Book & Baking Blog Entry 31: Bite My Princess!

So, just so you know, I'm going to talk about a book that I haven't read.  It's called Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein.  I will probably never read this book for a few reasons:


1.  probably no one dies in it.  I hate to be limited but I rarely read anything without a dead body and generally regret it unless it's by Fannie Flagg, and even her books often have dead bodies so there.


2.  It's not fiction.  Again, I rarely read non-fiction.  I spent many years in college (more than most) reading both fiction and non-fiction.  I couldn't care less for non-fiction.  I would rather  watch reality TV (but who wouldn't.)  OK, I know a lot of people LOVE non-fiction and I respect you for being smarter and more intellectual than me.  Seriously, I'm not there.


3.  It's a book that I believe will probably try to scare me into thinking that pop culture is evil and that I have no influence over my own child: I got the idea it might even be focused on parents...I HATE parenting books.  I have pretty much hated them since I picked up one of my first ones and it spent an entire chapter telling my why I was horrible for bringing a baby into the world at my hugely advanced age of over 40 and how my child was going to either miscarry or be damaged so don't get used to being pregnant.  Yep.  Don't like "parenting" books.


Having said that, why am I writing about this book?  Well, she went on the Today Show.  Yes.  I watch the Today Show and I like I.  Now that I've lost the intellectuals of the group let's get down to it:  This woman was interviewed and actually wanted me to sit around and worry that my 3 1/2 year old like girly sparkly things.  I get it; it's commercial.  I get it; it teaches the wrong message....really?!


First, I get a bit tired of having to be alarmed and afraid about everything from transfats to bonnie bell lip-smackers.  Seriously, is it so heinous that 4 and 5 year olds want to wear Bonnie Bell instead of 12 year olds.  As a parents I can say no OR I can say, hey, when I was 4 or 5 I used to love it if my mom would put a touch of lipstick on me.  While I would certainly object if my daughter tried to go out in make up I let her play "make up" when we're home.  She wants to be like me...gosh I know I should run screaming into the woods on that one, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  She also has a big thing for chapstick.  What's next? Vegas and a stripper pole?


Here's an idea Penny: Let's be parents.  My daughter loves princesses and dressing up.  When I was little I was taunted and mocked for liking girly things (which is odd on the one hand because I was a girl BUT not so odd as I was the youngest of 4 and the only girl in my family when we were very young.)  If she wants to wear a princess dress to ride her tricycle or play soccer or play shopping, so be it.  She gets to have her own likes and dislikes.  I refuse to be a tiger.  Maybe my daughter won't turn out as good as yours, but she'll have had the chance to make decisions with guidance.


My daughter loves princesses.  We read the stories and we watch the movies.  There are many interpretations of fairytales.  I'm sure that if I read your book you possibly don't really attack fairy tales but, I'm not going to spend my hard-earned money on your book so here's my thought and what I'm teaching my daughter to take from the "disney" versions of fairy tales:

Ariel:  The hardest princess to defend.  She disobeys her father to her own peril and yet lives happily ever after at 16.  YIPES!  We do like to point out that if Ariel had listened to her father or at least Sebastian that she wouldn't have traded her soul for a chance at true happiness...But isn't that what Ariel teaches?  Sometimes you have to take chances to really get what you want?  To reach for something new and different?  And, honestly, isn't her dad a bit xenophobic?  A great lesson in everyone trying to be a little more open to others' viewpoints.

Sleeping Beauty: She does have to be awakened by her "true love's kiss" and that works out.  Frankly, the adults in this story are total losers.  Seriously, the wicked fairy wins just by the parents sending her away for her entire youth and having her raised by fairies. The lesson here is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions.  Probably her parents wouldn't have made her marry Philip if she really didn't want to BUT we'll never know because she and Philip fell in love etc etc.

Snow White:  We do learn not to take anything from strangers even if they seem nice.  Penny particularly mentions in her interview that our daughters should learn not to take apples from old witches/strangers.  Well, if snow White teaches us nothing else it is this lesson.  It's a lesson learned, not a model for behavior. For goodness' sakes--talk to your children about what they are watching...geeze.

Rapunzel:  She believes in her dream enough to wrench herself away from a self-serving, unhealthy, emotionally abusive relationship.  How bad can this be.  Unless you're a self-serving, unhealthy, emotionally abusive mother you have nothing to fear from what your daughter learns from Rapunzel.  Rapunzel also enjoys her talents and gifts.  She has a joi de vivre that is unmatched by many characters in any movie.  A sweetnes in enjoying her freedom.  I want that for my daughter.

Tiana:  Rocks!  My daughter loves Tiana.  She is even beautiful and much loved as a frog.  Her beauty is not of paramount importance.  She learned (from  her parents) that hard work is how you get what you want, not wishing on stars or kissing frogs. I love that she is my kid's 2ns favorite.


Cinderella:  She is, of course, the consummate princess.  She is beautiful and abused and the prince "rescues" her.  Well, I'm not so keen on that part of it either.  We like to focus on Cinderella's spirit and her kindness.  I also like that Cinderella always has hopes and dreams.  Her fairy godmother tells her that if she didn't still hope that she couldn't have come to her. But the fairy godmother is the crux of the story.  EVERY young woman needs an older woman to help her.  To believe in her.  To support her.  Any child can blossom if someone is there for them.

