Monkey Business

Well, some monkey business truly has taken place this week. It appears that the monkeys have been busy tricking me! LOL! You see, I thought today was the First Anniversary of Gollum's Foodie Friday , a day when all the blogging foodies gather together for potluck. We've had lots of fun this past year and are looking forward to other fun foodie adventures in the next. To that end, I got together my anniversary post and posted it TODAY for TOMORROW. But this is NOT, I repeat NOT, Gollum's anniversary. It IS coming up in February, however! And I still want to thank Gollum for always being such a gracious hostess! :-)

This week, I have a troupe of wannabe thespians who have volunteered to produce a little foodie fun for you. Be forewarned. If they appear a tad simian in their demeanor, it's because they are simian with all that entails. So without further adieu, Banana Fanna Productions Presents:

A Day in the Life of Foodie Freddie or A Little Monkey Business

It was a glorious morning in Bongo Bongo. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon...

While Foodie Freddie was sleeping soundly, dreaming of bananas and colorful balloons...



First the sun looked one way...



And then the other...



Freddie, oblivious, was in monkey heaven, curled up under warm, cozy covers, his head on a sweet, soft pillow...



And then, without warning, the sun rose in all its morning splendor...



And day began...



Come on, Freddie , don't just lie there...



And don't even think about doing that...



Times a-wastin'...



There's work to be done...



And banana phones are ringing! Speaking of which...



"Hello there," says Freddie, says he...



"Hello, Freddie," says Mitzy with glee...



"I'm in the tub getting clean as can be"...



"Are you going to cook my dinner for me???"



"I'll be by about half past three!!!"



And with that, Mitzy (or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) hung up before Foodie Freddie had a chance to get a word in edgewise...



So he was off in a flash to Publix...



Then it was zip-zap-zip in the kitchen, and among other dishes, Freddie whipped together a banana pudding with the following ingredients...



Bananas, about forty-'leven of them. According to Freddie, you just bite them into nice size pieces. See...



Easy Peasy!

Then, you get some 'Nilla Wafers. These happen to be green ones (just because)...



Next comes the box of 'Nilla Puddin' mix (because monkeys like to cheat). Then you add some condensed milk (you know, the kind from condensed cows). Be sure to stir this with a sterling silver spoon because that makes everything taste SO much better, and don't forget to cook it on a magic stove (or not)...



And last but not least, add whipped cream, making sure to use only the kind that comes in a Herend trinket box and tastes like a wet paper towel (because it is a wet paper towel)...



Now that we've got all of our ingredients together, we're going to layer...



Beginning with the 'Nilla Wafers...



Followed by the banana bites...



Topped with the 'Nilla Puddin'...



And crowned with the whipped cream...



Then we take our finished product...



And magically transfer it to this cut glass trifle bowl...



Because presentation is everything...



These rare porcelain "socks" being a case in point...



Seen here juxtaposed against a banana urn in Herend's Chinese Bouquet...



And an heirloom Japanese tea set (that belonged to Mr. Magpie's great aunt), executed in a bamboo pattern (the tea set, not his aunt) and displayed on a Towle silver calling card tray (a tarnished remnant of its former self, relegated to life in a simian side show)...



Now, let's play with the dishes! :-)

The green and white bamboo dinner plates coordinate nicely with the geometric pattern of the tablecloth in tones of banana yellow and white...



Note that the salad plates are smaller versions of their dinner plate companions...



The heirloom napkins are tied with green satin ribbons from a clearance bin at Michael's...



Mitzy's sterling spoon is "Frontenac" by International...



Foodie Freddie's sterling spoon is what I believe to be an antique Whiting pattern, but I stand to be corrected if you know the pattern to be something different...



Lounging beneath silver palms, silver monkeys act as place card holders with place cards executed in a green and white treillage pattern (and pilfered from the inside of some unsuspecting envelope). These echo the Thibaut wallpaper in an adjoining room...



While blue flowers fill a Herend Chinese Bouquet urn...wait a minute, what's that I see there???



Well, I should have known better than to leave those silver monkeys unattended! Never trust a monkey further than you can throw him...



Moving right along, the same goes for twinkly-eyed monkeys of the sock variety no matter how innocent they appear...



He's a monkey. Don't trust him with a girl monkey, and be sure to keep an eye on the silver...



He'll use the excuse that the silver place card holder has his name on it as carte blanche to take souvenirs...



And with the girl, he won't even use that excuse...



But I've gotta say that those puddin' eating monkeys are awfully sweet and oh so romantic...



How do I love thee...



Let me count...



The ways...



I love thee to the depth ...



And breadth...



And height my soul can reach...



When feeling out of sight...



Ah, what a romantic you are, Foodie Freddie...



Sigh. You almost made me forget that we haven't had dessert yet...



And in case you think that banana pudding is dessert for a sock monkey, think again! That was merely the entree while the meal began with a fruit salad. So what's for dessert??? Well, for the lady's man himself, we have this sweet for the sweet...



And for Mademoiselle Mitzy, we have this sugary confection...



A cupcake guaranteed to make a lady's heart go pitter patter and color-coordinated with her outfit, too. That Freddie thinks of everything...



And right now, he has that starry-eyed look of a monkey in love...



But is it Mitzy or the pink marshmallows in the coffee cup that put that look in his eye???



Or is he just dazed from the sugar coma he got from sneaking into the cookie jar without us knowing it???



We may never know...



But one thing's for certain, with a charmer like Foodie Freddie around...



Every meal is more festive, particularly when each course is dessert! ;-)



Sweet Dreams!


The End.



