Jan 01 2012

Pancakes and Robots

I’m continuing to have a wonderful vacation. It just so happens that all of my closest friends had the week off too. Deede mentioned going to an exhibit at the Crocker Art Museum to celebrate a personal achievement of hers, so we jumped at the chance.

We started off with breakfast at the Pancake Circus.

All 6 of us ventured into the place.

Just as I remember… greeted by scary ass clowns – everywhere.

I so badly wanted to offer my design services on their horribly low res clown clip art – but I’m too scared of clowns to make one into a project.

I looked over the menu and couldn’t help but be distracted by yet another “odd” clown…

Perhaps he just had his eyes dilated…

I went with the “Circus Big Top” – 2 eggs, hashbrowns, bacon…

and 2 giant pancakes that later multiplied…

First they joined Dan’s leftover stack…

Then Josh and Deede’s leftover stacks… and yes, we are 12.

You know you are now craving pancakes…

With stuffed bellies, we made our way to the Crocker Art Museum.

Check out the museum’s history and learn about the architecture if you are interested. The Crocker Art Museum was s a 45,000 square-foot complex made up of the historic Crocker Art Gallery, family mansion and various later additions.

In 2002 they began a huge expansion project that lasted 8 years. The expansion had it’s grand opening in October 2010 and this was my first time seeing it.

Deede has been many times, including some private tours for special events.

The reason we went was to see Clayton Bailey’s “World of Wonders” special exhibition.

Clayton Bailey is a ceramist, sculptor and self-proclaimed “mad scientist”. His life sized robot sculptures and ray guns were sort of mind blowing. They made me want to hit every flea market, garage sale and antique store looking for robot parts to create my own.

Kohler Robot – 1978 (Porcelain with Electric Illumination)

Flying Saucer Lamp – 1992 (Aluminum with Electric Illumination)

Giant Robug – 1980 (Aluminum)

Marilyn Monrobot  – 1995 (Aluminum and Mixed Media with Electric Illumination)

Tipsy The Wine-Loving Robot – 2003 (Aluminum and Chrome)

Wrestlebots – 2002 (Aluminum and Found Objects w/Electric Illumination)

Buns Robot – 2003 (Aluminum and Chrome w/Electric Illumination)

Fresnel Robot – 2005 (Aluminum and Chrome w/Electric Illumination)

Bender Robot – 1999 (Aluminum w/Electric Illumination)

Lava Robot – 2000 (Aluminum, Chrome, and Neon Tubing)

Bubbling Lady Robot – 2000 (Aluminum and Bubble Tube w/Electric Illumination)

Pitcherbot Chasing Cups – 2006 (Aluminum and Found Kitchen Wares)

The exhibit included more than robots, we got to step into Dr. George Gladstone’s (Clayton Bailey’s scientific alter-ego) laboratory and office – where we were able to view his experiments, alien specimens, giant bones and proof of Bigfoot. The level of detail was just incredible. While that part of the exhibit was cool, I just was really drawn to the robots.

There was also an area for kids – they could submit robot names, build their own robots on the big magnetic wall and out of plastic cups, tape and bins full of beads, pipe cleaners and other fun objects.

Loved the above robot… the use of cassette tapes was pretty cool. They had a bunch of kid creations on display… oh to be 5 again.

This was the magnetic wall that kids could create their own robots on…

I can’t lie… I did stand at the magnetic wall for a bit and placed a few items 😉 – what? It was for adults too…

We had such a fun time at the exhibit. The Crocker Museum expansion is gorgeous and I can’t think of a better afternoon – food, amazing art, and good friends… Yes please, sign me up!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=6804

Dec 27 2011

Cap’n Crunch French Toast

6 adults, 4 dogs and 1 child spent the night at my parent’s house Christmas Eve. It’s so fun to wake up Christmas morning together to eat breakfast and open stockings and gifts. My Mom and Dad surprised us with a new twist on our Christmas morning breakfast. We usually have giant cinnamon rolls – but this year they decided to make Cap’n Crunch French Toast – featured on the comfort food episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The French toast is served at The Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore, MD.

I am here to say that it’s the most incredible French Toast I’ve ever had. No joke, I ate two monster pieces and probably could have had a third, had it not been for the fruit bowl and bacon.

The Ingredients – (4 Servings)
3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
3 Large Eggs – Lightly Beaten
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
3 Cups Cap’n Crunch Cereal
8 -10 slices Texas Toast style bread – My Dad used Sara Lee Texas Toast Enriched Bread – Restaurant Style
Butter for Cooking

Directions:

  • In large bowl, mix together heavy cream, eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until ingredients are well combined.
  • Crush cereal by placing in plastic bag and rolling over it with a rolling pin. Once it resembles cracker meal, transfer to a pie plate or shallow dish. My Mom started with a rolling pin and ended up switching to a meat mallet and that worked better.
  • Moisten a couple pieces of the bread in the cream mixture until soft but not completely soaked. Allow excess liquid to drip off bread, then press into the cereal crumbs to coat evenly. Set on a sheet pan or onto the griddle and repeat with remaining slices.
  • Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. Adding butter as needed, cook bread on both sides until it caramelizes, about 6 to 8 minutes total.

We just had our French Toast with butter and maple syrup, but the show/recipe suggests whipped cream and berries. I liked it just the way we had it.

The table was set, our stockings were at each of our place settings and we dove right in. I will DEFINITELY be making this recipe over and over. I usually find Texas toast to be too huge and some french toast to be entirely too sweet, but this was perfect. I think we now have a new Christmas morning breakfast tradition. Thanks Mom and Dad for surprising us!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=6784

Dec 26 2011

Cookies and Milk for Santa

Every year I try to come up with something creative to make/give to the neighbors for the holidays. I usually try to bake something – one year I did dog and cat treats, last year it was candy pretzels. We have quite a few little kids on the block, so I wanted to make sure it was something fun… and easier than those dang pretzels. I went with a favorite, cookies and milk!

I found red and white straws at my local grocery store. The milk was from Straus Family Creamery – purchased at my local co-op. The tins were found for 65% off at Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts. The red and white string was bought at Cost Plus… and I made the cookies – Toll House basic recipe, but I used all organic ingredients from the co-op.

I put just over a dozen cookies in each tin. I used parchment paper to line the tins and then tied the tin lids to the front of the container with the red and white string and attached a handwritten label to the straws.

I made just over 7 dozen giant chocolate chip cookies – only 6 fit on my cookie sheets at a time. I used an ice cream scoop for the dough.

The cookies and milk were a big hit with the adults and the kids… the kids were so excited that the milk came in glass bottles. Lots of thanks and smiles – it was totally worth the extra effort.

The neighbors also got really creative this year. We received homemade granola in a bell jar tied in fabric, a Christmas platter of assorted baked goods, homemade tamales (that were incredible!) and Pampered Chef mixes tied up in a Christmas basket with a spatula spreader.

I love where I live and Christmas is the perfect time to show how grateful I am to have such wonderful neighbors.

Do you exchange gifts with your neighbors?

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=6763