Dad made 10 Cup Cookies today. I'm very proud of him :D

(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26412869@N03/)

A Few things From Around the Web

• When I was little, I would often sleep with a book under my pillow (I don't do it anymore because it can be damaging to the book). I love to read and I'm sure I would have been ecstatic if I'd had a book bed. 
• A little water-colored owlet
• Fish n Chips 
• Wouldn't it be amazing to have an embroidered book cover?
• Have you ever taken a look at this blog? I always find it very interesting (and often amusing :D).
• Close-ups of Mercury 
• A bookseller
• Manga Plates
• An ice cube tray 
• Unique kitchens

A Visit from Jane Austen

 I remember that when Aunt Jane came to us at Godmersham she used to bring the manuscript of whatever novel she was writing with her, and would shut herself up with my elder sisters in one of the bedrooms to read them aloud. I and the younger ones used to hear peals of laughter through the door, and thought it very hard that we should be shut out from what was so delightful . . . I also remember how Aunt Jane would sit quietly sewing beside the fire in the library, saying nothing for a good while, and then would suddenly burst out laughing, jump up and run across the room to a table where pens and paper were lying, write something down, and then come back across to the fire and go on quietly working as before. 

-Marianne Knight

Peanut Butter Frosting

Saturday I made this amazing peanut butter frosting. I know, it sounds slightly strange (try peanut butter and jelly cupcakes for a little bit of different) but it tastes good. I made the peanut butter frosting because Mom bought rice cakes and I was going to eat one with Nutella on it when I realized we were all out of Nutella. I promptly sat on the floor and cried. But then! I remembered this peanut butter frosting and I knew it would taste fantastic on a rice cake. So I searched the internet until I found the recipe and then I made it.
Then I slathered waaay too much on a rice cake and gobbled it down. It was gooooooood. So here's the recipe (taken from marthastewart.com):

Ingredients

• 6 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla. Whisk cream until soft peaks form, and then fold into peanut butter mixture. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. (Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.)

War Whistle

Once when I was little, Dad watched an old war movie and I happened to see parts of it. There is a scene in the movie where some British prisoners are marching along and whistling. The whistle stuck in my head, and for years, I would hum or sing it. I didn't know the name of the movie or what it was about, I didn't know the actors who played in it, and I didn't know anything about the scene from which the whistle was taken from. But I liked the tune and so I would sing it quite often because I can't whistle (it's sad, I know). I called it the War Whistle (to this day I still call it the War Whistle). I really wanted to know what the song was really called and what movie it came from. I searched and searched, but I never found out.
One night, Dad popped an old war movie into our dvd player. It was The Bridge on the Kwai, a movie about a British colonel in a Japanese PoW camp who cooperates with the Japanese commander to build a railway bridge (for the Japanese) whilst oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.
I sat on the couch and watched the beginning with Dad. It seemed strangely familiar, but I couldn't place it. Then, we got to the part in the movie where the British prisoners are marching and whistling my War Whistle. I was elated. This was the movie! I finally knew where the song I had been humming for years came from!
I was reminded of this yesterday, when I started humming my War Whistle. Qixi got it stuck in her head and has been singing it today. Guess what? We've listened to the song three times already. I have been subtly (at least I think) sneaking in some Scott Joplin so maybe a ragtime will get stuck in her head, but Qix wants to listen to it a fourth time.
Maybe I never should have started humming the War Whistle yesterday. On the soundtrack to the movie, my War Whistle is called Bridge on the River Kwai Theme (how appropriate). However, it is actually titled Colonel Bogey March.



This clip shows the actual whistle and then some. The whistle ends at minute 3.

Pumpkin Gelatin Chiffon Pie

The last chiffon pie I made was a flop (because I failed to notice the importance of several ingredients and inadvertently left them out). This past evening, I attempted to redeem myself and erase a bad experience from my memory (as well as an awful taste). The pie turned out wonderfully, so I thought I'd share the recipe from you (taken from the queen of all cookbooks, Joy of Cooking).
Pumpkin Gelatin Chiffon Pie (makes a 9-inch single-crust pie)
Prepare:
A baked pie shell or graham cracker crust
Soak:
1 tablespoon gelatin
in:
1/4 cup cold water
Beat slightly:
3 egg yolks
Add:
1/2 cup white or brown sugar
1 1/4 cups canned or cooked pumpkin
1/2 cup milk, soy milk, or rice milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger
Cook and stir these ingredients over - not in - boiling water until thick. Stir in the soaked gelatin until dissolved. Chill until mixture begins to set.
Whip until stiff, but not dry:
3 egg whites
Stir in gradually:
1/2 cup sugar
and fold into the pumpkin mixture. Fill the pie shell. Chill several hours to set.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.

-Ralf Waldo Emerson