Popovers

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Popovers

The first Popover I ever ate was at Anthony’s Pier  4 restaurant.

Anthony’s Pier 4

Once I had one of these piping hot pastries I was hooked. I’d go to lunch at Anthony’s any time I could get an invitation. Served piping hot from the oven theses tender puffed pastries are heaven. Sadly Anthony’s closed in 2013 so if I want to indulge I have no choice but to learn to make them myself!

What are These Tasty Treats

A popover is a light American pastry made from an egg batter similar to that of Yorkshire pudding, typically baked in muffin tins or dedicated popover pans, which have straight-walled sides rather than angled. Now I suppose you’ll ask me what a Yorkshire Pudding is. I can tell you it is not a pudding.

A Yorkshire Pudding is an English side dish that is made from a simple 4 ingredient batter and cooked in hot beef drippings (or oil) in the oven until puffed and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It’s basically the English equivalent of a dinner roll in North America. Extremely similar to a popover

Where there’s smoke …

The first thing I did was order 2 popover pans from Amazon.

Sponsored Ad - Chicago Metallic Professional 6-Cup Popover Pan with Armor-Glide Coating

The 2nd thing was to research Popover recipes. They are all pretty similar and simple. Basically eggs, milk and flour. 

The thing that gave me issues was that you need to put a pat of butter in the pan and then put the pan in a 400 degree oven. Butter has a low smoking point and I set off the smoke alarms every time. The popovers tasted great but the noise level was unacceptable.  Maybe you can only make popovers in a commercial oven?  Sadly I decided to retire my Popover pans.

A New Recipe

Then one day I stumbled over a new Popover Recipe. It even came with a video. The main difference is that you add the butter to the popover pan after they are hot so the butter melts but doesn’t sit in a hot oven so no smoke.

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs (room temperature)
  • 1 Cup Milk ( room temperature)
  • 3 Tbsps. Oil ( Canola oil recommended)
  • 1 Cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. While preparing batter  spray popover pan with non-stick cooking spray and place in oven to heat.
  3. Whisk eggs, milk and oil together. Sift flour and add to egg mixture. Add Salt and beat mixture until smooth and free of any lumps.
  4. Remove Popover pan from oven and place a small bit of butter in each popover cup. 
  5. Pour batter 3/4 of the way full in to each Popover Cup. 
  6. Place filled pan into the 400 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes
  7. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for additional 5-15 minutes (Keep an eye on your popovers)
  8. Popovers are done when they are a nice, golden brown.
  9. Serve hot with butter or jam or whatever you desire

Success!

I’m happy to report my Popovers were a complete success. I think I’ll be making them often now. 

Popovers- photo by Deb Neumann

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Life is Ruled by Tiny Furry Overlords

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My Furry Overlords

My cats are weird, You probably remember

they are named Banner (Orange cat) and Balboa ( Black Cat)

Banner & Balboa, Furry Overlords

 

They are much more dependent on me than I expected. Maybe because I adopted both as kittens they learned to rely on me for fun and play. They can’t seem to amuse themselves at all and worse, they hate when I am busy doing anything that does not include them! I have time for this post only because they are both sleeping right now

Last night I had to attend a condo meeting. It ran from 7 pm to close to 9pm. I don’t go out much at night but I was quite surprised to have both tiny terrors frantically running around my feet when I came in. Day trips for shopping and errands are hardly noticed I guess they don’t like being alone when its dark.

Banner hates to go to bed. He will be a quiet little gentleman all day but the minute I get in bed he starts to sing the song of his people…loudly. I have to get up and hold him, pet him and cuddle him or he doesn’t calm down. Balboa just wants to sleep with me. After frantically making biscuits on me for an hour. Is it any wonder I’m always tired?

 

 

Aside from keeping my “masters” Happy and content I’ve been following the news about Kilauea. 

Hawaii volcano produces tall lava fountaining in latest episode of Kilauea eruption | AP News

AP News-Kilauea Eruption

Photo from FB feed

 

She’s putting on quite the show these days. I wish I could take a trip to Hawaii to see it in person but I’m not sure I’d want to fly anywhere even if I could justify the expense. Seems like there is a plane crash or incident every week!   

Well Balboa just got up and per usual he is trying to climb my leg. Man that hurts. Its amazing that he doesn’t draw blood! That means my writing time is over. so until I get another break, adios! 

 

What’s that???

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What’s That you Say?

Yes, there’s no doubt I’m getting older and with old age things just don’t work as well. My joints hurt, my knees pop and my ears ring.

1,800+ Person With Hearing Aid Stock Illustrations, Royalty ...

