Boxed water is better

A company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, called Boxed Water Is Better has come up with a product that is part philosophical art project and part solution to the bottled water conundrum. Their idea is that bottled water should not contribute to our environmental woes, but should actively help alleviate them.

They propose to sell water in cartons, because:

• 90% of the container is from a renewable resource (when the trees are responsibly harvested, they are quick to point out).
• The cartons are shipped flat and then filled locally, thus reducing their carbon footprint (it reduces the size and number of truckloads to get the water shipped anywhere).
• Post consumer, the cartons can be recycled in most places (for more information on recycling cartons where you live, check the Carton Council's website).
  

On top of that, the company is donating portions of their profits* to the resources their product uses: 10% to world water relief foundations and 10% to reforestation foundations.

Boxed Water is currently only available in Michigan, but here's hoping the idea spreads. If I see one more plastic water bottle wash up on the beach I'm going to explode (actually no, first I'll pick up the bottle and throw it into the trash, again, and then I'll explode).

*In the name of full disclosure, the company mentions that as a young start-up, they haven't actually made any profits to donate yet. They're also looking for more suggestions on worthy foundations.

For you scrambled egg lovers

Scrambled eggs was the clear winner in the egg-cooking poll, so this video is for you. Every January, for the past 30 years, the town of Uzès (in the south of France, near Avignon) celebrates truffle season by cooking a giant pan of scrambled eggs. They used 2,500 eggs, 10 quarts of olive oil and 4-1/2 pounds* of truffles. Check it out.



*at today's prices, in this country, 4-1/2 pounds of French black truffles would cost you about $4,900!!

The ministry of silly cakes

There's a really fun blog called Cake Wrecks that you should spend some time poking around. The subtitle of the blog is "When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong." The blog owner, Jen, has been posting pictures of aforementioned hilarious cakes since May 2008. By her definition, a Cake Wreck is

...any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate--you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons.

The wrecks fall into several categories including Beyond Bizarre, Creepy Cakes, Oh-So-Ugly and one of my favorites, Literal LOLs. In this last category are the cakes that have messages written on them as requested over the phone by the client, and as badly interpreted by the bakery employee at the other end.

Case in point is the photo above. The client had requested a message reading: "Phillip . . . woo-hoo!" Because it was over the phone, the bakery guy heard the words "dot, dot, dot" as something else...

Orange-Glazed Pound Cake

Did you know the word Bundt (as in Bundt pan) is more or less a made up word? It derives from the German word bund (which is where we get the English word bundle), but it is really just the trademark name for the shaped tube cake pan invented in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1950, by a company called Nordic Ware. In the six decades since, Nordic Ware has created all manner of variations on the original.

This brings me to today's pound cake recipe. The reason that pound cakes and Bundt pans play so nicely together is that a pound cake has a very fine grain to it and the cake will conform to all the little nooks and crannies of a Bundt pan. And as long as you're up, why not take the opportunity to put it to the test with one of the more elaborate pans that Nordic Ware makes (all about $30), to wit:

1 Cathedral pan
2 Chrysanthemum pan
3 Bavaria pan

Orange-Glazed Pound Cake
I originally tested this in a three-dimensional Easter bunny pan. The result was very cute, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to cut the cake into serving portions. (Aunt Zelda, would you like an ear or a piece of the left leg?) So I switched to a 10-cup Bundt pan instead. If you have a bunny pan, this recipe will work nicely in it (as long as it will hold 10 cups of batter).

As with any pound cake, this should be served in thin slices. If you'd like, you could double or triple the orange glaze and serve it at the table for guests to drizzle over their cake.

CAKE
Butter and flour for the pan
6 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (12 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

GLAZE & TOPPING
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
2 tablespoons water
Powdered sugar, for dusting

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and flour a 10-cup Bundt cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, orange juice concentrate and vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, combine the flour, granulated sugar, orange zest, baking powder and salt, and blend. Add half the egg mixture and all of the butter. Beat on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Beat on high speed for 1 minute.
4. Add the remaining egg mixture in two parts, beating well after each addition. Spoon the batter into the pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.
7. Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the orange juice and water just to warm. While the cake is still warm, brush with the warmed orange juice mixture.
8. Just before serving, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

Makes 16 servings

Salt as art medium

Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto makes incredible sculptures and art installations out of salt. He began doing so after the death of his sister 12 years ago. As he explains:

"I have had the dilemma, in grief and surprise, of thinking about what I had and lost. I started making art works that reflected such feelings and continue it as if I were writing a diary. Many of my works take the form of labyrinths with complicated patterns, ruined and abandoned staircases or too narrow life-size tunnels, and all these works are made with salt."

Visit his website to get the true scope of his work, but especially click on the section called Images, where you will find a series of videos of Yamamoto creating one of his giant salt mazes.

Inside-out salt shaker

I'm on a salt shaker roll.

From designer Jason Amendolara at the wonderful Fred & Friends comes this salt shaker called SaltSide Out™. The classic cafeteria salt shaker shape is housed inside a handblown glass cylinder, and the salt goes outside the shaker. Perfect for April Fool's Day.

You can get it for $14 from perpetual kid.