Salivating

Dragon Mood? -- licking and slurping her dragon lips

• I'm thinking about salmon patties (I just had one for lunch, over a bed of fresh organic, baby spinach with olive oil, raspberry 'blush' vinegar, grated parmesan cheese and lots of freshly-ground black pepper).
  
• I'm also thinking about cucumber and yogurt salad with dill and pepper, possibly for supper; doesn't that sound yummy, especially when it's so hot and humid?
  
• I'm also thinking about blueberry buckle, something that came up during a conversation with Jeanne about her birthday, blueberries and a killer, blueberry buckle recipe that her mom used to make.... Which I then immediately zeroed in on while looking at Elise's website, Simply Recipes and her posting about Blueberries!
• Which then led me to scroll down, down, down to a real o-l-d recipe for Blueberry Boy Bait (this lesbian's gonna ignore all the catch-a-boy-through-his-stomach stuff)
  
  

  Blueberry Boy Bait
  2 cups flour
  1-1/2 cups sugar [you can use as little as 1]
  2 teaspoons baking powder
  pinch of salt
  2/3 cup vegetable oil
  1 cup milk
  2 eggs
  2 to 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
  1 cup (or less) sugar [you can use as little as 2 or 3 tablespoons]
  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl mix the first 7 ingredients with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 9x13-inch baking pan. Arrange the blueberries on top, then mix together the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake 50 minutes.
  
  
• Which then led me to finding, again at Simply Recipes, one of Elise's favorite things, Tapioca Pudding, made by her dad.
  
  My memories of tapioca pudding swirl ALL AROUND my Nana, my mother's mother. She used to make tapioca pudding, from scratch, pretty much done as outlined below. As she would lovingly take it out of the refrigerator, where it was cooling in one of her deep, old bowls, to show us the "fruits" of her labor, she would remind us how tapioca pudding requires the cook to stand at the stove, stirring, stirring, stirring -- never leaving, even for ONE MINUTE! It was Nana's way of reminding us of her sacrifice and saying she LOVED us, all in one economical statement.
  
  Tapioca Pudding
  
  "... tapioca pudding is one of those comfort foods that conjures up happy childhood memories. It is actually really easy to make.

  1/2 cup small pearl tapioca (it comes in a box, we use Island Tapioca brand)
  3 cups whole milk (or skim milk with cream added)
  1/4 teaspoon salt
  2 eggs
  1/2 cup of sugar
  1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

  Combine tapioca, milk, and salt in 1 1/2 quart pan on medium high heat. Stir until boiling. Simmer 5 minutes, uncovered at the lowest possible heat, adding sugar gradually. Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Mix in some of the hot tapioca very slowly to equalize the temperature of the two mixtures (to avoid curdling). Return eggs to pan with tapioca. Bring to a boil. Stir 3 minutes more over lowest possible heat. Stir constantly. You may cook a little longer than 3 minutes if needed to get to a nice thick pudding consistency. Cool 15 minutes. Add vanilla. Serve either warm or chilled.

  If you want to make a more light and fluffy, but still rich, tapioca pudding, separate the eggs. Use the egg yolks to stir in first to the pan with the tapioca. Once the pudding has become nice and thick, beat the egg whites in a separate bowl to soft peaks. Remove the pan of tapioca pudding from the stove, fold in the beaten egg whites into the pudding.

  Also, it pays to check the instructions on the box or bag of tapioca pearls that you have. The Island Tapioca I used in this recipe doesn't require that you soak the tapioca pearls before cooking. Another brand that I have used requires that you soak the pearls overnight."

• Don't ask me WHY I'm so preoccupied with FOOD today ... I just AM!