Scrumdiddlyumptious

When I was a kid, there was one thing that I feared even greater then the boogie man or having to clean my room. It was the ghastly tunnel scene from the 1971 cult classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. That scene and Willy Wonka's creepy ballad which is featured in it haunted my dreams for years well into my adult life. I, however, loved the rest of the film if I just fastforwarded through that blasted scene. I am not the only one, by the way, who was freaked out about the tunnel scene. It was voted as the #74th Scariest Movie Moment by Bravo.

A fear of tunnels is not the only phobia one might develop after watching the movie. One might also develop chiclephobia, or the fear of chewing gum. That is because one might be afraid of becoming a giant oversized blueberry if they do. In the film, the precocious Violet insists on trying a piece of experimental gum and, although she first enjoys the multitude of flavors, she soon discoveres that she has ballooned into a giant blueberry. The oompa loompas roll her away and she has proven herself unworthy as the heir to the chocolate factory.

To celebrate this odd scene, I made a blueberry pie as a tribute to the still reigning queen of blueberries. I found the recipe at http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/blueberry-cream-pie?click=recipe_sr. The recipe included making a custard of sorts to serve as the base beneath a blueberry sauce. It was basically like vanilla pudding.

 

 

I then made the blueberry topping. I would suggest on decreasing the amount of blueberries used. My apartment was overflowing in blueberries.

 

I tried to stuff all the blueberries on top of the custard which was on a graham cracker pie crust. The blueberries came gushing forth and all over the counter. Although at first dismayed, I was pleasantly surprised to find I made a homemade Rorschach inkblot test.

What do you see in this picture? Please, be honest.

 

 

I then had to refrigerate the pie for about 3 hours. I wanted to transport the pie to my grandparents' for Thanksgiving, but the blueberry sauce would not cooperate and refused not to leak. I found this out by setting the pie on my car to open the door and looking up to see blueberry sauce slowly crawl down my car's rooftop. It was a perfect moment for oompa loompas to jump up and sing me a song about not trying to transport blueberry pie.

Despite having worse bladder control than a toddler, the pie was pretty tasty.

 

 

 Here's hoping on finding a golden ticket inside! Hey, someone might have slipped one in............

Peeta Bread

While reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, one thought kept crossing my mind: how are they going to portray this in the movie? With a book franchise as wildly popular as The Hunger Games trilogy, it was only a matter of time before it joined the likes of the Twilight series and become a major movie event.

The movie did not disappoint. The film set opening-day and single-day box office records and continued to become the thirteenth highest grossing film in North America. When a series has such a strong fan base as The Hunger Games does, it is only expected that fans will be in an uproar if even the slightest detail is changed during the transition from book to film. I felt that the movie was faithful enough to the original while still appropriately adapting itself to suit the new medium. Additionally, when the author of the series herself helps write the film adaptation, there is no greater stamp of approval.

Just as millions of tween girls have engaged in war over supporting Team Jacob or Edward, those same girls duked it over cheering for Peeta or Gale. The inspiration for my next dish came from this torrid love triangle. Katniss and Peeta's first meeting was not necessarily one either wanted to remember. Katniess, starving and sitting exhausted in the rain, is noticed by Peeta as he is taking out the trash from his family's bakery. Feeling pity for the desperate girl, Peeta throws her some nut and raisin bread. This scene both foreshadowed the future romance between the two and Peeta's role in Katniss's life as the voice of kindness and charity.

I found a recipe for bread inspired by the movie at: http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/peetas-raisin-nut-bakery-bread-recipe/1/ It was quick and easy as it promised. It took about an hour to prepare and then bake. I first mixed together the wet and dry ingredients in seperate bowls. The recipe called for a lot of applesauce which helped created an interesting butter, egg, and applesauce mixture.

 

 

I then mixed the dry and wet mixtures together and baked it for 45 minutes.

 

 

After the infallible toothpick test in the bread's center, it was ready to cool down and be enjoyed.

 

 

The bread definitely does not have the sweetest flavor and it certainly is not for any raisin haters, but it was decent and had a nice, hearty flavor. Hey, when you live in District 12, you take what you can get.

 

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Lord of the Onion Rings

For all those who have been following my blog since post one, I mentioned in that post that my favorite movies are all three of the the Lord of the Rings triology. Naturally, I had to dedicate at least one of my posts to those splendiferous films. Everything in those movies is pitch-perfect: the directing, the soundtrack, the acting, the special effects, the hobbits, etc. Most of all, I think they are the movies that truly epitomize the perennial battle between good and evil and good's inexorable triumph.

For my tribute to Lord of the Rings, it may appear to be a little of a stretch. For even those who have stubbornly refused to see the movies, they at least know that the plot centers around a small, golden ring. So, I decided that the food equivalent of the ring to rule them all would be a nice crispy onion ring. I actually got this idea from TBS's Dinner and a Movie website at http://www.tbs.com/stories/story/0,,212685%7C1268%7C0,00.html. Both rings are forged in steaming hot liquids, right?

First, I needed some onions. I got both yellow and white to see which would taste or work better and there was no difference. I soaked the onions in some buttermilk for about an hour.

 

 

The batter consisted of all-purpose flour, rice flour, paprika, and cayenne powder. After mixing these up, I tossed the rings in and they were ready to be forged in the depths of Mordor.

The eye of Sauron!

 

 

As I have still procrastinated buying a candy thermometer, it took a little experimentation to get the temperature right. At first, it wasn't hot enough and the onions looked pretty pathetic. But after putting the oil on full heat, the onions fried up quite nicely. They did not look the prettiest, but they actually tasted quite good.

 

As there is only one ring to rule them all, I had to rummage through my onion rings to find which one would fit the description.

My precious........

 

 

I however highly doubt that this ring would give me unnatural long life. It sure was tasty though.