The Muddy Mudskipper Pie

A new pie has evolved, and it was a long process, although in real evolutionary terms it was comparatively short. A small fraction of the Cenozoic.



Giving Intelligent Design credit to the Piemaker, with thanks/apologies to AndyCKH

It all started with the Peanut Butter Banana pie, which, as you may recall, I DID NOT WANT. It sounded kind of gross.

Well, the Piemaker made it anyway, a month or two ago. He has an extreme weakness for peanut butter, which sometimes causes him to act counter to his sense of self-preservation. Or maybe he has no sense of self- preservation. (Possibly a topic for another blog post.) At least he left the bananas out , because that would have been even more gross. The resulting pie had its good points, but it was just too peanut-buttery. It is just not ever going to be my favorite pie. You will not be surprised to learn that I did not take any photos of it. The major point in its favor was that the suffering I endured while eating it accumulated a substantial balance in my imaginary pie request bank. I figured after being forced to eat that much Peanut Butter pie, I was owed something really special.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, when the Piemaker asked if there was anything in the way of pies and cakes that would distract from my peculiar symptoms. The words “Grasshopper Pie” came out of my mouth, and I was as surprised as he was. I still don’t know where I heard of Grasshopper pie, whether it was one of my magazines, or a blog, or TV show, but we had to look it up to find out what it was. No, it was not one of my hallucinations. It is a chocolate mint pie! Yes, please!

from l to r, cream cheese-base recipe from Sees, marshmallow-base recipe from Simply Recipes, egg and gelatin-base from Amanda's Cookin'

I discovered that there are many possible types of Grasshopper Pie: custard, marshmallow, gelatin, or cream in a pie shell, or ice cream or cheesecake, among many others. How complicated! We decided on a condensed milk and whipped cream base since it seemed to have the fewest non-grasshopper components* to detract from the main flavor. Recipe here. Plus it involved buying all kinds of ingredients that were not presently in the pantry so the Piemaker had to get out of my hair go to the grocery store.

* Sorry, the recipe does not include any actual insects. It turns out that Grasshopper Pie is named after the Grasshopper cocktail, which is a traditional Louisiana concoction of green crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and fresh cream. The grasshoppers in Louisiana must be green, because they inspired the name of this drink. Arizona grasshoppers are brown, and so, like summer tomatoes and winter snow, we just have to believe in a green grasshopper.

I was very curious about the crème de cacao and the crème de menthe when the Piemaker brought them home. I learned something: green crème de menthe looks, smells, and tastes exactly like mint mouthwash. This was very surprising, and not in a good way.

The pies came together quickly, although I may have sabotaged the effort by asking to have two pies in regular pie dishes rather than one gigantic non-pie in the 9 x 13 pan called for in the recipe. (If you serve something in a 9 x 13 it doesn’t look like a pie, it looks like a lasagna or something.) Anyway the recipe makes enough filling for two round pies in smaller 8” pans but was the slightest bit short of filling our two 9” pie pans. Normally, wasted space in a pie is considered sacrilegious, but it all turned out okay in the end.

After freezing for six hours (which in our house only lasts for three hours due to a pie-time warp), the pie came out quite lovely with a brilliant green color. Unfortunately it was much too minty in the way that the peanut butter pie was too peanutty. We could not taste anything except mint, even though the crust was solid chocolate cookies and the filling had an equal amount of crème de cacao. The chocolate flavor completely disappeared.

The second pie, after major improvements

Okay, maybe it wasn’t all that bad. I did manage to eat almost the entire first pie. But the Piemaker decided to slather on a very thick layer of chocolate over the second pie (thus filling the empty space) and refreeze the whole thing before I could get my hands on it.

Now, it was a real chocolate mint pie! Finally there was a balance between the flavors. It didn’t look anything like a Grasshopper Pie, though. A dialogue arose:

Piemaker: Looks like a cross between Grasshopper Pie and Mississippi Mud Pie.
Katrina: Grasshoppers in the mud. So appetizing.
P: How about we call it Mississippi Mudhopper Pie?
K: Hey, that’s a good name! Oh, wait, I have an even better one. Remember Muddy Mudskipper? How about calling it the Muddy Mudskipper Pie?
P: Uh, yeah, sure. Much better.

