Regarding the previous entry, Fabiola regrets to admit that the resident of the "Castle" on the lake was supposed to be Carole Lombard, not Gloria Swanson and as is her inclination with anything in the past, the glorious Fabiola remembered only the shiny, embroidered version, not the utilitarian reality.
For the real scoop on the "castle" click here.
PS: The part about Gene Stratton Porter was and remains true.
Fabiola Rambles
In the world of contributions to strange entries in family photo albums, Fabiola (in her pre-beehive phase) was queen. Guess which one of the four children pictured is the nacent Fabiola?
Yes! The one covering her face! Caught without eye make-up don't you know? What is a future Fabiola to do?
At least in this photo, she was standing on both feet. There are an extrodinary number of photos where the future Fabiola is standing on one leg. Even she doesn't know why.
Where oh where was this Fabiolas photo taken? Actually, at a kind of special place, up a hill, In a garden, on the shores of a lake in North-East Indiana.
Hints. Gloria Swanson had a "castle" built on the shores of this Indiana lake. Gene Stratton Porter lived and wrote her limberlost series of books while living on this lake.
(Fabiola just KNOWS that there are hundreds of you exclaiming right now "oh, GOODY! Midwest trivia! My favorite!)
Fabiola Nags: What? You didn't read Gene Stratton Porter's books as a child? For shame! Do it now!
Ice Cream Anytime!
Fabiola Loves Ice Cream!
Fabiola does not like crushing ice, mixing in rock salt, spending hours turning a crank then cleaning-up after that mess afterwards. Fabiola saw the contestants on Top Chef making Ice Cream, they were NOT mixing ice and salt, they were plugging in, turning dials and letting a machine do the cranking and churning. Fabiola fell in love. Fabiola ran to the internet and bought herself a Cuisinart Supreme Ice Cream Maker. The trade-off with this appliance is that it is just a teensy bit loud when it runs. Similar in volume to an electric mixer running kinda-sorta. Worth the noise because --
Now Fabiola can make her favorite ice cream anytime that she wants to:
Chocolate Marshmallow Ice Cream:
2 Cups - Whole Milk - very cold
2/3 Cup - Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup - Cocoa
2 Cups - Heavy (Whipping) Cream - very cold
1/2 teaspoon - Pure Vanilla Extract
Add-In Later:
Marshmallow Fluff (from a jar)
In a medium size bowl (preferably one with a handy-dandy pour spout) whisk Sugar into the Milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved into the milk before you continue.
Slowly add in the Cocoa. Whisk, whisk, whisk. (You don't want any floaty blobs of cocoa ending up in your ice cream.)
Whisk in the Heavy Cream. Whisk in the Vanilla.
Pour into a 1-1/2 quart capacity ice cream maker. Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker. (Fabiola plugs in her machine, turns a dial and waits for about 45 minutes.) You may prefer to give your biceps a work-out cranking.
After the ice cream is done processing, before the ripening* step, place smallish blobs of Marshmallow Fluff on the top of the Ice Cream. Cut the Marshmallow Creme into the ice cream with a swirling motion. Don't stir! Just make a marbled effect. Add more Marshmallow Fluff if you wish to. Cut in again. (Fabiola likes LOTS of marshmallow.) Ripen Ice Cream. Enjoy!
* Ripening is the step where you put the just churned ice cream into a freezer to finish hardening.
Now Fabiola can make her favorite ice cream anytime that she wants to:
Chocolate Marshmallow Ice Cream:
2 Cups - Whole Milk - very cold
2/3 Cup - Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup - Cocoa
2 Cups - Heavy (Whipping) Cream - very cold
1/2 teaspoon - Pure Vanilla Extract
Add-In Later:
Marshmallow Fluff (from a jar)
In a medium size bowl (preferably one with a handy-dandy pour spout) whisk Sugar into the Milk. Whisk, whisk, whisk. Make sure that the sugar is dissolved into the milk before you continue.
Slowly add in the Cocoa. Whisk, whisk, whisk. (You don't want any floaty blobs of cocoa ending up in your ice cream.)
Whisk in the Heavy Cream. Whisk in the Vanilla.
Pour into a 1-1/2 quart capacity ice cream maker. Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker. (Fabiola plugs in her machine, turns a dial and waits for about 45 minutes.) You may prefer to give your biceps a work-out cranking.
After the ice cream is done processing, before the ripening* step, place smallish blobs of Marshmallow Fluff on the top of the Ice Cream. Cut the Marshmallow Creme into the ice cream with a swirling motion. Don't stir! Just make a marbled effect. Add more Marshmallow Fluff if you wish to. Cut in again. (Fabiola likes LOTS of marshmallow.) Ripen Ice Cream. Enjoy!
* Ripening is the step where you put the just churned ice cream into a freezer to finish hardening.
Sometimes Reality ...
Sometimes reality is funnier than anything fabricated.
