An Unorthodox Halloween – Page 76

Day 1: Peanut Brittle

The Kristmas Kitchen of Kooking Kraziness has begun.

And, hey, look, it’s SNOWING!

Talia is fascinated, while Indy is trying to attack the snow through the glass.

Meanwhile, I’m working. And, began with another experiment from the Treasure Trove. Peanut Brittle.

This Recipe was at least complete…not that I had all the tools (no candy thermometer).

Peanut Brittle:
1 1/2 Lbs Sugar (3 cups)
1 1/4 Cups Corn Syrup
1 Cup Water
1 oz Butter (1/4 cube)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp baking Soda
1 tsl Vanilla
1 lb Peanuts (2 3/4 cups)

Put first 3 ingredients into kettle, stir until sugar has dissolved, Cook to 240 degrees. (for those of us lacking a thermometer, this is SOFTBALL) Add Peanuts, constantly stirring to keep peanuts from burning. After it starts boiling, cook to 320 degrees. (this would be HARDBALL) Remove from heat and add butter, and a paste of salt, soda, and vanilla. Pour on slab and spread thin to cool.

Simple enough…

I made a double recipe. And got a little worried when the boiling mass was right on the brim of the pan. But, it all went as smoothly as one can expect from a first time trial.

ONE WORD OF ADVICE: KEEP YOUR HEAD AWAY FROM THE PAN WHEN YOU ADD THAT SODA!!!

I got a nice face full of some nasty fumes. Otherwise, the stuff turned out great. It’s a different texture than any I’ve ever had before, but it’s also QUITE good.

From Christmas

Adventures in Toffee

As mentioned before, the great cooking calamity that is Christmas bakery is coming this weekend.

And, while I enjoy making Nuts and Bolts as it is quick and easy, the cookies have become something to dread.

Thinking of scaling it back some, but still wanting something to give out, coupled with a craving, I dug out the treasure trove a few days ago.

An interesting story on this treasure. I was visiting my Grandmother, and as I was leaving, I went to the trash compactor to toss something away. There, pirched on top of the garbage was a PILE of recipes. I was told they were too hard to make, incomplete, and some even listed ingredients you can’t find anymore. Shocked, I rescued them from their fate, and took the bundle of them home.

It was mostly filled with desserts. Cakes, cookies, candies, glazes, frostings, you name it. And, just by READING the things, it put new ideas in my head, and has contributed to my knack for just tossing things into a pan and coming off with a good tasting dish. (Though, I’m still wary of that bizarro hamburger recipe that is unlike anything I’ve ever even HEARD of doing to hamburgers…one of these days…)

Every now and then, I get these out and try one. The other day, I went searching for Peanut Brittle. While that was in there, the English Toffee caught my eye as well.

THIS is the kind of recipe this treasure trove contains:

English Toffee
1 cup sugar
1/2 lb butter
3 Tbls Water
1 tsp Vanilla
3 small Hershey bars
3/4 Cup chopped nuts

Place first 4 ingrediants in a skillet and cook until done. About 10 minutes. Pour onto buttered cookie sheet. Place chocolate on top and spread, press nuts into top. Cool and break into pieces.

Scrawled by a hand that bears some resemblance to what few samples I have of my Grandfather. (Mom, I might want you to confirm that) It is certainly his kind of “recipe” from what I’ve come to understand. What’s “done”? How hot do you cook it? What constitutes a “small hershey bar”?

Ah well. Last night, I decided to give it a try, to see if we like it before I go making a bunch.

Choosing to err on the safe side, we cooked this on medium. And, sure enough, about 8 minutes in, it started to thicken a bit, looking quite a bit like my dad’s caramel. By the 10 minute mark, I no longer had a liquid so much as I had a bubbling mass of goo. A quick test told me we were between medium and hard ball. Getting concerned that I would burn it as it didn’t stir so much as it sorta spun around in the pan now, I guessed that it was “done”.

A minute later, all that was left was the cooling, which the freezer took care of in 30 minutes.

This stuff is certainly good. The flavor just literally comes gushing out into your mouth as you chew.

It is a touch on the chewy side, could have been cooked a bit more. And, I think I’ll substitute semi-sweet chips in place of the hersheys bars just on personal preference. There’s also an idea or two I’m thinking of giving a go. We’ll have a complete recipe up once I get all the particulars of that worked out.

Movie time

This weekend marks the start of the insanity that is Christmas cooking.

And, as such, it’s that time of year to sit back, toss in some “holiday” movies to watch as you make far too many cookies.

