“Romance 911 for men - Examiner” plus 2 more

Romance 911 for men - Examiner
Sweet, cool, creamy - Pueblo Chieftain
Anti-diva Carrie Underwood is too sweet to hate - Dayton Daily News

Romance 911 for men - Examiner

Posted: 17 Apr 2010 05:06 PM PDT

Comment

It's not your fault, guys – let's blame the advertisers. You're always told that women want – need – to be romanced…which is true. Unfortunately, the media is giving you gross misinformation about how to go about this. In fact, it might even be their fault that your last girl kicked you to the curb. So here's a little insider information regarding how to safely navigate the world of romance without stepping on backfire landmines.

Flowers
These are tricky. You can certainly assume that most girls like to get flowers, but there are definitely caveats. Doghouse flowers, for example, are just going to pis$ your girlfriend off rather than inspire her to forgive you for forgetting your anniversary, leaving your dirty clothes on the floor or sleeping with her sister. Don't send flowers only on Valentine's Day, either – not only are you unoriginal but you're getting wallet-raped on top of it. A random bouquet of creative flowers, though, for no cited reason other than that you're thinking of her, will definitely earn you points and may even earn you seven minutes in heaven. Bonus points for something more unique than roses. Double bonus points if you pay attention to what types of flowers or colors she loves.

Jewelry
Repeat after me: I WILL NOT BE TRICKED BY MALL JEWELERS. Jewelry is another gift that can woo a gal, but trust in the fact that no self-respecting woman wants the heart-shaped crap-diamond necklace she saw advertised for $69.99 during the commercial break. It's fine if you don't have a lot of money to spend, but if you're on a White Castle budget, don't try to buy diamonds. Every single one of the girlfriends I've polled would rather receive a funky piece of inexpensive costume jewelry as a surprise gift from her boyfriend than a crusty yellowed diamond chip nestled around her neck like a noose – a noose of mortification. Tip: spend $50 on a unique necklace or earrings made by a local or up-and-coming artist and then tell her it reminded you of her favorite dress, her hair, her eyes, whatever.

Love Letters
Here's another minefield rife with danger. Women adore being adored, but there's a (very!) fine line between romance and cheese. A Post-It note on the mirror telling her what you love about her will be treasured, as will a simple card with a couple of sweet thoughts jotted down within (note: you must write them – the preprinted message inside the card doesn't count). However, an epic Nicholas Sparks-ish poem delivered at open mic night will just get you punched in the head – hopefully by your girlfriend, but possibly just by each heterosexual male in the audience.

Cuddling
If your woman likes to be cuddled, this one's pretty straightforward – a simple 3:1 formula. For every three times you follow up a minute and a half of cuddling with a missile launch, make a point to snuggle up to your gal and then (yep, you heard me) DON'T try to mount her. Cuddling before or after sex can be fantastic, but most women need to know that they are more than your penis sock. Sprinkling in a few hump-free cuddles here and there is a wise investment that will reap great dividends – and who knows? Maybe she'll jump you for being so sweet.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Sweet, cool, creamy - Pueblo Chieftain

Posted: 13 Apr 2010 10:33 PM PDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A summer Sunday food memory, circa 1974: I'm sitting at the table watching while my mother makes banana pudding and my older sister discusses her latest date.

One talks about the frustrations of romance. The other listens, nodding, while patiently, steadily, assembling dessert.

Lining the casserole dish with vanilla wafers from a box. Slicing bananas and placing the circles just so. Spooning on a layer of vanilla-flavored pudding.

Building the layers until the casserole is full, then covering it with a final layer of fluffy, white whipped topping.

The whole thing goes in the refrigerator to wait until supper, while the wafers soften into cake-like layers and the banana flavor tinges both pudding and cookies, melding into something that will be cool and sweet on a hot night.

Watching them, I absorb a little about dating and a little about listening, and a lot about taking time for both comfort and desserts.

Only in the South

Recently, I set out to explore banana pudding. I looked into instant puddings vs. homemade custards, into vanilla wafers vs. fancier fillers like pound cake or ladyfingers.

I tried meringue toppings, whipped toppings and simple sprinklings of crushed cookies.

I fell in love with the banana pudding at Savor Cafe in Charlotte, N.C., where Lori Pearson's vanilla wafers are homemade and the perfectly browned meringue is an impossibly smooth marshmallow creme.

Along the way, I wrestled with a mystery. Every source agrees that banana pudding is quintessentially Southern. It's so connected to this part of the world that if you join the Southern Foodways Alliance this year, you'll get a sticker declaring you a ''Proud Citizen of the Banana Pudding Republic.''

At Carolinas barbecue restaurants, if dessert is offered at all, it is usually banana pudding. It can be made cheaply in big quantities and turned out in sheet pans or disposable aluminum trays at church potlucks.

But why is banana pudding Southern? Bananas are everywhere. In the U.S., they're ahead of apples and oranges as the most consumed fruit. Nabisco's Nilla Wafers are sold nationally, with the recipe on the box.

But banana pudding isn't everywhere. I took an informal poll, checking with food-writing colleagues in four Northern cities.