Fabiola's alter ego had something of a grocery shopping melt-down a few days ago. That she happened to be recording audio entries from the grocery store at the time, well, means that Fabiola doesn't have to think of a subject for this evening's blog entry.
(This post references AOL audio blog files that no loner exist.)
Fabiola's alter ego had something of a grocery shopping melt-down a few days ago. That she happened to be recording audio entries from the grocery store at the time, well, means that Fabiola doesn't have to think of a subject for this evening's blog entry.
(This post references AOL audio blog files that no loner exist.)
Essentially, Mary discovered chocolate and mint flavored marshmallows in the grocery aisle. In the world of small delights, for Mary this was a major one. She went on for a goodly 3 minutes about all the different choices of marshmallows available in American grocery stores. Mary's friends in the U.K. couldn't decide if it was obscene or hilarious.
There was hot chocolate with a mint peeps star in the end.
DrHGuy - thought the whole thing was amusing enough to look-up a recipe and send it along.
Marshmallows
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sift the cornstarch and confectioners sugar into a bowl. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch square baking pan and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch-and-sugar mixture into it. Tilt the pan to coat the sides and the bottom. Leave any excess in the pan.
Sprinkle the gelatin into the water in a small saucepan and let soak for five minutes. Add the granulated sugar and stir over low heat until the gelatin and sugar dissolve.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the gelatin mixture, corn syrup, salt and vanilla and beat for 15 minutes on high speed, until peaks form.
Spread the fluffy mixture in the prepared pan and smooth the top. Leave for two hours or until set.
With a wet knife, cut the marshmallow mixture into quarters and loosen around the edges. Sprinkle the remaining cornstarch-and-sugar mixture on a baking sheet and invert the marshmallow blocks onto it. Cut each quarter into nine pieces and roll each one in the starch and sugar.
Place the marshmallows on a cake rack covered with paper towels and let them stand over night to dry the surface slightly. Store airtight; the marshmallows will keep for a month.
Credit where credit is due -- this recipe came from:
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question128.htm
Next: Fabiola's recipe for chocolate marshmallow ice cream.
There was hot chocolate with a mint peeps star in the end.
DrHGuy - thought the whole thing was amusing enough to look-up a recipe and send it along.
Marshmallows
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup water
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sift the cornstarch and confectioners sugar into a bowl. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch square baking pan and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch-and-sugar mixture into it. Tilt the pan to coat the sides and the bottom. Leave any excess in the pan.
Sprinkle the gelatin into the water in a small saucepan and let soak for five minutes. Add the granulated sugar and stir over low heat until the gelatin and sugar dissolve.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the gelatin mixture, corn syrup, salt and vanilla and beat for 15 minutes on high speed, until peaks form.
Spread the fluffy mixture in the prepared pan and smooth the top. Leave for two hours or until set.
With a wet knife, cut the marshmallow mixture into quarters and loosen around the edges. Sprinkle the remaining cornstarch-and-sugar mixture on a baking sheet and invert the marshmallow blocks onto it. Cut each quarter into nine pieces and roll each one in the starch and sugar.
Place the marshmallows on a cake rack covered with paper towels and let them stand over night to dry the surface slightly. Store airtight; the marshmallows will keep for a month.
Credit where credit is due -- this recipe came from:
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question128.htm
Next: Fabiola's recipe for chocolate marshmallow ice cream.
Hang On To Summer
And the best of all ways
to lengthen our days
Is to steal a few hours from the night, my dear.
- Thomas Moore
Fabiola wishes to thank Summer for one last glorious weekend (plus one day). Because she can not bear to let Summer go, Fabiola will extend this weekend with a few hours of "moon bathing" tonight.
Winding A Clock
Not that Fabiola admits to having a touch of OCD, but she must confess to you that she spent a goodly portion of her day footly-tootlying around with the particulars of winding a Grandfather's clock that she allowed to run down.
It has a moon phase dial for goodness sakes! What was Fabiola thinking? Like almost anything worth having and keeping (take most men -- for instance.) Maintenance, consistency and lubricant are constants. Let even the tiniest measure of time elapse in that maintenance and hours of effort must be invested to bring the mechanics back to optimal reliability.
Sigh. Regardless, Fabiola again achieved her goal and her clockwork is running like, well ... clockwork again.
Dinner was delivery pizza. A very good pie, but not Fabiola's favorite hometown Harris Pizza, but then nothing ever is. Do you have a favorite hometown pizza place? How does it compare to the big chains?
It has a moon phase dial for goodness sakes! What was Fabiola thinking? Like almost anything worth having and keeping (take most men -- for instance.) Maintenance, consistency and lubricant are constants. Let even the tiniest measure of time elapse in that maintenance and hours of effort must be invested to bring the mechanics back to optimal reliability.
Sigh. Regardless, Fabiola again achieved her goal and her clockwork is running like, well ... clockwork again.
Dinner was delivery pizza. A very good pie, but not Fabiola's favorite hometown Harris Pizza, but then nothing ever is. Do you have a favorite hometown pizza place? How does it compare to the big chains?
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