The Better Bread Baker Meets the Horizontal Black&Decker BreadMaker

Bread!

Made from

Yeast, the creepiest thing to ever be found in a baked good and an infection.

Sugar

Flour

Milk

Salt

and this loaf

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Vanilla

Sunflower Seeds

Flax and

a few Peanuts.

Better (Off-Off) Broadwat Theatre

http://www.nyneofuturists.org/site/

AMAZING THEATRE ALERT

The kind that makes you want to dance and shout and call foreign area codes with your local phone plan.

Give it a shot, New York or Chicago.

30 (possible) short plays in 60 minutes, written and acted by the troupe on stage.
Funny, poignant, grappling, it's what theater seemingly should become.

Better Broadway Baby: Wicked

Only about a millennium behind the Jones-es and every other Broadway show attending person/family, I finally saw Wicked tonight. Even though I didn't know then name of the performers, and even though I'd already listened to the soundtrack, it was really fucking amazing.

There are of course things that make me cock my head to the side, and I shall list them to you here:

First Head-Cocker: The Un-invisible crew members pulling ropes and Operating Spots

In my high school I distinctly remember my director timing the crew in Seussical so that they would get the field of clovers off stage in under twelve seconds so the audience would not see them, it give my head a theta to realize that Broadway has no need to hide their members in black from the audience.

There are a series of possible reasons for this, some that pop into my mind include that we need to realize that is it a show to like it. Getting lost in all that reality can amaze us, but a sharp jolt of a minute intermission, pulls us from the fantastical lull. With the reminders of reality, we can appreciate with more awe. This is not Brecht.

Second Head-Cocker: The Screaming Plot Points

I know that Broadway is in many ways written for the masses yet it continually amazes me how after 80 years of developing the musical the audience needs to be fed the plot. The show doesn't want to force it down our throats in the last minute, much like we do in movies or comics, where we must believe in Deus Ex Machina, but rather a trivial mention to a little green vial makes it all the better. It seems like at times a multi-million dollar musical is cutting corners.

Third (And Last) Head Cocker: Excess, Excess, Excess

In viewing the show I noticed in one particularly dark scene a series of curtains that made no appearance again. It amazes me how extravagant the Gershwin theatre feels the need to be. Isn't it better to reuse in a creative way then just layer on the gold? It think even Glinda would agree.

All in all the show was amazing, it may take one actress one recording to force it into my head that a role can only be played one way, and then another one ten minutes to reinvent the roll.

The singing was amazing, the dancing not mind-blowing, but the costumes and set could have held my focus for a life time. There are many things I don't feel the need to see again, or experience right away atleast, Wicked is not one of them.

Nothing makes me happier then seeing that an audience loves to be on the inside of a joke

The Better Batter Blog: Shushi and Dessert

Last Night as a Part of One's Cultural Experimentation the Bert Brothers hosted, at P. Bert's new NDG Apartment, a sushi night titled multiple things
First: Shushi
Then: Shushi: More Like Penises
Next: Shushi More Like no Natalies Allowed
Finally: Shushi

After years of culinary experience it is to be known that the Berts are to be trusted when it comes to food far beyond their home town of Wenham Mass.

Out of all the people attending, and let me say that It was quite the group, everyone brought a little something to add to the rolls.

On top of the avocado, carrots, cucumber, peppers, bean curd, there were many other exciting additions: Spicy and not mayonnaises, Cream(ed) Cheese, Salmon, Shrimp, Sprouts. Pretty much the works.

We were coaxed into rolling our own by the aid of L. Bert, and after many successful attempts, we ended up with more sushi than we could eat.

The Batter Baker ended up experimenting, after a mojito or two, with the butter battered shrimp.

It started with dessert.

In the line of my turkish ancestry, and the lime from the I can only assume Caribbean drink, we decided to sugar our losses and go for the gold.

Step 1: Procure Limes
Step 2: Slice
Step 3: Dip in Sugar
Step 4: Eat

I suppose you also need to procure Sugar and a knife, at the least.

I have always been a fan of eating raw lemon and lime, but even that seemed to be too much Logan, so we resorted to sour and sweet.

It was pretty darn good, if not too sugary.

After that we decided, or rather, I did, to also take the mint leaves and repeat the above instructions, substituting leaves for limes, but I really don't suggest this unless you know you have an audience for it i.e. a Natalie Talmi, or someone who enjoys eating Mint Leaves.