Thank you so much for visiting me today. Here's hoping you enjoyed the monkeyshines in this tale. I'm sorry I've been MIA lately, but I've been up to my eyeballs in house repairs and fundraisers among other things. I hope to be back to blogging very soon, but I look forward to visiting you this weekend at your blog! I always enjoy seeing what you've been doing! :-)

Please visit our dear Gollum and wish her a Happy 1st Anniversary for Foodie Friday, and please be sure to visit her friends as well. They've all cooked some wonderful treats for you today! You can see all of these goodies by clicking right HERE!



I'm also going to link up to Pink Saturday since I have a tiny bit of pink in this post and since some of my pink friends enjoy sock monkeys and such. Please join sweet Beverly and the Pinkies by clicking HERE . There's always something fun to see on Pink Saturday as many artists participate in that meme. Tell you what, I'll race you there! :-)



Warmly,

Mrs. Magpie (Sheila)

P.S.

I wanted to share two versions of Banana Pudding with you. The first is the cheater's version I found in a family cookbook. The second is old-fashioned banana pudding made from scratch. I had tried to find Mr. Magpie's grandmother's version (the best I've ever eaten), but alas, we were unable to find her exact one. Since Grandmother would nevuh-evuh cheat with a receipt, I'm going to give a version that Mother Magpie and I feel is similar. Grandmother's recipe involved making your own custard and meringue from scratch. But first, the easy one...

No Brainer Banana Pudding

2 cups milk
2/3’s can of condensed milk (I use Eagle Brand)
1 small instant vanilla pudding mix
1 large container of whipped topping (I use Cool Whip)
5 or 6 bananas

Mix the milks together. Add milks to the pudding mixture.

Add one-third of whipped topping to mix.

Cover bottom of dish with vanilla wafers and add sliced bananas. Then add pudding. Top with remaining whipped topping. Regrigerate till serving time.

Old Fashioned Banana Pudding (this involves making a custard from scratch and cooking a meringue)

To begin, cut up your bananas into small pieces (less than 1/2 inch thick). Dip in lemon juice if you want to keep them from browning. Set aside.

Prepare custard. Note: I prefer to make mine in the top of a double boiler. While it takes more time (don't be surprised if it takes you at least 15 minutes or longer), it’s safer in my opinion. And if I can do it, you can do it, too! :-) I'm going to give you the ingredients for both versions... the one made in a double boiler and the one made in a heavy pan.

Note that the recipe calling for the double boiler custard also requires a loaf pan/dish in pyrex to bake the banana pudding, and the other recipe that uses the heavy saucepan for the custard calls for a 9 by 9 inch square dish in which to bake the banana pudding. I use pyrex.

For the Custard:

3/4 cup sugar (in double boiler recipe) to 1 cup sugar (in heavy pan recipe)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (in double boiler recipe) to 1/2 cup all-purprose flour (in heavy pan recipe)
Dash of salt(in double boiler recipe) to 1/2 teaspoon of salt (in heavy pan recipe)
4 egg yolks (use large or extra large eggs and reserve the whites to make your meringue)
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ripe, nice-sized bananas (in double boiler recipe) to 5 ripe nice-sized bananas (in heavy pan recipe)
1 box of vanilla wafers (about three dozen are used for this)
1 tablespoon of butter (for custard made in the heavy saucepan ONLY)

For the Double Boiler Custard Recipe:

Bring water to a simmer in the bottom of a double boiler. Mix sugar, salt and flour together in top of the double boiler, making sure the lumps are out. Beat egg yolks and add to milk. Add the milk and yolks to the mixture in the double boiler, stirring constantly to blend well. Continue to stir constantly until custard thickens. Cook this recipe uncovered. From my own experience, this process could take up to fifteen minutes or more. Just remember, it's a "process". Remove pan from heat. Add the vanilla, stirring well.

For the Heavy Saucepan Custard Recipe:

For this method, you start with mixing your dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt) until it’s well mixed with no lumps. Then in a heavy saucepan, you whisk the eggs well over medium heat. Next you alternate adding the dry ingredient mixture, milk, and vanilla a little at a time. Bring to a gentle boil. When it starts to thicken, you then add a tablespoon of cut up butter (no substitutes... margarine is a big no-no for this) and stir constantly. You don’t want it to burn. Boil and stir at this gentle boil stage until the custard reaches a thick pudding consistency. Be careful not to SCORCH it. This is why I like the safety of a double boiler. ;-)

Layer ingredients in pyrex . You can either layer them from the bottom: vanilla wafers, bananas, custard and repeat the ingredients, ending in meringue for the 9 by 9 inch dish, or you can layer them from the bottom starting with the custard, bananas, and vanilla wafers (repeating two or three times) and ending in meringue for the loaf dish. Some people glop it all together, but I like to do it the pretty way. ;-)

For the Meringue

4 eggs whites
5-6 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (for the loaf pan pudding) or 375 (for the 9 by 9 inch pan pudding)

Beat egg whites in a mixing bowl on high speed until they just start to form soft peaks and are still frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat until the egg whites stand in soft peaks. Using the mixer at high speed, add sugar a tablespoon at a time until the egg whites form stiff peaks. Then fold in vanilla and beat. Spread meringue over other ingredients that you layered in the dish, covering the entire top and the edges of the baking dish with meringue, sealing in the pudding. Bake until meringue is slightly browned (about 15 minutes for the loaf pan pudding at 350 degrees and about 12-15 minutes for the 9 by 9 inch pan pudding at 375 degrees). Refrigerate the banana pudding until time to serve.