Bringing up Baby

We have discovered the couple we are renting from has a good taste in old film classics. Amber, the wife, has had a constant stream of oldies but goodies such as ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Wait until Dark’ coming in from Netflix.

‘Bringing up Baby’ is a 1938 movie with Cary Grant and Catherine Hepburn, their first of three films together. It is a comedy with Grant as an engaged nerdy paleontologist who meets Catherine Hepburn, an eccentric young women, who is instantly infatuated with him. Everything Hepburn meddles in turn aria including Grants life. I won’t give any more of the plot away. We weren’t sure what to expect when we sat down to watch it. However, we were surprised to find ourselves laughing through a majority of it and joyously entertained at the conclusion. I feel confident recommending it to those who can appreciate a good comedy or an old classic.

Any other classics people would recommend?

Pão De Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Ingredients
2 cups manioc starch (I used Tapioca Starch)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine (I prefer butter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese (mix of cheese)
2 eggs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Bring the milk, salt, and margarine to a boil.
3. Remove from heat.
4. Slowly add manioc starch, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed.
5. Add the cheese and eggs.
6. Knead until smooth.
7. Form into balls approximately 2-inches in diameter and place on a greased baking sheet.
8. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
9. Bake until golden brown.
10.Eat while hot.
Makes 20 cheese puffs.

My latest cooking project has been trying to recreate the Cheese Bread from my mission in Brazil. I dug around online and found a bunch of recipes and they all seemed about the same. The one above worked out well; unfortunately I don’t have the reference to it. They all call for the use of Manioc Flour. I wasn’t sure I could find anything like that, so I searched and discovered that you can use tapioca starch as a substitute.

First attempt:
I didn’t have Minidoka flour or Tapioca starch so I was going to try corn starch, but I didn’t have enough, so I tried part corn starch and part flour. It really didn’t work out. They were hard, dry, and bland.

Second attempt:
I found some Tapioca Starch at the International Market up the street and I bought a couple boxes so I won’t run out. I followed the recipe as it is, except I did ½ cup of parmesan cheese and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. They turned out well. The picture above is when they came out of the oven.

Future attempts:
I am going to try and reduce the amount of butter; I think I could take out at least half. I think more parmesan would be better too.