Searching for Prune Delicacies—and Finding Me September 13, 2012

source: librarything.com

It’s a special day.

Not because, when I checked the students’ homework, they demonstrated stellar understanding of the concept of area and perimeter. Not because of that, because that is not something that happened.

It’s not special because I scarfed my microscopic lunch so fast that there were three minutes left between the time I finished my sumptuous feast of cheese of the cottage, and the time that I was due to pick up my students at the coliseum  cafeteria, as objectively special as that occurrence was.

It’s not so uber-special due to a student’s construction on his desk of a mini hand sanitizer pyramid, which I immediately confiscated.  They were directed to purchase a damned full-size hand sanitizer, with the express purpose of putting ME in complete control of the freaking hand sanitizer, so that children would not spend their days bathing in it, cleaning their desks with it, and encasing eraser heads in it.  Do parents ever picture their children in possession of multiple, mini-containers of hand sanitizer? They might as well send Hot Wheels or lighters.  Because heaven forbid if there is a drop of goo missing! “Someone stole a drop of my hand sanitizer! I’m going to punch him in the face!” I do not exaggerate.  I heard it today. The honeymoon, as they say, is over.

This day of our Lord is so spanking special because, when I looked at the Search Engine Terms that led a poor, unsuspecting soul to some random blogpost of mine, I saw these words: “Jello Prune Whip.” Oh my Glob!! It made my day awesome when I Googled it myself, and found that there were only a few recipes ahead of my post. I know, I know—it’s a bit different for every searcher, but still.  I really barely ever experiment with these matters.

I pre-emptively apologize to my unknowing reader, who had to deal with my Throwing a Party-Gelatin Style post, and the glaring omission of the Prune Whip recipe.  I don’t generally post recipes for stuff whose names induce nausea for me, but know that I feel a little bit guilty about it.  And I love you for searching Jello Prune Whip.

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Throwing a Party, Gelatin Style July 1, 2012

Jell-O is a trademark. Obviously.

I am not throwing a party, at least not the kind that involves people coming over, setting up a s’mores buffet, and playing miniature badminton on our miniature badminton court.  But I did make Jell-O, which is a party in itself; am I right? This partified vibe becomes intensified when one makes GREEN Jell-O (sometimes referred to, loosely, as “Lime”).  I would argue that it is cooler to see the world through a serving of green Jell-O than through rose-colored glasses.

Where does Ms. Peachy come by this abiding passion for Jell-O and its entertaining properties, you ask?  You may be surprised to learn that it has nothing to do with the famed party-starter, the Jell-O shot— although I have perused scores of variations on the theme whilst procrastinating doing some other distasteful,  occupation-oriented task.

I like vintage advertising (not Jell-O shots— yeah, it’s a crazy party life I lead).  One of my faves is a thirties era Jell-O recipe book entitled “The Jell-O Girl Gives a Party.” They apparently used to give parties, back before life got so harsh and we started throwing things all the time.  Either way, this little manifesto of Jell-O was ostensibly written by the Jell-O girl herself, so you can understand why I was compelled to buy it.   There are some recipes in here that will put hair on  your chest, not the least of which is the Prune Whip, which utilizes my least favorite Jell-O flavor, orange. Oh, and, um, prune pulp. The garnish? Think hard; what goes well with prune pulp and orange Jell-O? Prunes, with a half walnut inserted in each one!  I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in inserting any nut into any conceivable prune.

An excerpt for your reading enjoyment:

“We worked very hard and fixed the table all up just wonderful.  I wanted to buy the flowers in the shop, but my ‘lowance wasn’t enough, so my mother said I could make it a pussy willow party, with pussy willows, that I could pick myself, in the center of the table, and daffodils from our garden, and a yellow and white cloth.

And we did.  Daddy bought pussy pups for favors.  That was the ‘sprise—You don’t know whether they’re cats or dogs, but they’re very, very lucky.” The Jell-O Girl Gives a Party p. 7.

And they never elaborate any further on those favors (‘sprise!), which are probably going to drastically increase the traffic on this blog.  The appendices include a Pinterest-ish illustrated piece called “Jell-O Girl tells how to do the daily exercises.” These are moves that really could be mastered by any 90-year-old, so it’s pretty inspirational.

My point? Make some! Unless you’re vegan, in which case you don’t like that pesky hoof component. . .