Happy New Year and Things to Come in 2011!
Happy New Year Everybody!!
I can’t believe 2011 is already here. Where did 2010 go? Just wanted to kick things off this year with a few updates about what I have planned for 2011.
I have once again signed up for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. This year, I will be walking in New York City in October with two of my friends. If anyone would like to join our team, let me know. I will start up my weekly Avon Walk updates around May when we start our training. If you’d like to make a donation to my walk, you can do so by clicking on the pink Avon Walk logo to the left or here.
I plan to continue doing my “Week Of” features. I have a few ideas in mind, but if you have an ingredient you’d like to see featured, let me know!
A new project that I’m excited to announce will be a weekly feature called Friday Favs. I have solicited some of my favorite bloggers to provide guests posts right here on Beantown Baker every Friday of the year. I chose these bloggers because they’re the people that make the cut when my Google Reader gets out of control and I have to downsize. They’re favs of mine for a variety of reasons and they represent a variety of topics. Most are food bloggers, but there are some decorating bloggers, life bloggers, arts and craft bloggers in the mix as well. Be sure to check out the Friday Favs tag on the right –> or the Friday Favs page up top ^ for all the posts. And check back every Friday to get a glimpse at one of my favorite bloggers.
Other than that, I plan to keep providing posts about the foods I’m making in our Boston kitchen, random food related Boston events, updates on my 30-by-30 list, and of course plenty of giveaways. You can also find me on Twitter or Facebook.
I am of two minds on this post. On the one hand, my OCD really kicked in when I read that you had not followed Mark Bittman’s recipe but still decided to write about it. Seemed a bit sloppy for a nerd and an engineer. On the other hand, that is how Pasteur discovered Penicillin. Bittman is such a great cook, that I think he deserves better treatment; so I plan to do him the honor of making his recipe. I am not going to make the other two though!
Oops! Senior moment that – it was the Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928. Apparently, the Pasteur Institut ignored the work of a French physician, Ernest Duchesne, who in 1897 discovered the curative properties of the Penicillium Glaucum, a different mold than the one Fleming discovered, but in the same genus. Gotta love Wikipedia.
There are two tapioca recipes on the Minute Tapioca box. I always use the one for Fluffy Pudding, which calls for 2 cups milk and whipping the egg whites separately from the cooked milk with tapioca and egg yolk. I think you will find the pudding much improved over the basic recipe.
Also, the quality of the vanilla makes a huge difference in something like tapioca. Cooks Illustrated likes McCormick and I found this on amazon and at Sam’s Club in large bottles for very reasonable prices.
One other note: I find that CI has a sweet tooth: their recipes are sometimes too sweet for my taste, though they are a go-to source otherwise.
This is an interesting discussion. I tried the Kraft recipe today. I threw everything (except the vanilla) in the blender before putting it on the stove. I also added 1/2 tsp. salt and a bit more vanilla. I actually thought it was sweet enough already, though. However, I agree with your overall conclusion that it’s a bit boring. Well, at least it was easy. Anyway, next time I may a recipe using large tapioca. 🙂
Thanks for the comparison.