SC - OUEEN'S PUDDING - prob'ly OOP

[Sue Clemenger]

Greetings list,

I wanted to share something that happened just yesterday.

First, an explanation.

All during this reign (yes, I'm still Princess) I have been encouraging the
cooking arts. I take small bottles of more difficult to find spices with me to
every event. If I enjoy someone's home made food, I present them with one of the
spices and encourage them to find recipes that include the spice.

Yesterday, at a local shire's event, the dinner portion was pot luck. One of the
contributions was a carrot dish which I'm guessing had honey and cinnamon in it.
It was quite nummy. After I presented a bottle of spice to the cook of such a
tasty dish, a lady to whom I'd given a bottle of galangale at a previous event
spoke up and said "you know that bottle of spice you gave me? I put some of it
in the stew today."

Since the stew was made from beef, which I don't eat, I didn't have any,
however, it got cheerfully consumed by everyone else. The very fact that she
thought it might work in her stew was rather gratifying. She expanded her
cooking horizons a little that day.

Rejoice in small victories.

Now the humor.

The spice I chose to give to the maker of the carrot dish was the first one I
could put my hands on inside my basket. Out came grains of paradise. So I come
up to her and I congratulate her on the numminess of the carrots and hand her
the bottle whereupon she misheard me and asked rather quizzically "brains of
paradise?"

That brought the house down. After explaining what it really was and what it
tasted like, the more adventurous among us undertook a mission to figure out
what "brains of paradise" might be used for. The explanation of the name of the
spice was that it was originally called "brains of the bird of paradise" but
over time was shortened to "brains of paradise." These brains were collected,
dried, and then ground. Another hardy soul suggested that the spice was used in
the preparation of sweet meats. See what happens when cooks and heralds mix?

Doing my part to promote good food and good humor,

Cedrin
Princess Oertha