srhcb

Well, Lonnie, it seems to me that what you're saying is the unit is implied and to be correct usage it must be easily understood/not easy confused?? I'm not sure I agree with that but to address the above.... a rice would be a grain of rice, a soup (if used as 'I'm going to buy a soup') would be a bowl of soup, except perhaps at the grocery where it might mean a can, and a spaghetti would be a dry spaghetti noodle.... at least to me So if you said them to me you would be correct since I would understand them.... Hmmmmm Ken ← Another exception could be in a restaurant kitchen, when a waitress calls out to the cook, "I need a rice, a soup, and a spaghetti", refering to three specific menu items by their singular names? SB (Is this contextual grammer?)

Sorry if you took offense? Please note the little Smilies grinning and winking. I believe we meant to imply, if anything, the "great minds think alike". Personally, I would be thrilled to have anything I wrote compared to or mistaken for anything written by either Marion Cunningham or MFK Fisher, and I doubt if either of them would be/have been too greatly put out to have their works considered side-by-side? SB

"remarkable" indeed! SB

I don't own any Marion Cunningham books either, unless you count the Fanny Farmer book. Maybe somebody familiar with Ms Cunningham's work could suggest which of her books would be of interest to MFKF fans? SB

Not to scare you more but I understood that reference! There's a special pan for "poaching" eggs that has little round cups that sit above boiling water. You break the egg into the cup, cover the pan, the egg cooks in the cup. My mom had one and Williams Sonoma still sells them. But they're not "real" poached eggs, as those cook in the water. Good lord, it's like I'm Being MFK Fisher. ← From With Bold Knife and Fork - A Recipe for Happy Hens: "As for poaching, I cheat. I own a pan which makes two round steamed eggs, not poached at all, and another one which makes six slightly triangular ones, not poached at all." MFK goes on to excuse herself for this "lazy compromise" on the basis of having correctly poached so many eggs as a young girl. She compares this to the "pusillanimous" argument she uses when explaining why she doesn't attend church services. On the basis of this information I'm inclined to believe Marion Cunningham intentionally tried to evoke MFKF's work in the originally cited quote. SB (always feels better after reading some MFKF)

A nice bit of research! I could attribute the similar diction to their having similar sensibilities, although the "misnamed 'poacher'" phrasing is almost scarey. Did MFK ever write about poachers? SB (keeps him MFK at the office)

That's an interesting observation. While Marion and MFK didn't (always) write about the same subjects, and had diffirent styles, they do seem to have shared a philosophy. SB (at least about food)

Too Much Food! No other people in History, or plant or animal before that, have ever been able to say that for an extended period. If this makes you neurotic or guilty , you should seek professional help. SB (ain't complainin')

Luckily, my bakery is on the route between home and work anyway, so I only have to buy a half dozen at a time. SB (thanks all the scientists who contributed to this thread) PS: Oddly enough, a little calculating tells me that if I ate 3 of the 7982 donuts each day they would last until almost exactly when I'll turn 65!

I can't explain why, but seeing Marion Cunningham on television always put me in mind of how MFK Fisher would have appeared? SB (and that's pretty damn high praise!)

Perhaps the prospect of enjoyment was either the intent or consequence of the need for stimulus? The carrot on the stick, to employ an edible metaphor and stay on-topic? {I had to look up "Koyaanisqatsi". I must have missed it the first time around. I'll admit the "u"-less "q" gives the title itself some degree of exclusivity, but I found it somewhat ironic that copyright issues kept the film itself out of print for ten years} Is enjoyment really declining, or just changing? While neither stoic/ascetic nor binge/purge are to my tastes either, I can accept that others might enjoy them, just as some might enjoy watching "Koyaanisqatsi", or Rachael Ray. Oh dear! SB (please don't tell Rachael Ray)

Oddly shaped lumps of chocolate in various stages of consistency, wrapped in disposable diapers? SB (well .... you asked)

But polls aren't supposed to be "greatly enjoyable"...though I do have friends who do love to crawl into the cross-tabs on a slow afternoon. ← We need for food for sustenance and sex for procreation. We share these needs with all other forms of life, including plants and bacteria. Where did the idea originate that either could or should be "greatly enjoyable"? SB (not that I mind)

What percentage "greatly enjoy" polls? SB (doesn't)

I don't know. I just tried some plain cornstarch, and it doesn't feel, or taste, like much of anything? SB (will just have to get more donuts tomm .... I mean .... will have to get back to the old laboratory)

The average temperature here in Nothern Minnesota is around 39 degrees, (277K), so while powdered sugar donuts are quite popular, (even though they have the inherent disadvantage if being easily lost in the snow), I don't think we have to worry quite yet? SB (saving three donuts for lunch)

I don't think so. A cursory examination of my three remaining donuts reveals that the powdered sugar has already created quite sizable holes in the middle of them! SB edited to change "four remaining donuts" to three. Ozone be damned!

In the name of "Science", I stopped by my local bakery and picked up another half dozen powdered sugar donuts this morning. I posed my question about the perceived "coolness" of powdered sugar to the women who work there. I mentioned the theory of corn/wheat starch, added to the sugar to prevent clumping (?), drawing out moisture. One of the women told me how they used to use corn starch on babies with diaper rash for just that reason. So, it would appear that our theory of starch drawing out moisture, combined with the hypothesis of "sugar, being a uniform mixture that quickly liquifies on the tongue, absorbs latent heat from the tongue, causing the perception of coolness", could be correct? My background is in engineering, autos, law and crime rather than science, but I seem to recall how the Second Law of Thermodynamics posits that unless we find a way to create new matter, everything will keep getting colder all the time? Thus, eating powdered sugar donuts could ultimately contribute to the end of the Universe, but what the hell? S "Science" B

Okay. Why is cornstarch cool to the touch? SB (out of donuts) ← Now you're pushing it! Let's wait for the scientists to debate this one. ← If we don't hear from them by tomorrow morning I'll just have to buy some more donuts for experimental purposes! SB

Okay. Why is cornstarch cool to the touch? SB (out of donuts)

Why does powdered sugar feel "cool" on the tongue? SB (eating donuts)

And if you are familiar with the names involved, (or more than any two of them), Get a ****ing Life! SB (or mercifully put an end to the life you have)

Ask the President of China to get the recipe for you? SB (don't hurt to ask)

← I've only known two CEO's of major firms. One, a recently retired head of one of the country's largest food and beverage companies, who's from my home town and whose father worked for my family's engineering company, and the other my cousin's husband from the Netherland who recently sold his international wharehousing business to an Austrian concer. The fact that both came from humble beginnings may help to explain it. The CEO from my hometown started off selling pots and pans door-to-doot, and my cousin's husband began wotking ar his company driving a forklift. I've seen them both is social settings, and they were as gracious and considerate of others as anyone could be, and I know they both raised their children with particular emphasis on being polite and respectful to all others I can only imagine how they would react to boorish behavior on the part of a employee or prospective employee. SB (class shows)

Dust them with flour and add them last. ← That is, indeed, about the only general rule pertaining to the subject. I fold final ingredients in rather than beat them, but otherwise I'd suspect your batter is too thin. Do you measure or weigh your ingredients? SB (big advocate of measuring by weight)