Happy Holidays!!
I hope everyone has having a happy holiday season!! I just wanted to give you a quick update on life in the Beantown Baker Household.
First things first, I got my blog redesigned!! It has been in the works for some time now, and everything got delayed a bit due to our move to Cincinnati, but the new site is up and running. Stop by and check it out. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Second, an update on the move. A couple weeks ago, Hubby and I made the drive from Boston to Cincinnati. We had a sunny day, very little traffic, and made really good time. We lived out of a hotel for another week before finally moving into a two bedroom apartment. We are starting to get settled – I’ve even baked in my new kitchen already. We bought a tree and got it decorated last night. Just in time for Christmas!
Christmas Tree 2012
Our plan for the rest of the year is to relax, enjoy some delicious food, hang out with some friends, and then head to Illinois for my sister Brooke’s wedding on New Years Eve! I’ll see you guys in 2013! Happy Holidays!!
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
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.