A couple of months back I went on a trip to California and discovered the magical banana cream pie at Coco’s Bakery. I’ve had fancier versions before (Tartine Bakery’s creation comes to mind), but Coco’s no-nonsense dessert reigns supreme.
In it, velvety custard and fresh bananas are stuffed into a buttery crust and topped with whipped cream and toasted walnuts. Delicious! I set out on a quest to duplicate Coco’s creation.
I realize that given some of the somewhat complex recipes and step-by-step tutorials I have in the archives one might incorrectly assume that something simple like a vanilla panna cotta would not excite me.
The best dishes, however, are often the simplest. The panna cotta, an Italian dessert as traditional as the tiramisu, epitomizes this idea. I am astonished that a dessert made from so few ingredients, simply stirred together and gently heated to a simmer, could be so wonderful.
A few months ago I read the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for English class. Sheep were only mentioned a few times. I was pretty disappointed because I was really looking forward to reading about electric sheep. Goats came up quite often though.
I ended up writing an essay on why the author chose goat ownership as a symbol for wealth. I really enjoyed the novel, and decided that acting like a character in the book for a few days would make for an interesting social experiment. I, of course, chose the goat.
