Go unplugged

Did you know that as much as 40 percent of energy consumption in your home takes place when appliances are turned off? (Source: Treehugger.com) We leave most of our appliances--toasters, TVs, coffee makers--plugged in 24/7. It's more convenient, right? I really never thought about the fact that even though they're set on "off," they're still consuming as much as 1,000 kilowatts per household per year! Think about the printer, the cell phone charger and the hairdryer we have "on call," and unplug them to help reduce the $1 billion in energy we waste while our appliances are "off duty."

I've done my good deed for the day.

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.

Popovers

We had company for dinner last night, and since we were having a bbq'd prime rib roast as the entree, I thought I'd make one of my favorite accompaniments, popovers.

I first had these ...well, let's see you can't really call them rolls, or bread...they're just in a class by themselves...at our gourmet club years ago. In any event, I really just learned that the difference between popovers and yorkshire pudding is the fact that the latter is made with drippings from the roast. I didn't want to mess around complicating the recipe as I was also in charge of the salad, consisting of living lettuce...(no jokes please), sliced pears, caramelized pecans, tossed in Champagne Pear Vinaigrette (Trader Joe's) and garlic mashed potatoes.

We also found some strawberries dipped in chocolate in time for a Valentine's Day dessert, albeit a few days early. But, back to the popovers. I remember that I was a little disappointed the last time I made them, so I dug out some additional recipes...with the help of the internet. Melinda Lee is one of my favorite radio chefs, so I went to her site and found some helpful hints to make these turn out just right. The last recipe I had called for a cold oven. Melinda says to preheat to 475 (what a difference). You turn the temp down later. She also suggests not overbeating the batter, and using a skewer the last few minutes of baking to poke a hole on the side of each popover to let out the moisture and dry out them out a bit.

The problem came when our guests got lost and were late...so I put the mixture in the refrigerator, rather than leave beaten eggs and milk out. I should have brought the batter to room temperature before baking. I know if any chefs are reading this, I can hear the "duh!" now, but it's always a problem, trying to converse and cook. So, I'm anxious to try them again...because the top did not rise (which is the best part of the presentation) and they came out looking like ordinary muffins. However, they still were very tasty, so all was not lost.
Check out Melinda Lee's recipe in her archive file. Your guests will love them.