The real Muddy Mudskipper

So the official name is now the Muddy Mudskipper Pie. 

Hooray for mudskippers and pies!

Katrina

Pattern Archive

As you know, I have a rather large collection of sewing patterns. In spite of donating several dozen to the Salvation Army recently, the number is still somewhere in the hundreds.

A subset: dresses, 1970 through 2012.

If you read some of the vintage sewing blogs, you know that there are different methods of handling very old patterns. Some people create precise digital copies in order to save the information, because the paper is nearing the end of its life. Others feel that all possible measures should be taken to protect and preserve the paper originals. They copy the pattern so that it does not need to be handled, and then they store the pattern tissue, instruction sheet, and pattern envelope separately so that the different chemical compositions do not react with each other. They use Mylar sleeves, calcium-buffered boards, and air- and water-tight storage boxes. 

I have a more moderate approach, because I can’t see spending thousands of dollars for preservation of items I spent a fraction of that on, but at the same time, these are historic treasures that I want to protect.

I scan the front and back of each envelope so if I just want to look at the drawings or check the yardage, I can pull up the digital image without ever touching the pattern.

If the pattern is in very good condition, I might use it for actual sewing, that is, stick pins (gasp!) into it. But if it’s crumbling, I’ll trace it onto pattern paper before it disappears completely.

Luckily for pattern collectors, comic book collectors had this all figured out long ago. Archival plastic sleeves, stiff cardboard, and sturdy boxes keep printed materials clean and unwrinkled. I store every pattern, new or old, in a polypropylene comic sleeve (less than 1/3 the cost of Mylar). 

 Patterns in comic sleeves with cardboard. Simplicity, Butterick, etc. fit in “New” comic sleeves, 6 7/8” wide. McCalls patterns fit in“Silver Age” comic sleeves, 7 1/2" wide.

For the oldest patterns, I also slide a comic board into the sleeve to keep the envelope from bending or tearing. Usually I separate the tissue from the envelope as well, unless the pattern has never been opened. I just put the tissue behind the board, the envelope in front.

The range of conditions between different patterns, even of similar ages, is quite amazing. I have one from 1942 which is in nearly new condition, even though the tissue has been in the envelope for 70 years. Another one from 1946 is in a dreadful state, showing discoloration from the tissue inside, disintegration around the edges from temperature and light, and possible insect or fungus damage. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know what handling and storage conditions resulted in such a difference between the two?

During my “time off” I managed to sort, scan, and file all the patterns from 1908 through 1960.

My oldest pattern, M 4922, dated 1908

With a few exceptions, my patterns from the 60s and later are in excellent condition with no discoloration or foxing, and minimal tearing.

 B 9367, ca. 1960 (Why are my 52-year-old paper patterns in better condition than my 52-year-old body?)  

I’ll just keep the newer ones in plastic sleeves without the added bulk of cardboards.

Are you a collector of ephemera? Do you go to great lengths to preserve things, or just enjoy them while they last?

Katrina

It Seems Like Forever

Wow! I was only away from blogotopia for ten days? It seemed like a month, at least.

It all started when I made a very stupid mistake with one of my medications. I miscalculated my remaining doses, ran out completely, and had to wait more than a week for delivery of more pills. Has this ever happened to you? With hindsight it appears that I am a moron, an idiot, the stupidest person in the world – pick your description – but at the time I was sure that my prescription service would deliver in a day or two, based on past experience. Well, not any more. It took nine business days.

Of all things, I had to pick an anti-anxiety medication to learn this lesson on. Ironically, I wasn’t even taking it for anxiety, but if you ever want anxiety, try undergoing the sudden withdrawal symptoms. This is an experience like nothing else. I was dizzy, twitchy, irritable and weepy. I hallucinated big black shadows moving around and loud crashing noises right next to me. Electric currents buzzed through my head (this is so common it even has a name: “brain zaps”). Five pounds of my body weight mysteriously disappeared. Don’t worry, they came right back. J

Seriously, do not run out of your prescription medication. It is not fun, plus it can be dangerous. I monitored my symptoms and made sure I didn’t experience anything that was actually life-threatening. (Also the Piemaker was hovering constantly, which was mostly aggravating but did result in a delicious sweet-onion quiche and a new twist on Grasshopper pie. Pics later.)  I did finally receive the medication, restarted my daily dosage and am feeling pretty “normal.”

