Plantation Pie?

My grandmother is pining for a '40's confection which she remembers as "Plantation Pie" -- two chocolate-covered graham crackers with marshmallow between. My father remembers the next generation of the cookies as "Marshmallow Shockabsorbers". What the heck are these things?

As far as I can tell, plantation pie can refer to almost any type of actual pie, sweet or savory, with little linking the recipes together. I could find no trace of Plantation Pie as a trade name for a cookie.

A search on marshmallow shock absorber, on the other hand, basically turns up bras.
Is it as simple as the venerable Moon Pie? It is a marshmallow sandwich. It has graham cracker cookies. It is dipped in chocolate. There are both normal cookie-sized versions and hockey puck versions. It was invented around 1917, so was definitely around in the '40's. It tends to have a third interior cookie, but I think that is a later addition.
There aren't many other possibilities. Nabisco used to make a "marshmallow sandwich", but I think it is post-War origin.

If it is actually a Moon Pie, there are recipes available online. But they should also be at every supermarket and convenience store in California.

Painting

Recognize this? It is a section of our "turtle room" which is in the process of being transformed into an actual formal (and presumably generally dog-free) living room. To keep busy during his visit, my dad and I knocked off a bunch of things I've been pushing away. We kitted out our library, painted an accent wall in the living room and stuck up some molding, did some micro soldering on the canopy unit in my Subaru to fix a separated resistor, painted the downstairs bathroom some shades of blue and finally permanently affixed its seahorse handle which I got for NDM last Christmas, got the Altima running again, blah blah blah. I was too lazy to take pictures of the most exciting stuff (i.e. the micro soldering of a tight, partially obscured half-millimeter joint with a shaved copper wire).

Thanks, dad!

Weary Dog (Pets)

My parents' visit was exhausting for the dogs. Besides the excitement of different people, 'Dolon was on high alert during all of the cooking and baking we did. There are risks associated with close inspection of my wife's endeavors in the kitchen, however, as you can see above.
After almost a week of fun 'Dolon has become a passive and unresisting pillow.

Visit Vittles (Chow)

The parents came for a visit last week and gave us an excuse to cook a few things we haven't for a while. The first night we made a deep-dish pizza with spinach and zucchini. It might look a little Abby-normal because of how the real buffalo mozzarella melts. Unfortunately, I went a bit overboard saucing it during construction so it was a little messy to eat.
After LEM left for California, leaving only seafood lovers in the house, NDM made fantastic fish 'n' chips out of some tilapia fillets. These are as good as any fried fish I've ever had.
We finished up with some seafood gumbo made with scallops, shrimp, krill, mussels, clams, and tilapia.
For desert one night NDM whipped up some cashew brittle. This is the second time she's made it and she has it down pat -- delicious.
To welcome LEM back at the end of the visit we made some household-first caramel corn. First NDM threw about a half cup of popcorn kernels in a covered bowl and microwaved it for about 4 minutes on high until they were almost all popped. Then she made a caramel sauce on the stove out of brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup and brought it to the soft crack stage. The sauce and popcorn went on a baking tray in the oven for an hour, allowing the sauce to bubble and cover all of the popcorn. I'm not one for caramel corn myself, but it was certainly the best I've ever had.

Fox Populi (Reblog)

Can you believe we live in a country where it is considered appropriate for members of our news media to refer to a presidential candidate as Barack "Hussein" Obama? Indeed, it may actually be a winning strategy for John "McCarthy" McCain. In my opinion, anyone who endorses that kind of election behavior, as McCain has implicitly and his campaign has explicitly done, is not fit to serve our country in any role.

Flood Puppies (Pets)

EQ sent us some photos from a few weeks ago when the retention area in her back yard was flooded and we took the puppies over for a play date. Above Daisy and our dogs are in the shallows -- that water stretches another couple hundred feet and gets as deep as their withers.
Líle exuberantly speed-bunny-hopped back and forth. In order to keep up her speed in the deeper water she couldn't use a normal gait -- every move had to be a leap.
Running through water has to be pretty exhausting, but even though the north margin of the yard was above water they still preferred the flood. Here's a rare snap of Líle on moist land.

Puppy Snacks (Pets)

So today we discovered something else our puppies like to eat: DAP DryDex spackle. It is like candy, and they lick it right off of the wall. Thanks to the ASPCA's Animal Poison Control Center, we know that dogs usually eat this stuff by the cupful, so for the teaspoon or so our crazies consumed we just had to squeeze some milk through them. Alas, no discount for having worked with PCC on their medical records and case management software!

I guess we should have been more alert after 'Dolon ate the sanding sponge on the way home.

Mustard Verdict (Chow)

I finally got around to making a small loaf of fresh bread so we could try my first stab at mustard. The verdict is in, and NDM and I both give it a thumbs up. I was afraid from the aroma after preparation that this would be far too vinegary, and maybe a little thin as well -- but neither fear was realized. The Frankenrecipe I created from trolling 100 different online mustard recipe resources produced a well-balanced, slightly sweet, moderately spicy mustard with a deep complexity of flavors. Mmm! I think I have my basis from which I can eventually manufacture any number of weird mustards.

Just to be sure, I'm going to take the jar up to my parents this weekend and see what they think.

A Ribbon Runs Through It (Pets)

Líle can make a toy out of anything. Once, anyway, as she grants it the sweet release of death. This ribbon entertained her for several days before meeting its end -- she may have been experimenting to see if each remnant would eventually grow into an adult ribbon.

The Hammock's Last Hurrah

NDM managed to get a lot of good studying done in the hammock this year. A huge amount of studying if she was dreaming about zoo boards. But the hammock isn't just about work; it is also Líle's rocking magical licking cradle and puppy gas emporium.
Until next year, hammock!

Mustard Theory (Chow)

So I figured I'd take a stab at home-made mustard. Google suggests there are just a few simple stages to making a mustard, once you forgo the addition of eggs in a double-boiler.

1. The soak. Whole mustard seeds soak in rougley equal parts of cold water or a 1:1 vinegar and wine mixture for at least 3 hours and as long as "overnight".
2. Optionally, the boil. In water, vinegar, or vinegar and wine boil down some dry mustard, salt, any sugars or honey, and whatever other flavors you want -- garlic, tarragon, allspice, peppers, etc. Usually this is strained so that only its liquid moves forward to the next stage.
3. The blend. The soaked mustard and all of its liquid, together with everything else, gets pulsed in the blender into the requisite degree of coarseness.
4. The sit. Into the refrigerator it goes until the next day.

So keeping it simple, and the recipe size small...

My soak, which I refrigerated for two days, because my wife is a slave-driver:

• 2T of Morton & Bassett's brown mustard seed.
• 1T of Colman's double superfine yellow mustard flour.
• 2T of white wine vinegar.
• 2T of 2006 Smoking Loon California merlot.

My boil, which I simmered until it was reduced by half:

• ½t allspice.
• ¼t mixed peppercorns.
  
• ½t ground sumac berries.
  
• ¼t turmeric.
• 1t kosher salt.
  
• 1T brown sugar.
  
• 2T water.

I didn't actually strain my boil, since the only solids it contained were peppercorns, easily ground up with the mustard seed. The results? Won't know until tomorrow, or the next time I bake bread, whichever comes last.