Chime -- Franny Billingsley

Chime by Franny Billingsley.

I am presenting a booktalk for Mock Printz at the library! I really really liked this book. The first time I read it I cried a lot. And then I read it again to write up my presentation and I cried a lot again. You can take that as a recommendation or not.

( How long can a clever girl trick her own self? )

New things every day

At last I have come to the end of my pudding-related misadventures!

A thick plastic mixing bowl is not the proper ad-hoc double boiler for puddings because it conducts heat rather poorly. It will get the pudding up to around 140 degrees F, but not quite hot enough for the cornstarch to thicken the pudding.

However, if you melt the chocolate in your ad-hoc double boiler and then transfer the mixture to a saucepan, and cook it over very low heat while stirring constantly, it will thicken up and you will get pudding.

(I think I learned something from Meaghan's double-boiler troubles last weekend. She has stainless steel mixing bowls and I was astonished how quickly her chocolate melted -- so much so that it went all the way to seizing in the blink of an eye, though we were able to salvage it. I didn't realize how much difference the bowl made!)