 

 

The only thing that seems to be improving is my eye sight. According to my eye exam my eye sight is getting better. That’s even with a cataract starting in my left eye. Go figure. I passed the eye test at the DMV so they removed the eye glass restriction from my license. Am I happy about this. Not by a long shot. I feel like I’m squinting when I drive without my glasses and I don’t even try to drive at night unless its in  my own, familiar neighborhood. But today I wanted to talk about things we don’t really hear correctly.

Lowes

Do you have a Lowes store near you? I ask because this is an example of not hearing things correctly. Let me explain. In the morning I use my computer to pay bills, review emails etc. while my fitbit charges. I have 2 monitors set up and on one screen I play music while I work. Of course there are advertisements and the other morning I heard something about “Milo’s Club.” I didn’t pay much attention but I did briefly wonder who Milo was. 

Over the next couple of days I heard Milo’s club mentioned several more times but I’m very good at ignoring things. Then one day I was watching TV when an ad for Lowes came on and the announcer was going on about the savings you can get from My Lowe’s Club. 

Light Bulb Idea stock vector. Illustration of electricity ...

I got it! They weren’t saying Milos’s Club. They were saying My Lowes Club. I’m terribly afraid I will never be able to hear it correctly. Milo’s Club is stuck in my head now. 

Song Lyrics

This happens all the  time with song lyrics. 

For example do you remember the song by ABBA, Dancing Queen? One of the lyrics is “Feel the beat of the Tambourine” but loads of ABBA fans have been singing “Feel the beat of the Tangerine“

 

 

Then there’s Queen singing We will we will rock you and while they are doing that they’re “kicking your cats all over the place. ” The real lyric is kicking your cans all over the place.

 

Soft drink cans hi-res stock photography and images - Alamy

There are many more that come to mind but can you think of any?

Its 2025!

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Happy 2025

This pretty much says it all!

Happy New Year Kitten Stock Photo - Download Image Now - Domestic Cat, Party Hat, New Year's Eve

 

Resolutions?

I think NOT. At my age I’m pretty much set in my ways. Plus experience has proven that no matter my intentions I’ll fail in my resolutions and usually in a spectacular way. After all habits, especially age old ingrained habits , are hard to break.  For example, when Rocky crossed the Rainbow bridge I said no more cats. I’m too old. I will outlive them. Nope I’m done. But look who’s sharing my home now!

Banner & Balboa on Cat tree photo credit Deb Neumann

I’m sure we’ll have many adventures together but for now its time to change the kitty litter so we can start the New Year off nice and fresh. Then maybe I can make a nice breakfast and watch the Rose Parade 

 

Happy New Year Everyone. My Best Wishes to all!

 

 

RIP 399

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Grizzly 399

Grizzly 399 was , without a doubt, the most famous Grizzly in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton eco-system. She was so famous that when I went to Jackson Hole in 2017 even I had heard of her.  Sadly Grizzly 399 was killed in a car/bear accident about a week ago. She was 28. 28 is old for any grizzly but especially a wild bear. 

photo credit- unknown

Grizzly 399 was unique in that she was still birthing cubs every year.  This bear produced 18 offspring over the years. Another reason she became so famous is that she lived close to Jackson Hole so was more visible than most. It wasn’t unusual for her to be spotted along a roadside with her cubs. Fans even sent texts and posted on social media where she might be seen. That was how I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the  bear and 2 cubs when I was in Wyoming and know that it was this famous bear,

My Sighting

I was heading back to the condo where I was staying after a day touring Yellowstone National Park. The geysers had been plentiful but wildlife had been scarce. I’d just crossed into Grand Teton National Park when I saw a lot of cars pulled off the road. I parked, grabbed the camera and trotted up to the crowd. I could see a lot of pointing and low talking so I approached one of the people in front of me. He told me Grizzly 399 was in the area with 2 cubs.  Right about then I heard someone say “There she is!” And cameras came out all along the roadside. I got as close as I could but having arrived late I wasn’t in the best location.  Here’s what I was able to capture.

3 bears out for a stroll

Grizzly 399 and 2 cubs -2017 photo Credit Deb Neumann

Into the woods

Grizzly 399 -2017 photo Credit Deb Neumann

Mangelsen Gallery

If you want to see really beautiful photos of Grizzly 399 you have to visit the Mangelsen Gallery in Jackson Hole. His work is some of the finest Wildlife Photography I have ever seen and he has some outstanding images for Grizzly 399 over the years. 

Ode to 399

28 is old for a bear and sooner or later we were going to have to say goodbye to this iconic grizzly. At least we know what happened to her. She could have denned up for a winter and never come out. No matter what it would be sad. Part of me is thankful that we know what happened to her and part of me is angry that it was due to humans that this amazing bear is gone. At the same time having driven those roads and seen how dark they can be I can understand how it happened. RIP Grizzly 399. You will be missed.

 

Photo credit -unknown