Culinary delights
So tonight I decided, as the crappy weather precluding me from leaving my house, to do some baking. We had a good dozen plus frozen bananas in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I made a couple dozen banana muffins, banana nut loaf, some banana oatmeal muffins, and, since I was already baking, some brownies. If that sounds like a lot, well, it's amazing the number of activities one can find that prevent the start of a thesis paper.
My sister and her friend were hanging around, so I made them put on aprons and help. My sister with her short attention span, did manage to get a little done before she wandered off again.
"Where are you on those recipes?" I asked.
"I finished the first one, and mashed the bananas for the second" she replied.
"So the first one is ready? I just need to put it into the tins?". Always double check.
"Yeah", somewhat exasperated.
However, as I was spooning out the batter I noticed something. The batter was not particularly batter like. It was more like runny goo.
"Oh sister of mine?" I ask sweetly. "Did you add the cinnamon or nutmeg?"
"No. It didn't call for it"
"Oh, I believe you will find it does. Does this also mean you did not add baking soda, or baking powder?"
"No."
"or the flour?"
"Nooooo..."
Yeah. She 'didn't read the whole recipe'. She only missed the last 5 ingredients! I shudder to think what baked goo would have been like.
So when rectifying her mistake I realized our tin of baking power was empty, so I pulled the other still half-full tin from the cupboard. Spooning it out, I noticed I had uncovered a little coupon inside. So I pulled it out and read it.
It was an advertisement for a $5.00 rebate. On purchases made between 1987-1988. That's right, I have antique baking powder. 20 year old baking powder. Baking powder only a year younger then myself. And I somehow get the feeling that unlike myself, baking powder does not improve with age.
Now I know that some of the spices in my house came in a wedding gift to my parents 25 years ago. But most of those are the weird ones we use rarely, like coriander, or cardamom or paprika- things no self-respecting English family would think of adding to a dish. But I bake fairly frequently, at least a few times a month. Why do they even make tins that big?
My sister and her friend were hanging around, so I made them put on aprons and help. My sister with her short attention span, did manage to get a little done before she wandered off again.
"Where are you on those recipes?" I asked.
"I finished the first one, and mashed the bananas for the second" she replied.
"So the first one is ready? I just need to put it into the tins?". Always double check.
"Yeah", somewhat exasperated.
However, as I was spooning out the batter I noticed something. The batter was not particularly batter like. It was more like runny goo.
"Oh sister of mine?" I ask sweetly. "Did you add the cinnamon or nutmeg?"
"No. It didn't call for it"
"Oh, I believe you will find it does. Does this also mean you did not add baking soda, or baking powder?"
"No."
"or the flour?"
"Nooooo..."
Yeah. She 'didn't read the whole recipe'. She only missed the last 5 ingredients! I shudder to think what baked goo would have been like.
So when rectifying her mistake I realized our tin of baking power was empty, so I pulled the other still half-full tin from the cupboard. Spooning it out, I noticed I had uncovered a little coupon inside. So I pulled it out and read it.
It was an advertisement for a $5.00 rebate. On purchases made between 1987-1988. That's right, I have antique baking powder. 20 year old baking powder. Baking powder only a year younger then myself. And I somehow get the feeling that unlike myself, baking powder does not improve with age.
Now I know that some of the spices in my house came in a wedding gift to my parents 25 years ago. But most of those are the weird ones we use rarely, like coriander, or cardamom or paprika- things no self-respecting English family would think of adding to a dish. But I bake fairly frequently, at least a few times a month. Why do they even make tins that big?