This Little Piggy

I figured you all are breathless with anticipation to hear how my yogurt experiment (see 2/18/10, "I don't want to cook yogurt.") turned out. Officially, it's still ongoing, since I have a couple more variables to test, but I think it was successful.

Result #1: A typical bag (12 oz., I think) of frozen raspberries from the grocery store is sufficient to mix with one tub (32 oz., I think) of yogurt. (Bonus result: I don't need to add any artificial color.)

Result #2: I do not like vanilla yogurt, especially mixed with raspberries. Vanilla vs. plain was one of the variables I tested.

Result #3: The yogurt tastes better if I let it sit for a day after mixing. This goes along with my mom's determination of the same with onion soup mix and sour cream (or yogurt) for dip.

Result #4: The yogurt and raspberries mix more evenly if I mix them together all at once, rather than try to equalize portions between two containers. Note that this is impossible to do in the original yogurt container because the volume of raspberries exceeds the amount of available volume in the container. It is much more effective (and easier and less messy) to mix the ingredients in a bowl and then return the mixture to the original container and a smaller one.

Ongoing experiments for which results are not yet available: store brand A vs. store brand B, and low fat vs. non-fat.

On Sunday, I made myself pancakes. (All right, so I used a mix, but it's still pretty impressive that I managed successfully on the first try.) I learned that one strip of bacon leaves enough fat in the frying pan (Did I mention there's no artificial ingredients in my kitchen?) for two consecutive pancakes. The box instructions said it would make seven to ten pancakes or three waffles. How small are the pancakes supposed to be? I made three of them, one at a time, in my 8" (or so) frying pan. I also wonder how large their idea of waffles is because frozen waffles are much smaller than that.

I must hereby apologize for all the approximations so far. You can tell I didn't prepare this post ahead of time, or else I would have given you exact measurements.

In other food news, I was informed by e-mail yesterday ("I have spoken with most of you..." obviously means the people who were here last year and already know about this tradition, but not the newbie who apparently enjoys getting hit upside the head from behind with yet another "but you/your crew always do this") that I must help prepare a steak lunch for my crew next week. Here's part of the e-mail. See if you can spot the Whammy.

If you would like to participate and be a part of thanking our collective employees with a nice lunch, I think we are thinking Tuesday, May 25th, 1pm. If your crew is coming to eat, then you will be participating in the preparation.

Did you find it? That's right; she leads off with "if" but then mandates my participation with "will". (The one I didn't expect you to find is that this lunch is an hour later than usual. A handful of almonds at 10 a.m. is barely enough to keep me going between a bowl of oatmeal and yogurt at 6 a.m. and lunch at 12 p.m. Now I not only have to cook for my employees, I have to do it on an empty stomach.)