Though I am told they resembled bubblegum.

After we ran out of the leaves, and the demand was still there for sucrose experimentation and thus we turned to ice cubes, and then: Shrimp.

After letting a singular Shrimp bathe in the sugar, one might say it tempted us to pour the sugar on it, we heated up the oil and dropped the bottom feeder in.

While that was frying, I mixed up some low end wine and a little (more) sugar, to make some really tangy sauce.

It is and was crucial to poke at the frying shrimp, attempting to see if it was done before it actually was, because I am sure that is what contributed to the wonderful to come taste.

After battering it, we dropped it right in the low-ball tumbler with the 'sauce' and after letting it cool to an edible temperature, we gobbled it up.

It is suggested to cook the shrimp all the way through, though the blue color of the meat against the red sauce did add some nice visual.

Best of luck in your future feasts!

Ps: On a real and interesting cooking note, you can tell if the oil is warm enough to begin to fry by dropping a little sample batter in, and when the bubbles have gone from small to large, the temperature is right. Probably something to do with surface area and the kinetics as you heat up. Enjoy.

The Lemom Poppy Seed Extravaganza

Last year, I swear I could make this cookie.

I don't know where that recipe went, or how I succeeded, but this time it was, as failblog would detail, and epic fail.

I followed the recipe fine, but the 'combine' all ingredients should have read:
Cream the Butter
Add the Sugar
Then the Egg
then the flower and so on.

As the prefects say.

http://bakingforthecure.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/lemon-poppy-seed-cookies/

recipe

I am trying this again tonight. I hope more luck ensues.

Julien/Julie/Julia

I actually worked in a bakery, but there is a good chance that you would never note that.

It was called Polka Dot Bakery an is not a specialty cake store. I can promise you working there was nothing like ace of cakes.

http://www.polkadotcakes.com/aboutus/index.html

I chopped canned apricots and prepped tarts for the MET, and in my spare time drank the vanilla bean lemonade and read my summer reading books, I was 16 at the time.

One of the few things I learned was the concept of Mis en Place, or the idea of placing out the ingredients before you cook, as to not end up S.O.L. half way though.

It turned from a bakery coffee shop into a cake store the summer after I left.

The Bad Baking Blog: Ralph Nader's Two by Two by Two Cookies

Back in October in an attempt to vote and be a tad non-biased in my decision making, I subscribed to Mr. Obama's, McCain's, Nader's, and a few others political news e-mails.

I quickly stopped reading them as the race was much easier to follow through the internet, and as it was widely televised, though I did end up reading an e-mail from Nader's campaign at one point in the race.

Truly underfunded, he was asking for donations, any amount which contained the number 2, which would receive a cookie recipe from him in exchange for the support.

He claimed that the cookies were hearty and strong, just like his vision for America.

I quickly jumped at the offer and gave Mr. Nader my only financial support for the race. $2.

I received an e-mail later that week with, as promised, his families recipe.


I chuckled at it, looked at the ingredients, and kept it in the back of my head.

Much later in the year, I dug it out, and with the help of Logan, my resident chef attempted to first hunt down the odd ingredients, like Orange Blossom Water, and Rose Water, and set out full fledged Two-Two-Two cookies.

Simple to make, rather healthy, and completely disgusting.

Feel free to give it a try.

My roommate took a liking to them, but as I've since learned, he likes a lot of stuff.

I am now not all too sad that Obama won.

Not Just Thinking, Being.

