Chelloooomondaymorning

Hello

I'm working on a Gingerbread house for my pastry class.

And this is it so far.

My theme is the board game 'Candyland'

and if you are at all familiar with the game -

my gingerbread house is going to be 'Ms. Nut's' house.

Then i'm going to decorate the rest of the board like the game.

It's going to be awesome.

Let us begin...

[[Today's music]]

PLUSHGUN – JUST IMPOLITE

I love this music video so much. A nice little twist at the end.

[[Today’s restaurant]]

GRAETER’S ICE CREAM

[[Today’s kitchen gadget]]

KITCHEN SCALES

[[Today’s news]]

JUNK FOOD

CHILDREN as young as eight are being paid to taste-test snacks, fast food, sweets and fizzy drinks. Junk food manufacturers are recruiting child guinea pigs to provide feedback on flavours, advertising, packaging, and portion sizes. Market research companies pay the youngest about $30-$40 for chats of more than an hour. Matt Balogh, of the Australian Market and Social Research Society, said businesses selling goods that appealed to children often sought their views or conducted taste tests. There has been anger in Britain over offers to pay children up to $45 a week in freebies and discount vouchers if they promote soft drinks and snacks through social networking websites and playground talk.

Want to read more?

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/marketing-firms-recruit-schoolchildren-as-guinea-pigs/story-e6frf7l6-1225834081296

[[Today’s random]]

FIVE TOE SHOES

[[Today’s food clip]]

MAN VS. FOOD – THE SALTY DOG

[[Today’s curly head]]

VANESSA HUDGENS

[[Today’s recipe]]

IRRESISTABLE PECAN PIE

::Ingredients::

1 deep dish pie shell

(one day I’ll demonstrate how to make pie dough/crust – but for now. Use the store bought kind J easier that way lol)

3 eggs

¾ cup light corn syrup

2 tablespoons dark corn syrup

¾ cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 pinch of salt

2 ½ cup pecans:

½ cup is to be finely crushed

2 cup kept whole

::Directions::

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

-In a medium bowl mix together beaten eggs, light and dark corn syrups, brown sugar, melted butter, salt and your ½ cup of finely crushed pecans.

(To “finely crush” the pecans I suggest: Putting them in a baggie, squeezing the air out, sealing it, and beating the holy hell out of the baggie with the bottom of a cup, rolling pin, or soup can….all of these methods do the trick lol. Be careful not to break the baggie)

-Spread 1 cup of the whole pecans along the bottom of the pie crust

(Make sure the whole surface is covered- it’s ok if some overlap)

-Pour syrup mixture over top of the pecans.

-Once the mixture is all poured in, give the pie a nice shake and a good tap

(this will ensure that all air bubbles come out and that the syrup mixture is evenly distributed.)

-Lastly, arrange the last cup of whole pecans over top the pie

(Notice how on my pie I made a circle around the edges and a star in the middle)

-Bake for 45min-1 hour or until firm

(At about 25-35 minutes in: I took the pie out of the oven, put foil around the crust, and placed it back in the oven. This is because I didn’t want my crust to burn before the rest of my pie was finished cooking. You might be wise to follow my lead.)

Last Note:

No matter what – I would take the pie out at an hour…It might not look like it is completely done- But you have to realize that there is a carry over cooking time. Just because you’ve taken the pie out of the oven doesn’t mean that the pie has stopped cooking….because it hasn’t! The pie will continue to cook itself from the inside out for at least ten minutes. So you MUST take the pie out at an hour! I’ve had to remake pies so many times because I decided they needed to be cooked longer – or I just plain forgot that they were in the oven lol.

Enough of my rambling...

ENJOY!!!!