[gardeners] Re: Daiquiris -- a long night, long message
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Fri, 14 Jan 2000 01:48:51 -0500
.
Well Ron, I made up the Daiquiris according to your recipe last
night -- ummm, that is to say, sorta.
We are out of all kinds of staples here because both Jimmie and I
have been ill since before Christmas, and my back-up lists have
back-up lists. . Obviously, I had no passion fruit juice. I was going
to try cranberry when I remembered that we had pineapple juice
open and waiting.. So out came the Waring Blender from it's
hiding place down the back hall, and I stared at your ingredients
for a long time, trying to make sure that you really had meant for
me to use 2/3rds of a cup of light rum. Into the mixer it went.
Next one was rather difficult. I ALWAYS have both light and dark
brown sugar, but not this time! No light package up there... all
right, nobody's looking so I'll include half the suggested amount of
brown sugar (wrong kind) and then add half the amount in white sugar!
Juice of 15 passion fruits...??? Well, let's just settle for 3/4 cup of
pineapple juice. And now he wants me to add THREE CUPS OF ICE?
My goodness, that's just too much! In went one cup. And I turned
on the blender. . . Funny looking color, I must say.. And I took a sip.
Good grief Charley Brown, choke, choke, this is a catastrophe!
Cannot waste it, goes without saying, so I shook up the pineapple juice
and dumped some in. Better add some more sugar, while I'm at it.
And another cup of ice. Turned it on and filled my old fashioned glass
with a sample. Uggh, I admitted to the four walls, needs more
pineapple. Or something. And so I poured the rest of the jar in.
NOW it tastes like something! At least I can swallow it.. And on that
basis, I refilled my glass.
It must be time to start the cake baking -- I had to make 3 sponge cake
bottoms for Jimmie's birthday dinner's Baked Alaskas. I made the three
waxed paper liners for the pans with an indent, and then took out the
cook book... I chose the Orange Sponge Cake, and proceeded. Let's
see now, 5 egg yolks and 7 or 8 egg whites. Now I've seen plenty of
eggs with double yolks, but I've NEVER seen eggs with double whites!
It made me thirsty just wondering about this, so I had another glass of
Ron's daiqueri. Why not.? It was warming the cockles of me heart,
anyway!
The phone rang. It was Jimmie calling from New Jersey to say that he
had just finished repairing his cousin's computer, and they had not yet
gone out to dinner, so he would be very late and not to worry. Me worry?
I didn't have a worry in the world. At the same time I was listening to
Tommy Maken & The Clancy brothers singing their very sad Irish songs,
and trying to sing along...
Now back to the cakes. Reading further in the recipe, the book said that
if you didn't have any cake flour, you could substitute the 2-1/4 cups of
this item with 2 cups of regular flour, only change the eggs from 5 to 7.
Whad-it-say? If you didn't have any cake flour you could substitute the
2-1/4 cups of this item with 2 cups of regular flour, only change the
eggs
from 5 to 7. Oh, my goodness. Really? They must have heard me
screaming that I didn't have any cake flour.... Well I had to scream
since
The Clancy Brothers were shouting at me from the twin speakers --
luckily I had never installed the quadriphonic sound in the kitchen.
The cook book next said 3 tablespoons of orange peel. I've NEVER
heard of using 3 tablespoons of orange peel inside a cake! And that
was besides the orange juice! Are you sure you read it right? Yup,
never fear. That's quite right. Fine! In they went. I v-e-r-y carefully
separated the 7 eggs, and didn't even mix them up -- whew. And so
slowly but surely the cake batter got mixed, the egg whites got beaten
stiff -- the book said, in large print, STIFF, not just like an angel
cake.
Am I supposed to know how stiff to beat egg whites for an angel cake?
I'm having enuff problems just baking 3 orange sponge cakes!
Of course it was a thrill to find that the batter was just enough for
the 3 cake pans -- how did I ever manage that...? And I opened the
oven door and immediately decided that the racks were not in their
best position for such large pans, so I moved one to the top. In
went the cake pans, and just before I shut the oven door, I grabbed
the top rack which needed an extra push. YEOUCH. What's the matter
wth you tonite, Penny...?
So, armed with a napkin full of ice in my left hand, and a fresh glass
of Ron's daiqueri in my right, I started up the timer and came to sit
down
by my computer..... And right then I could hear the garage door
opening,
and that meant that Jimmie was home an hour early. The kitchen was
in absolute chaos. But Penny wasn't. I was mellow jello hello, dear,
welcome home!
Penny, NY
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