In our house a princess has to have 4 qualities to be a REAL princess:
1. pretty
2. kind
3. brave
4. smart

Pretty is relative and we work on that.  If you ask my kid she'll tell you the most important quality that any princess can have is to be kind. Smart and brave are the next 2.  Why have pretty there?  Well, we all know that princesses are pretty..it's in the script.  She will tell you that all girls are princesses and that they are all pretty.  It's 3-year-old logic.  I'm sure she will evolve to be less kind, but I'm not sure that it will be the fault of princess culture.

Just like everything else in life, you can get a lot of different things from Disney movies and the princess culture.  I choose to help my daughter take a positive message from this culture.  I also help her enjoy being a girl.  And if she comes home in her cinderella dress with paint or dirt on it, I don't get bent out of shape.  I bought a cheap one and she fells pretty and she enjoys playing in the dirt in it.  Oh well...

Also, ask me to tell you her favorite stories about Princess Ruth and the Pea and The Dread Pirate Ruth.  The endings will surprise you.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 30

Wow, I had an entire blog written about butter and using it in baking.  When and why and why not and what the experts say.  As much as I love butter (and given a chance I would put it on bacon and do put it on about anything including toast with schoko-moo) I decided that it was probably even more lame than any of the other blogs, many of which are lame. 

So, I decided to go back to writing about books and murder.  I am going through a time where I am trying desperately not to buy digital books at jacked-up prices.  For those who haven't heard my rant, check out earlier blog entries.  So, because of this I have begun to read a large number of "classic" novels that are available on Amazon for free or .99 cents. 

I recently finished one of these classic thrillers, Murder at Bridge by Anne Austin.  Murder at Bridge was "Set up and electrotyped" in 1931.  And brilliantly so.  It's been a long time since I've received such pleasure from a novel.  Not a lot of suspense as we expect from a modern novel, but truly an enjoyable read.  So much so I might try to find her other novel (only one?)  It reads like film noir.  The dialogue is a bit campy or kitschy but must have been very edgy for its time.  The characters behave in manners that would be considered dysfunction and bizarre in the extreme today. 

It's great to have a chance to return to world where a nice young woman can be [SPOILER ALERT ] can just feel better about life after her father, who abandoned wife and family leaving little to live on so that he could run off with an actress, returns and agrees to take her mother back...very generous.  And of course, mom is grateful.  Yet, in the context of the time it contributed to a very happy ending. 

I wasn't going to write about Murder at Bridge; as I noted before I was going to write about butter.  Then I began to read, Blind Spot by Nancy Bush.  Now, this is not a bad book.  Well, maybe it is.  Maybe you'll hear about how trite and insanely stupid the beginning is in my next blog....OK it is kind of but I'm trying to move through it.  But by realizing that I'm working hard to get through what must be Act One of this stupidly crappy novel, I also realized what under-valued books there are available by authors who are little known and deserve some recognition for their work.  It's a product of its time. 

No, Murder at Bridge is not a world/life changing novel.  No one will be redeemed by reading it.  Not one child will be saved and not one life turned from bad to good.  It will not fight poverty, pestilence, or even cancer.  What it did do was give me some honest moments of  pleasure.  Thank you Anne Austin.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 29

Christmas is exciting.  So exciting that I still have 2 batches of unbaked cookies in my refrigerator.  Yep.  Chocolate with peanutbutter chip and oatmeal with butterscotch chip.  I like cookies with chips.  I don't care for cooked raisins.  Everyone has their thing.  That's mine.  I like raisins raw (so to speak) but never want to see one in a baked good.  Ever.  It can ruin an entire breakfast if my cinnamon roll has raisins.  I try not to let it, because, well, frankly diners seem pretty set on having raisins in the cinnamon buns.  Oh well.

So I got lucky this Christmas.  As a gift a friend gave me her best shot at a recipe for Danish Kringle.  So I expected this to be a bread-like concoction.  I had a friend come over and we got out my NEW Kitchen Aid pro (OH YEAH==600watts of baking power PLUS an icecream attachment) and tried to follow the recipe.  I'll be curious how her 1/2 turned out.

So, first analysis:  the dough was more like stretchy cookie dough than bread.  I used the paddle to make it, I'm sure that the bread hook wouldn't work.  The other surprise was that the dough needed to be refridgerated over-night.  OK, I can do that.  We split the dough, I kept half and my friend took the other half.  No harm, no foul. I can do this.

So, the next morning, imagine my surprise that the dough did not rise.  WHY does my dough never rise.  Seriously.  Never ever.  I use fresh yeast.  I think that my kitchen is too cold.  That's my hope.  Either that or I just am not the rising sort.

But as per usual, I trudge on not letting failure stop me now.  I knead the dough and divide it into 2 pieces and then roll it out.  Now you get to add the filling.  What's not great about sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  But I forgot I only had 1/2 the recipe.  Yep, you guessed it.  I made a full amount.  I did feel compelled to use it all.  Yes.  Too bad, because my oven was just cleaned.  So I put in my extra filling and rolled it up, cut and twisted per the recipe.  I left it to rise.

Did it rise?  No NO NO No no....  That stinks.  But again, undeterred I put it into the oven.  So, twice as much butter as called for in the filling.  And the filling isn't sealed into the pastry--merely "twisted."  My oven smokes more than a teen-aged boy.

The BEAUTY moment:  I don't know if it was the extra filling, but I do know that this is an incredible pasty.  Absolutely nothing like any pstry that I had in Denmark, but well worth the time and effort.

Changes that I might make:  I might add more flour and make it more bread-like.  I might heat my kitchen so that it's warmer or wait for a warmer day.

This may kill my determination to not over-indulge in 2011.  If it does I'll just be happy with my buttery, buttery pastry. 

PS:  Did I mention how unattractive the whole mess looked?  I need a photo next time.