Friday, May 29, 2009

Old ladies....who knew?

The CFT posting on Snowville Creamery got me to thinking about our yogurt making session last weekend.

You see, about a month and a half ago I was in the dairy isle at Whole Foods. I was buying my customary 1/2 gallon of Snowville half and half, when I noticed this little old lady perusing the variety of whole milks.

I bent over and told her that the Snowville was the absolute tastiest stuff on the shelf. I told her that my wife makes yogurt with it.

"Well that's what I wanted to use it for!", she said.

Feeling a sense of surprise, I told her that I was going to the east coast and would bring back my wife's favorite yogurt (Pequa Valley) as starter. So the deal was this: I bring back a quart for her and she comes over and shows my wife how she does her yogurt.

Last Saturday Christine (the little old lady from Whole Foods) came over and talked yogurt with the bride. It was a pretty cool couple of hours. Although she was out of her comfort zone being in someone else's kitchen, she was able to impart a good bit of knowledge. It truly was a lot of fun.

Old Women Part II
The next day we went to a family friend's fortieth wedding anniversary party. It was just an informal gathering at his home. My father-in-law told me that I had to come. That there was going to be this Italian woman there that can bake like you wouldn't believe. Typically when I hear this stuff I take it with a grain of salt (sometimes people are just trying to be nice).

We walk into the party and I spot these amazing desserts on the table. I took one look and knew who made them. The little Italian woman walks the walk.

These pastries looked like peaches. They were essentially to spongy wafers that were hollowed out and filled with custard. The two custard filled wafers were then put together, coated in a liqueur, and sprinkled with sugar. To complete the whole peach theme she had bought these little plastic things that looked like a stem and a leaf.

The creme puffs tasted every bit as good as they looked. The part I love is that when I asked her how she made them she was very nonchalant about the effort it took to make them. She dismissed the question as if I was asking her how she made Kraft's macaroni and cheese. I love it.

A plate full of kolachky cookies was made by a mystery woman who wasn't able to make it to the party. These were much more dainty then the puffier ones that I've eaten in the past. These were dangerously light (more for me to gourge myself on).

Here's to all the little old women out there. Teach me!!!

4 comments:

  1. You forgot to mention, is the bride on the left of the right? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. In my best impersonation of Dave Chapell doing his best impersonation of Rick James,"Coooooold blooded!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, man, I wished I had found that old lady at whole foods.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great timing. I'm eagerly awaiting a yogurt post.

    ReplyDelete