are often called Blondies, though. They may look like brownies, but they are made with brown sugar instead of chocolate. If you think a brownie without chocolate is sacrilege, you can add chocolate chips to ensure you get your daily dose of cacao. They may also be made with nuts, coconut, toffee, and other candies for added texture. Blonde brownies have a taste reminiscent of butterscotch.

Oops...wrong Blondie.

Oops…wrong Blondie.

Incidentally, I once got into an argument with a woman over the correct spelling of the word blonde. I insisted it had an “e” on the end, she said it did not. I later learned that both spellings were technically correct, but blonde typically refers to females and blond describes males. Which means, I guess, that the blonde brownies we celebrate today are girls. Good to know. I won’t have to lift mine up now and look at the bottom to figure out the sex.

Brownies were invented in the late 19th century in Chicago. Socialite Bertha Palmer, during the 1893 World’s Fair, wanted a dessert for ladies to enjoy. A chef at the Palmer House Hotel (this is not a coincidence; the hotel was a wedding gift from her husband. Bertha was the Paris Hilton of her day) created a treat that was a cross between a cookie and a cake. Traditionally baked in a pan and sliced into squares, brownies are tasty and portable. I’m not sure what makes them a dessert fit for ladies, but this gentleman sure does dig ’em.

Incidentally, brownies weren’t the only food that debuted at the World’s Fair that year. Cracker Jack, cream of wheat, Juicy Fruit gum, and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer were all served for the first time in 1893. Nowadays, you go to the fair, and the only innovative foods you see are deep fried Twinkies. I’m not sure if that is considered progress or not (though really, was PBR?).

By the way, there is an excellent book about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair called Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. It intersperses tales of the world’s fair (one of the most spectacular ever staged) with a serial killer who used the setting to lure his victims to their deaths…and it’s a true story. I highly recommend it.

The nice thing about blonde brownies is, they are just as tasty at breakfast. Especially with a tall glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee. It’s always nice when we can cross the challenge off our list early in the day.

Blonde Brownie

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16/365: National Fig Newton Day*

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Midwest Mark

We had a choice of two holidays to celebrate today. International Hot & Spicy Food Day seemed a bit generic, though I did eat a handful of Spicy Cajun Peanuts this morning (and boy, could I feel the burn). But we settled officially on National Fig Newton Day. It’s been years since I’ve eaten a Fig Newton, and I was curious about the history behind this sorta-healthy-at-least-compared-to-other-cookies cookie.

In the 1800s, doctors believed that most illnesses were the result of digestive problems. Since Tums had yet to be invented, their recommendation was a diet rich in biscuits and fruit.Taking inspiration from this idea, a cookie maker in Ohio named Charles Roser invented a fig-stuffed cookie, killing two birds with one stone. Proverbially speaking, of course. It’s unclear why he chose figs, a fruit native to the Middle East that dates back to ancient times. Yes, the berries are edible and tasty, and the leaves make great genitalia covers. But you’d think he might have gone with something more common, like apples or strawberries. Nevertheless, Roser’s cookie was a hit, and he sold the recipe to the Kennedy Biscuit Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They named all their products after surrounding towns – there was a Harvard, a Shrewsbury, and a Beacon Hill – and the fig cookie became the Newton. Inventor James Henry Mitchell developed a machine that could produce an endless length of filled cookies, and in 1891 the Newton was mass-produced. In 1898 Kennedy Biscuits merged with a bunch of other bakeries to form the NAtional BIScuit COmpany, later shortened to – that’s right, boys and girls – NABISCO. Incidentally, the original F.A. Kennedy Steam Bakery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and turned into high-priced lofts. Call your realtor if you’re in the Boston area and looking for a new home with a historic background. But you’d better be rich. A 592-square foot studio apartment at the Kennedy Biscuit Lofts (real name) rents for $2684-$4105. Per month. Do you know how many Fig Newtons you could buy with that money?!

Newtons were renamed Fig Newtons, and then Nabisco began putting different fillings inside the biscuit. Flavors like strawberry, raspberry, and snozzberry. Wait, no – that was the Oompa-Loompas. Little-known fact: Fig Newtons are Mickey Mouse’s favorite cookie. Better-known fact: Mickey Mouse is a cartoon rodent, so why does that even matter? Early TV commercials featured a cowboy singing, “Yer darn tootin’, I like Fig Newtons.” The most recent advertising slogan is, “The fruit that thinks it’s a cookie.”

Yawn. Bring back the singing cowboy.

For this challenge, I had my eye set on Apricot & Mango Newtons, but as delicious as these sound, they are missing the essential ingredient of figs. So, the original flavor it was!

And you know what? They were tasty. Damn tasty. New fruit flavors aside, I’m glad we stuck with the original fig version!

National Fig Newton Day

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15/365: National Strawberry Ice Cream Day

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Here’s the latest scoop: today is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day!

Ha. Get it? Scoop? I kill myself.

Ice cream has been around for a very long time. As far back as 3000 B.C., the Chinese served a mixture of snow or ice and juice to their guests. People in the Persian Empire were so enamored with the frozen treat (theirs contained grape juice concentrate poured over a bowl of snow), in the summertime they would trek to the highest snow-covered peaks to bring back baskets of snow. The phrase “don’t eat the yellow snow” became popular after one poor sap mistakenly tried what he believed to be a lemon sorbet, even though sorbets had yet to be invented.

Nowadays, ice cream is a worldwide favorite, and is made with milk and cream instead of snow. Which is a relief, given the whole global warming thing. I’d hate to see ice cream go the way of the dodo bird. Vanilla and chocolate are the most popular flavors, and strawberry is a distant third, with 5.3% of the vote.

There is a very interesting link between strawberry ice cream and aliens. In 1988, a prime-time special on alien conspiracies aired; during this broadcast, two high-level informants said the government had retrieved a crashed UFO, and that the alien on board was fond of strawberry ice cream.

The natural inclination is to assume these guys are crackpots. BUT. I know a guy who used to work at Area 51. True story. He wouldn’t tell me much about it, but did say that the base cafeteria had a wide variety of ice cream flavors available. Makes sense, considering Area 51 is located in the Nevada desert. Anyway, he insisted they always ran out of strawberry ice cream. {Cue dramatic music}. Whether this was because a captive alien had a jones for the stuff is anybody’s guess – when I pressed him on whether they actually harbor aliens there, he got rather cagey and started throwing out words like “top” and “secret” – but it makes for an interesting story nonetheless.

Hey, one bite counts!

Hey, one bite counts!

ET may like strawberry ice cream, but neither Tara nor I are particularly fond of it. We weren’t looking forward to eating a bowl of the stuff, but then we remembered our official rules stipulate we must merely try a single bite of the celebrated food du jour. Why not just walk into Baskin-Robbins and ask for a taste of their strawberry ice cream? We did, and they were more than happy to scoop some up on a tiny plastic pink spoon and pass it over the counter.

The proprietor looked at us oddly when I started taking pics, and I was ready to mumble my “we’re doing a project” excuse, but he never asked. Just in case, we bought a couple of pints of non-strawberry ice cream in order to appease him.

We’re nothing if not polite.

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