Not all of the movies on my list, however, are what one might expect.

The more normal among them:

A Christmas Carol, AKA Scrooge. The 1951 Alastair Sim version remains the best version to watch. Hoping I can find it to rent somewhere. The key to a good Christmas Charol lies in the Ghost of Christmas Future, and this one is superb. Simple and effective. The often lauded George Scott version is acceptable, but Christmas Future comes off awful goofy with wierd humps and bad design. It does get bonus points for the having a VERY creepy Christmas Present, though.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This show is absolutely a joy. At least up until the crap where he takes all the stuff back. Oh, how I love the grinch. And it’s even narrated by Frankenstein. Don’t even think about the horrendous live action film, though.

Miracle on 34th Street. The 1947 version. Not that crapola of a remake. Best Santa movie ever made, and Kris is always top of my mind when envisioning Santa.

On to the less obvious…

Die Hard. “Now I have a machine gun. Ho. Ho. Ho.” Enough said.

Leathal Weapon and Leathal Weapon 2 While the first film is more obviously “Christmas” in nature, what with the tree lots and fighting through christmas decorations. The second one stands out more in my mind as a holiday favorite. And, it’s all my brother’s fault. It was not often my older brother and I got to go and do things together. But, it was Christmas 1989 when he took me out to see Leathal Weapon 2. I still remember how the theater showing it played no previews, and it just jumped right into the film, with that great opening scene, and a pace that never seemed to slow. Have to watch it for those memories alone.

Gremlins. YES. Christmas at it’s finest. THIS is a show to get behind. Horror and humor in equal parts. Great for keeping little kids up all night, worrying about every little sound. If you’re especially evil (like me), you even sneak down outside their room, scratch on the wall, and do your best Spike impersonation.

Edward Scissorhands. I like a lot of Tim Burton’s movies, and Edward just fits in with the Yuletime festivities.

Black Christmas The 1974 version, can’t speak to the remake, though I plan on renting that this year. This film is better known here in the States by the title “Stranger in the House”, which it saw plenty of air time on cable in the early 80s. So, for those of you trying to remember, here it is. One of the better slasher movies out there that manages to not be quite so mind-numbingly idiotic as the standard fare of the genre… All gift wrapped for Christmas, even.

Jack and Zero

At long last, Jack and Zero are complete, and on display.

In fact, Jen even says someone stopped by the house just to say how much they liked them.

Some challenges that needed to be overcome include:

Jack falling over and breaking. Head falling off, and the hand holding the ball broken. The Christmas Tree stand I had holding him up while paint dried was apparantly not quite enough.

Zero, on the other hand, was difficult due to his nose. NO ONE in this town had a G40 lightbulb in red. I DID, however, find an ENTIRE STRING of G40 Christmas lights. So, I have all the bulbs we’ll be needing for a while.

Still, making them is much more fun than anything you can go buy.

Jack’s ornament this year produces enought light to do away with the spotlight, letting the house lights show off unimpeded this year.

From Christmas

Zero, on the other hand, was set up to soak up light from the best wire tree ever. I wish we would have bought several of those, as I’ve never seen another quite so bright, or in the white and blue color.

From Christmas

Skeletal Hands

I’m not the one that came up with this, but for the life of me, I can’t find the original tutorial.

Well, I adapted it’s concepts to my own stylings, and present a means of making good looking skeletal hands.

You’ll be needing some wire, some beads, and some clay. If following me precisely, also need some power grab.

First, cut your wires to length, tie them together, and make the palm in clay. You are free to make this as realistic as you wish. Study some xrays. For me, I’m using Crayola Model Magic clay, and since I am working on Jack, it’s just a simple palm, and he only has 3 fingers and a thumb.

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Now then, simply work on each bone. Beads go where the joints are, clay for the bones. Larger beads would be ideal, but I’m using what we have.

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As you can see, I’m just making rough shapes for the bones, as I’ll do details with the power grab later. If you’re using a better clay, you could make them nice and finished now.

The nice part now is that, once the clay dries, you have a very posable hand.

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Now for finish work.

Power Grab, and a bowl of water.

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For me, the power grab is serving a dual purpose of attaching our Christmas ornament to Jack’s hand, and providing the finishing form of the hand itself.

Just goop on the power grab with the caulking gun (or pre-pressurized power grab)…

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Use the water to keep it from sticking to your fingers, and shape it how you want.

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Nice bone hands complete with joints. A little painting to finish the look.

From Christmas