I do feel that it is essential to spend time out of your comfort zone. Phillip and I were talking the other day about relatives, and how the relative bad of being in a prison camp for someone who has spent their whole life being persecuted, can possibly feel just as bad as someone who's lived a life, let's say in their own accepting and loving home, loosing their dog, or failing a test. People can only gauge based on what they know, and while being shot may be physically more debilitating that getting a paper cut, to someone who's never had a paper cut, compared to James Bond being shot for the 40th time, it can be equal, if not the reverse of the physical matrix. I talk about this because I want to talk about relative comfort zones. I think that you can learn a lot from spending time in a place, be it a mile from your home or 3000, that is not concentrated with people who think, act, speak, or maybe even just look the way you do. I think that self-reflection and just plaining thinking, when done on your own can do amazing things, you ask questions, you come up with answers, they may be wrong, you think again, so on and so forth. I think that France, all in all, is relatively very similar to the US, and even more to Quebec. Of course there are the obvious things, people's skin colors, their accent, the food they eat, their language, but also little ways that people carry themselves, their perception of personal space, time, and thing one person might not consider, like how, one culture might expect water to be served on the table with dinner compared to another's in which they are given cola. There are all things I've been told about, and I'm sure many people have though about or experienced in one way or another, for example if they've gone to someone's house for a holiday they don't celebrate, or even walked into a store in which they would never shop. I talk about this, because I think all in all, it's necessary to be aware. The other day the 25 some odd exchange students here in Lyon from the States, Japan, Tunisia, and Canada had a lesson on 'Raising Cultural Awareness,' and I think it was a large waste of my time, as did many others. The leader tired to 'teach' us things about culture, and as much as there may be, and are concrete things to learn about certain cultures, such as the German's generally speak German, and the Japanese eat rice, it's impossible to accurately stereotype or generalize a culture, let a lone to 'teach' it. Hence the popularity of traveling, to a degree, and immersion, and people branching out to learn about another culture's language, music, cusisne... When we are put in a situation where we are uncomfortable, because in turn humans are generally 'afraid' of what they don't know, this in turn makes us uncomfortable, we can do nothing more than being to learn, and think, and take in, because I can only assume that this is primal survival, i.e. ' If you can't beat 'em (and this is hardly a real option), join 'em. I've found myself continually like a deer in headlights, or scared, but also just frozen, both here and in Quebec, at the idea of speaking French, or jumping in to something where I do not know everything because I always have that nagging fear that lies below. I am able to rationalize, easily, how pointless this fear is a step out, because even the idea of being ridiculed for my accent makes no sense in the end. Plus, again, as they say: No pain, no gain. I feel like multiple times in my life I have been out of my element, and I can't think in any situation how it was not helpful in even the most minute of ways. Assuming you can be at least fractionally open-minded to something new, as the person doing what they are always has a motive, once you learn that, you can take part too, and at least play devil's advocate, if your morals disagree, for the sake of the experience. To pull the veil away from everything, there are a group of students on this trip, from Manhattan College, that have all but physically pulled my attention to the matter. They for one, all stick together at all times, which makes sense, being in a foreign place, as I discussed, but the attitude they bring, and their actions are just so inappropriate. In no way am I or is anyone expecting them to relinquish their personality, their characteristics, or behaviors, but rather I think it is all to be expected that they are to be aware of what is going on, and they they are responsible for their actions. They are in a foreign country and each and every night they do the same thing that they would if they were in their home town, or college. It's the same thing with some Non-Manhattan students going to KFC for dinner, then Pizza Hut, then Dominos, then McDonalds, night after night, and for lunch too. Don't get me wrong, I've had McDonald's twice, I mean Phillip couldn't resist the Pulp Fiction - Royal Cheese reference, and so we went, and I liked it because I could easily have been in West Nyack, and be cause anything that contains 46% of your daily salt intake can't really be that bad. But that's not to say that being in a foreign place, that I fully opted to go to, I would forgo putting a foot in the door and using my poor grammar in a restaurant. I guess one could say now, as the thought has come to my head, that what's the point, what's to be gained? Trying some intestine wrapped intestine isn't going to be enlightening, it's just going to be disgusting and a waste of €16. I again would disagree. I think by trying l'Andouillette, or the local bar, or speaking their language to be worthwhile, because you are putting yourself out of your element, and opening up. If you are lost, vide supra. I tend to be of the school of thought, whatever that might be, that thinking can be the great solve to many things. I would never ask anyone to renounce their ways, but rather to think of the other side. Not to like something, but to think about why someone else does. I think the thoughts can be surprising. Honestly, I don't feel anyone is fully free of any of the things I imply to be faults above. And everyone is more than willing to try certain things over others. Maybe I am being to critical of the fast-food lovers, and that's not where they would ever be able to open up, for as unimaginative of a reason as their tongue has taste bud. Maybe it is enough, or should be, that they are over here. I obviously don't know, and thus, I shall think about it.

T value 4.303
Sum X-Xbar 4.33684E-06
Standard Deviation 0.001472556
STD of Mean 0.000850181
Precision 36.74290996