Tuesday, June 19, 2007

My Quiz Answers



1. How will you/did you spend Father's Day? Cookout, picnic, restaurant? Any special food traditions?

Our tradition of the last few years (hmmm... how old does something have to be to qualify as a tradition?) has been to play a round of miniature golf. Actually, this is my youngest brother's tradition. Originally it was just he and my dad, but now I'm invited join in the festivities along with my mom, sister-in-law and Cassidy. This year David and Stephanie spent the weekend with her parents, so our miniature golf game is scheduled for next weekend. My personal tradition, as I've mentioned before, is to make my dad a batch of fig bars (Maida Heatter's "Big Newtons"). I delivered those to him on Father's Day, had brunch with my parents, and played a few hands of Flinch. It was a very nice day and I'm looking forward to Father's Day part II next Sunday!


2. Do you know what the odds are of having more than one double-yolked egg in one carton of eggs?

OK, I have to apologize on this one. It was obviously a setup, but the least I could have done was word the question more clearly. I don't know what the odds of getting more than one double-yolked egg in a carton are - as you all guessed, they're probably quite low. What I should have asked was, if you find a double-yolked egg, what are the odds that you'll find another in the same carton? I presumed, as you might, that they would be *really* low, but that is apparently not the case. I bought a carton a couple of weeks ago and upon using the first egg, saw my very first double-yolked egg. I was amused and not at all alarmed to see one double-yolked egg, but by the time I'd cracked open the third or fourth I was a little freaked and was wondering what kind of mutant chickens were making my eggs. I was thinking of firing off an email to Jen, who is blogdom's resident expert on eggs, but decided to first consult Google. I learned that the large eggs layed by young hens are likely to be double-yolked. So, that means that if your carton of large eggs came from a young flock, there's a good chance you'll have more than one double-yolked egg. In my case, every single one of them was double-yolked. I know they're supposed to be lucky, but still... I was never so glad to finish a carton of eggs!


3. Do you have any "cooking cheats"... shortcuts you take because it's easier and no one will ever know the difference?

Now with this question, lazy cook that I am, I was really hoping to get some good tips! Using canned tomatoes is such a normal thing for me that I had never even thought of it as a cheat, but I may avoid a future emergency run to the grocery store the next time I'm a little short on milk thanks to Mari! My cheats have to do with sifting. These days I seldom sift flour before measuring, instead just fluffing it up a bit with the scoop. I used to have just the teensiest guilt pangs when I'd do this, but then one day saw Ina Garten doing the same thing. Now I know I'm in good company and the guilt is gone :) Usually, when a recipe says to sift ingredients together I'll go along with that, but if I need to put those dry ingredients in a bowl anyway, I'll just whisk them together rather than dragging out the sifter or strainer.


4. If you were to indulge in a peanut butter sandwich, what would you have with it? Strawberry jam? Grape jelly? Cheese?

Mmmm... so many possibilities! I'd have trouble picking just one. At the moment it would probably be strawberry jam, since I just made some recently. In the past I always enjoyed my homemade apricot jam and another favorite is apple butter. I love Chuck's idea of bananas and will have to give that a try soon. Here's one that might not have occurred to you, but which is (trust me) delicious: thinly sliced dill pickles. Really!

5. When loading the dishwasher, do you think the spoons and forks should go up (handle down) or down?

I think we're all in agreement on this one - handles down!


Thanks to Mari, Leigh, Zarah, Nupur and Chuck for taking the quiz - I've really enjoyed reading your responses!

6 comments:

Rowena said...

Dill pickles in a peanut butter sandwich? Now I am not one to scoff at any edible idea, but I had best refrain from trying this in front of my husband...otherwise he'll just think that there's a bun in the oven! ;-)

Nupur said...

OK, I confess I do the fluffing-with-fork instead of sifting too :) Have fun at mini-golf next weekend! Sounds like fun!

Cathy said...

Hi Rowena! Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches were a childhood delicacy for me... I haven't had one in quite some time, but only because I generally don't keep whole dill pickles on hand. The pickle function much like jelly or jam - it's cool and wet and contrasts nicely with the peanut butter. I suppose if you must you could wait until after there's "a bun in the oven"!

Hi Nupur! Another fluffer - I knew there were more of us :) I'm looking forward to next weekend - not only are we having our annual miniature golf game, but my Dad is taking me out to dinner. My mom is out of town, so we have a "date" :)

Anonymous said...

I also fluff my flower instead of sifting. And I, also, got over the guilt.

I grew up on peanut butter and sweet pickle sandwiches. I've never tried dill pickles, but I'll have to give it a go now.

Anonymous said...

I mean, FLOUR. ;)

Cathy said...

Hi Ann - I was about to reply to your comment and then got seriously distracted by your blog - such cute pictures and stories! I think I read them all!

I think I recently saw some instructions in the front of a cookbook recently (but haven't the foggiest idea which) that actually explained that "sifted flour" is measured by first stirring the flour to fluff it up... no mention of using a sifter at all... could it be? Maybe I dreamed it.