So with all of that, the beginning of my non-blogging week was a bit dull since my vision and my coordination were way off. I stayed far away from sharp objects and heavy equipment, but read some books and watched lots of TV.

I finished a fun series of books by David Rosenfelt about a defense attorney who gets involved in solving murders.   

(first in the series)

The main character is very funny, the writing is clever, and there are several nice dogs who feature prominently in the stories.

I also read an amazing book called Tales of an African Vet by Dr. Roy Aronson.  

Aronson worked in clinics, zoos, and in the field in South Africa and other countries for twenty-five years, and you get the sense that the stories he shares in this book are just a small fraction of his amazing experiences. Great book, worth reading just for the bit on the rhino that knocked its horn off.

A few of my favorite series are back on television, but they’re not making me too happy right now. First, there’s True Blood, which I simply adored in its first season, loved in the second season, and since then have just been waiting for it to return to its former glory.

source

I admire Alan Ball’s genius and the way he recreates our world in TB, but either his writers have lost their spark or I’m getting jaded or both. I just haven’t felt very inspired by either the existing characters’ storylines (completely different from the originals in the Sookie Stackhouse books) or the endless parade of new characters in the last couple of seasons. Still, Anna Paquin remains my greatest girl crush of all time so I will keep watching this program for as long as it is on.

Next is The Closer, and I swear my heart rate actually goes up whenever I see one of those “THREE. SHOWS. LEFT.” commercials on TNT. (Only two after tonight!)

source

I know it’s silly to get stressed out over a television program, but I am scared for Assistant Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the LAPD.

I don’t know whether she is headed for some sort of breakdown, or if she is putting on one of her performances in order to take down a serial murderer, but the whole thing is freaking me out. And obviously we know that in three weeks she will be gone, so something momentous is going to happen.

One of the things that viewers of The Closer will miss forever and ever is the magnificent vintage wardrobe, brought to us courtesy of Greg LaVoi. The man has a historian’s love of clothing, an insider’s knowledge of where to get the best of everything old and new in LA, and on this show, he fully utilizes his opportunity to see magnificent vintage suits and dresses in action on the gorgeous Kyra Sedgwick.


A sample of the vintage delights, source

Mr. LaVoi blogged the wardrobe planning for each episode. There are fascinating insights into how the storyline feeds into his costuming decisions, and how the clothes in turn help the actors develop their characters.

Finally, there is Breaking Bad. 



source

This is another program that had me enthralled during the first couple of seasons. The cinematography (does anyone still use that word?) was incredible, with shots so long you had to look away from the discomfort of the actors, cuts so fast you could barely follow the action, scenes composed with the balance and light of a Renaissance painting, and stark, angry shots of sheer ugliness.

The story was like an ongoing ethics argument – what would you do or not do to protect yourself or your family in dire circumstances? The characters and their actions were believable, and you could understand their “bad” behavior even while disagreeing with it.

Then at some point the tone shifted, and now the characters seem to be bad for no good reason, and I can’t identify or sympathize with anyone. I know, that’s the whole plan of creator Vince Gilligan, and I’m sure he’s going somewhere with this. Still, it is a curse of my personality type that I always need to know why, why, WHY people do things. Even if they are only TV characters.

That was quite a lot of entertainment, so when the freakish drug withdrawal symptoms dissipated somewhat, I ventured back into my creative space and decided to catch up on a few things. I did some pattern archiving, had a conniption fit at the vegetable garden and pulled out the mostly dead plants, and worked through a couple of sewing remakes and repairs. I’ll share all that in some of my upcoming posts!

In the meantime, I’m going to start catching up with all of you, and see what’s been happening out there.

Katrina

Be Right Back

I’ll be away from the blog for a bit while I do some other stuff. 

source

How long? I estimate it will be longer than an intermission but not quite as long as a hiatus.

See you soon!

Katrina