OH MI GAWD!!

Look at the buttons!! Swoon

ding dongs and ho ho's

I was going to brag about my new cheese hook up: John at Zingerman's yeah...mm hmmm--oh yeah he is my new crush.
I HEART MOLDY CHEESE!
BUT!! instead dear reader--I will re share (kinda like re-gifting no?) a thing that Johnna posted on the Middle Kingdom Cook's list. I immediately remembered freezing ding dongs for bus rides to gymnastics meets. That and frozen HI-C in the big can. and bananas--gymnasts are weird. Well maybe teenage girls are weird. Actually ya know what is weird??--this dude I have heard of--he was a HS science teacher--in like his first week as a teacher --he put a sealed twinkie on the top of his chalkboard... and then when he retired--the twinkie was still good! amazing urban legend!

Brooke bakes stuffed cuppycakes which has gotten me started on recreating Hostess treats in a slightly more wholesome fashion. very successful. Here is Johnna's post

For all of us whoever wondered or were asked what was
in those little snack cakes---

Being released today March 1st is the new book
Twinkie, Deconstructed by author Steve Ettlinger.

In this fascinating exploration into the curious world of packaged foods, Twinkie, Deconstructed takes us from phosphate mines in Idaho to corn fields in Iowa, from gypsum mines in Oklahoma to oil fields in China, to demystify some of America’s most common processed food ingredients—where they come from, how they are made, how they are
used—and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they’re often more closely linked to rocks and petroleum than any of the four food groups), Ettlinger reveals how each Twinkie ingredient goes through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder with a strange name—all for thesake of creating a simple snack cake.
TWINKIE

There's also an article in the March 5, 2007 Newsweek on page
50.

ice ice baby

When I was kid, it never failed, if I planned the all important 11 year old girl slumber party-- My birthday plans would be ruined by horrendous weather. No girls could come out into "the country" to play because the back roads were so drifted. Well apparently the curse is getting as old and feeble as I am because a.) it is late (didn't get here till about 6 this morning) and b.) it didn't even close school just regular Michigan ick. In 1976 Tuscola county (and much of lower Michigan) was hit by THE ICE STORM. We were off school for at least two weeks and the snow was SOOO deep (okay i was only like 3.5 feet tall but still) My dad's friend Benny helped us dig tunnels under the ice crust. My sister Amy & I were like hamsters in snowmobile suits. Kat was so little that Daddy put her in the snow she freaked out and when he picked her up her boots stayed in the snow! We had a wood stove and a well so it was really an adventure for us. Like Little House on the Prairie but with better board games. I remember drying laundry by the woodstove because the electric dryer wasn't happening. It was fun for me...poor Mom. Funny how your perspective changes eh?

Gotta go warm up the bug.