In Milwaukee, banana pudding doesn't show up at all, just banana cream pie. I had to explain the difference to my source there. In Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, food editors had only seen it in African-American-owned restaurants.

It is widespread in Chicago, where many Southern black families moved in search of work during the Depression. But it is still strongly connected to family events, particularly potlucks.

Tracing it back

One piece of the puzzle is the bananas. Starting in the late 1800s, they were imported through Southern ports, particularly New Orleans. Before the late 1960s, when Standard Fruit moved to Gulfport, Miss., so many bananas came ashore in New Orleans that watching the unloading became a tourist attraction.

Author Joe Dabney offers another Southern connection in his 1998 book ''Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread and Scuppernong Wine.'' Starting in 1880, bananas shipped from New Orleans by the Illinois Central Railroad were stored in Fulton, Ky., before they were dispersed across the country.

The town used to celebrate its role as ''banana capital of the world'' with a yearly banana pudding festival, a tradition that continued into the 1990s.

Stephen Criswell teaches folklore and English composition at the University of South Carolina Lancaster. A native of Gaston County, he likes to track the origins of things like fish camps and pimento-cheese burgers.

He wrote the puddings entry for the ''Foodways'' edition of ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.'' He got the assignment after he and editor John T. Edge went to see Southern Culture on the Skids and heard their song ''Banana Puddin'.''

''I married my wife partly based on her ability to make banana pudding,'' Criswell says. ''A good Southern boy, I had to marry somebody who could cook like my mother.''

Criswell couldn't say why banana pudding mostly stayed here. But he had theories on why it started here. He noted the strong resemblance between banana pudding and English puddings, which were generally anything that combined soft cake and custard.

''Technically, it's not a pudding, it's a trifle,'' Criswell says. ''And it's sweet. There's that Southern fondness for excessive sweetness.''

The South has always had strong Anglo-Celtic ties that turn up in the origins of recipes — particularly desserts that don't call for long baking times in the sultry heat.

It's easy

Criswell also noted how easy it is to make banana pudding if you take shortcuts. You can fall back on instant pudding and whipped topping instead custard and meringue. And mostly, people won't complain.

But as I tested recipes, I noticed how my movements were so much like my mother's on that long-ago Sunday afternoon.

Placing vanilla wafers in a pattern, slicing and arranging banana circles just so, I wondered if maybe that's why banana pudding stayed so much at home here. You can put it together in the morning, before you get too busy. It doesn't take a lot of fuss.

And in the evening, you have something cool and sweet that almost everybody likes.

Maybe that's explanation enough.

The schools of banana pudding

Custard: It can be vanilla pudding from a box, but a simple custard is better. It's easy to make, and the texture is creamy, not gummy.

Bananas: They have to be ripe, with brown spots speckling the peel. Don't use too many bananas or they get mushy. You want just enough to flavor the pudding and cake.

Fillers: Vanilla wafers are traditional. As they soak in the pudding, they soften into cake-like layers. But cubed pound cake is good, and other cookies are possible. Paula Deen has a popular version made with Pepperidge Farms Chessman cookies. Ladyfingers also show up in recipes.

Topping: Whipped topping is popular. Sweetened whipped cream is better. Best: Meringue, baked just until the fluffy top is browned but the pudding underneath is still chilled. At Savor Cafe in Charlotte, dessert maker Lori Pearson uses a marshmallow creme that's similar to Italian meringue, which is hot syrup beaten into egg whites.

''Unfortunately, we had to taste-test banana pudding for a couple of weeks,'' she jokes. ''We didn't want something we just scooped out of a sheet pan.''

BEST-EVER BANANA PUDDING

Church and community cookbooks are a great source of banana pudding recipes. In this one, adapted from the 1990 ''Hopewell Heritage Cookbook'' from Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, evaporated milk gives the pudding a light brown color and a rich flavor.

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 (11- or 12-ounce) can evaporated milk, shaken well

3/4 cup water

3 eggs

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup butter

1 (12-ounce) box vanilla wafers

4 to 6 ripe bananas

Topping: Whipped topping, or 2 cups heavy cream beaten with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, or about 1 cup vanilla wafer crumbs

Whisk together brown sugar, flour, evaporated milk, water, eggs, salt and vanilla in a heavy saucepan or the top of a double boiler over a little simmering water. Add butter and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter melts.

Reduce heat to low and cook slowly, stirring often, until the mixture thickens and just starts to look a little curdled. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Place a layer of vanilla wafers in the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Slice the bananas into rounds and place a layer of rounds on top of the wafers. Top with about half the pudding mixture, spreading to completely seal the wafers and bananas. Repeat layers, ending with pudding. Refrigerate until chilled.

Top with whipped topping, sweetened whipped cream or cookie crumbs.

SIMPLE BANANA PUDDING

Adapted from Samantha McCluney Criswell of Lancaster.

2 large boxes instant vanilla pudding

Milk to prepare pudding

About 1/2 cup sour cream

Frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided

6 ripe bananas

2 (12-ounce) boxes vanilla wafers

Prepare the pudding in a large mixing bowl, using the amount of milk called for on the box. Using a wide rubber spatula, fold in the sour cream and 1/2 cup whipped topping until no traces of white remain.

