So, just when we thought we’d ferreted out all the ways that supply could possibly be interrupted we get thrown another doozy this week. Mr Vivi duly arrived early to work this morning and threw open the cold room door expecting boxes and boxes of lamb hearts to be waiting for him in there.
What he actually found in there was…… nothing.
So, on the phone to the supplier it was.
It turns out that the wild weather off Melbourne last week that led to a bit of a catastrophe with the Spirit of Tasmania breaking its moorings and smashing up the dock also led to a bit of a catastrophe in the world of The Meat Men.
No ships between Melbourne and Tasmania mean no Tasmanian lamb to the mainland either … or their hearts. So here we sit, Australia Day and the first day of school almost upon us and we are lamb-less. It’s un-Australian! #funnynotfunny
And that, Vivsters, is why if we didn’t laugh we’d cry.
smashed pretzels on chocolate peanut butter icebox cake by dissection connection
A few weeks ago icebox cakes entered my zeitgeist. Suddenly they seemed to be everywhere and my brain was coming up with endless tasty combinations that I could experiment with. Who knows where these things come from, but since I would eat cardboard if it was slathered in whipped cream I ran with it.
First there was the gingernut apple pie icebox cake I made when mum and dad came for Sunday lunch. This was shortly followed by a strawberry shortcake version which was good but a bit less of a success. The entire time, though, I had a chocolate peanut butter creation building itself in my head. I let it brew for a couple of weeks and this weekend I was ready to give it a go. Mr Vivi rates it the best one yet.
Icebox cakes are layers of biscuits and whipped cream interspersed with any kind of flavouring you fancy. Fruit, syrup and jam are all popular options. The assembled cake is left in the fridge overnight to let the biscuits soften to a cake-like consistency. Icebox cakes have a tendency to look like a cowpat on a plate if you don’t decorate them. Some crushed biscuits, a drizzle of syrup or some extra fruit on top will make them look a treat and you’ll be the belle of the ball.
These are the kinds of recipes that are great for this time of year. It’s hot, you’re time poor and you have to show up to the party with something. This is the recipe you can throw together out of anything that takes your fancy in the supermarket. The only downside is that it does need to spend overnight in the fridge before you eat it to let the layers blend and meld.
If you’re feeling up to it you can make your favourite biscuits from scratch, but I’m too busy and lazy for that. So tell me, Vivsters, what is your favourite go to recipe for the summer bring-a-plate party merry-go-round?
Chocolate Peanut Butter Icebox Cake
an original recipe by Miss Vivi
1 pack plain chocolate biscuits
peanut butter
600mL bottle of cream
salted pretzels
1. Glop a couple of spatulas of peanut butter into a bowl. I used about 1/3 of a big jar of smooth peanut butter. Next time I will use crunchy for a bit of added texture.
2. Slop in a dollop of cream from a 600mL bottle. Blend with a hand mixer and keep adding cream until the entire bottle has been blended into the peanut butter. Beat to a stiff whip.
3. Make a layer of biscuits on a plate. I stick them to the plate with a smear of cream to stop them moving around during the next step.
4. Glop some peanut butter cream on the biscuits and smoosh it around until they are all covered with a nice thick layer of cream.
5. Make another layer of biscuits. Cover with cream and keep building up the layers until you have a nice pile of chocolate-peanut butter goodness. Cover the pile with the last of the cream. Try to ignore the cowpat look of the cake.
6. Refrigerate overnight. Decorate with crushed pretzels for some crunch and some saltiness to offset the richness of the cream.
Delicious rating: Lock up your husbands
chocolate peanut butter icebox cake; my Mum’s fridge must have more airflow than mine because this one looks a bit dried out but it was creamy delicousness on the inside
We believe Lab Technicians and science Teachers are subjected to enough chemical exposure during their career as it is. Students, too, deserve to learn in an environment that limits their chemical exposure to those experiments that require the use of chemicals in a controlled and safe manner.
The specimens supplied by Dissection Connection are 100% chemical preservative free. No formalin, no glycol, no nothing. The exception are the small intestines which are packaged in a solution of sterile 0.9% saline to prevent dehydration of the specimen.
