Sticking Your Tongue Out - Some Straws Are Good!

I was thinking about things long forgotten this afternoon as I was putting mulch around my potatoes.  They are tall enough now that I am putting about 3 inches of composted wood chip mulch around the all the potato plants.  It is monotonous job of using a pitch fork to load the mulch (that has almost turned into topsoil) into a wagon, pull the wagon to the potato patch in the side yard, and gently place the mulch around them.  Doing this for many years has made the soil full of organic material.  It is not compacted at all and is a rich, growing medium.  The mindless activity provides plenty of time for thought.

Strange thoughts filled my mind while mulching today.  In Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, there was a cafeteria called Piccadilly Cafeteria.  When we were kids we'd go there.  They had a plate for kids called the "Dilly Plate"  We'd get that every time we went.  I liked their Fried Fish.  It came in a square shape for some reason.  Their macaroni and cheese was so creamy and cheesy.  There's nothing like it.  I think all macaroni and cheese one day aspires to be Piccadilly Macaroni and cheese.  I would also put jalapeno cornbread and maybe some green beans on my plate.  

We were always told to clean our plates because there were starving children in China.  I understand that we were not supposed to be wasteful, but I never understood how 'cleaning my plate' had any bearing on the Chinese children's famine.  But I cleaned my plate and still do today.  The Dilly plate, beneath each three sections of the plate, had drawings.  One was a little boy with a rocket ship.  I remember that one well. The pictures were different under each section.  The benefit was if you cleaned your plate, in addition to helping feed children in China, you were able to view the cool pictures beneath your food.  Today I have learned that I need no enticement or gimmicks to clean my plate.

The other thing is this, as we'd slide our tray along the stainless steel tubes toward the cashier, we'd pass in front of the dessert section.  There were lines of glass bowls full of cubes of jello.  I don't know how they cut the jello into perfect squares, but somehow they accomplished this feat with precision.  And oh, was the jello tempting.  Some had yello jello, or purple, or bright green, orange or red.  I liked the red.  It was impossible to not put some jiggly jello on your tray.  You'd continue pushing your tray down the gauntlet of desserts beckoning for you to select them.  I had another favorite.  Egg custard with some nutmeg sprinkled on top.  Delicious.  I could eat some of that right now if I had some.

We'd sit down and say a blessing over the food and begin to eat, but not before my Dad took all the straws away from us.  Straws were forbidden.  Even knowing that straws were verboten, we'd tear the white paper from the top and bang it on the table until the plastic straw was exposed.  We would quickly put the straw in our beverage and lean over, but before we could take a slurp, Dad would reach over with the speed of a cheetah and pull the straw out of the drink.  The reason for the prohibition on straws was that invariably, we would lean over to drink from the straw and would turn the drink over.  What a mess!  Sticky Coke or iced tea would cover the table and us, and Dad, like the Raven in Edgar Allen Poe's poem, said "Nevermore."

Being an adult now, prohibition is now lifted and I use drinking straws from time to time.  I drank from a straw last week at the Bayou Beekeeper's Club Meeting at Green's Cafe.  I didn't spill either, no siree.  I'm quite proud of that accomplishment.

Speaking of bees, our two boxes of bees have been busy.  The queens are laying and the population is growing.  They have been flying each day to the rain barrels I have that collect water coming off the roof.  They line the edges of the barrels and drink water.  We like to watch them.

Would you believe me if I told you that bees drink from a straw?  They sure do.  Most people call it a bee tongue, but the official name is the 'glossa' and they use it to sip water, or nectar or to eat honey.  I zoomed in with my phone camera and caught this bee with her tongue sticking out, drinking water.  Can you see it?

She didn't even spill.  Not one drop.

Making Carrot Souffle'

I can remember as a kid going to a cafeteria in Lake Charles, Louisiana called Piccadilly Cafeteria.  They had a kid's plate that, if you ate all of your food, you would be able to see pictures on the bottom of the plate.  If I remember correctly, it was a white plate, with something like a spaceship in one compartment, and two other pictures on the other ones - maybe it was called "The Dilly Plate."  The incentive was if you 'cleaned your plate,' you'd get to see the pictures on the bottom of the plate. The old stick and the carrot routine!

Speaking of carrots, one of the things I remember Piccadilly Cafeteria being famous for besides the different colored jello cut into squares and their egg custard with nutmeg sprinkled on top, was their carrot souffle. It was so rich and sweet and delicious, it was hard to imagine it had a vegetable in it - which I think was the point. Anyway, my Aunt gave us a cookbook from Dallas, called "Tuxedos to Tailgates" and it contained the Carrot Souffle recipe that tastes like the one from Piccadilly.

I had just harvested the last of our Atomic Red Carrots and Tricia whipped up a batch of carrot souffle the other night and captured the process for your viewing pleasure. Here's what you'll need to make the Carrot Souffle of Piccadilly fame and Tuxedos to Tailgate Cookbook:

• 1 lb carrots
• salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and wash and slice your carrots.  These are Atomic Red Carrots, but this dish could be made with any carrot.

Cutting the tops off the carrots

Cook the carrots in salted water until they are tender and drain off the water.

Cooking the sliced carrots

Put cooked carrots and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth.  Then add vanilla, eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder and process again until all the ingredients are blended well.

Putting all the ingredients in the processor

It should look just like this after processing:

Mixed and Ready

Spoon it all into a 1 or 2 quart baking casserole dish.

Pouring into a casserole

Ready to go in the oven

Put into the oven for 45 minutes.  The souffle should be firmed up on top when it is done.  Here's a look at a forkful of carrot souffle.

Fork View: About to go into my mouth!

If my plate would have been a 'Dilly Plate,' I would have seen the space rocket on the bottom very quickly. Carrot souffle is the bees' knees.