Peel bananas and slice in rounds. Gently stir banana rounds into the pudding.

Place a layer of vanilla wafers on the bottom of a serving bowl. Top with about half the pudding and bananas. Top with another layer of vanilla wafers. Top with remaining pudding and bananas.

Spread remaining whipped topping over the top. Refrigerate until chilled. Serve cold.

POUND CAKE BANANA PUDDING

From ''Classic Southern Desserts,'' by the editors of Southern Living (Oxmoor, 2010). This version was inspired by one served at Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room in Savannah, but it is classic. The yolks are used in the custard, while the egg whites are used for the meringue. In testing, we found the custard stays soft, but is soaked up by the pound cake.

4 eggs

4 cups half-and-half

1 cups sugar

cup cornstarch

teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (1-pound) all-butter pound cake, such as Sara Lee

4 large ripe bananas, peeled

Meringue:

cup sugar

teaspoon salt

teaspoon vanilla extract

Separate the eggs. Cover the egg whites and refrigerate for the meringue. Whisk together the egg yolks with the half-and-half, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, for 13 to 15 minutes. (Note: In testing, we had to start the pudding over medium heat and cook it longer, for closer to 25 minutes, before it thickened. Reduce the heat to low once it begins to thicken, so it doesn't scorch.)

Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla, stirring until the butter melts.

Cut the pound cake into 1-inch cubes. Lightly grease a 3-quart round baking dish.

Place half the cake cubes in the bottom of the baking dish, pushing them together so they fit snugly. Slice 2 bananas and place the slices in a layer over the cake cubes. Pour half the pudding over the cake and bananas. Repeat with remaining cake, bananas and pudding. Cover and chill at least 6 hours. (The pudding needs to be cold before adding the meringue.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine cup sugar and teaspoon salt in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the egg whites and vanilla at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Beat in sugar mixture 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat 2 to 3 minutes, until stiff peaks form. (When you lift the beaters, the meringue will form peaks that stand straight up. Don't overbeat, or the meringue will break down.)

Spread the meringue over the chilled pudding, completely covering. Working all over the top, push a spoon into meringue and lift quickly, to form peaks.

Bake 15 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown on the peaks. Serve immediately.

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Anti-diva Carrie Underwood is too sweet to hate - Dayton Daily News

Posted: 16 Apr 2010 11:48 PM PDT

By Nancy Wilson, Contributing Writer 7:58 PM Friday, April 2, 2010

Have you gotten swept up in the "Carrie Underwood wedding watch?"

It's hard not to, with updates on the "where-when-why" seeming to come out every minute.

And as much as I want to make gagging motions with my finger down my throat, I just can't bring myself to do it.

Sure, she's beautiful. Sure, she's had 12 No. 1 hits, has a killer voice and sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at the Super Bowl. Sure, she has a ginormous engagement ring from her hot hockey player fiance. Sure, she's the Academy of Country Music's reigning Entertainer of the Year. But I can't help it, she's just so gosh darn ... nice!

The season 4 winner of "American Idol" has officially entrenched herself as a country music sweetheart. She's come a long way from her humble beginnings in Oklahoma, to the whirlwind pace of "Idol" to country music superstar.

Grammy Awards, CMA/ACM Awards, People's Choice Awards, TV appearances, her first new movie, "Soul Surfer," being made into Muppet "Carrie Wormwood," dating (and dumping) Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, to finally finding true love with Ottawa Senators hockey player Mike Fisher, you would think Carrie would have a "been there, done that" attitude.

Yet, while the tabloids and entertainment shows are full of break-ups and make-ups, who cheated on who and who's got the most plastic parts, the only thing you read or hear about Carrie is how happy she is. Even Taylor Swift has had some drama in her short life (Kanye anyone?), but not Carrie. She's just so ... nice.

Her headline-making news lately? Well, yeah, "Temporary Home" is now her 12th chart-topping single, but more important? Her upcoming wedding.

The details out there on Underwood: No wedding cake for the couple, they want cupcakes. No demure hairstyle for her, she wants "big hair and lots of eyeliner." The ring bearer? Her dog Ace. And the dress? "It's in the works," she told reporters at the Pedigree Adoption Drive on Thursday at the Bideawee animal shelter in New York City, according to this week's People Magazine.

"It's really pretty. It's very in the beginning stages and it's very me. It's just girly and pretty, and it's simple and glamorous at the same time." The couple hasn't decided where and exactly when the date will be, but even though her hair will be big, the wedding won't, "It's going to be a good size wedding with plenty of good food and an open bar, but nothing too overblown."

Carrie and Mike plan to have two homes, in Ottawa, Canada, and Nashville, and she recently told the CBS "The Early Show" that she will go to as many hockey games as possible, "The more I go to games, the more people are used to seeing me around, and hopefully I'll just be one of the wives."

The fact that she's up for five ACM Awards on April 18 seems kind of insignificant in comparison, huh? Now if I could just get a wedding invitation!

Contact Nancy Wilson, a morning-radio personality at WHKO-FM (K99.1), by e-mail through the Web site at k99online.com.

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