Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Cannibal Party



Okay, it wasn't a Cannibal Party, it was a book club meeting, but we were reading In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and I couldn't resist the cannibal tie in. I hosted the meeting, which was something I was very nervous about doing. I kept thinking of excuses why no one would want to come to my house (it's small, I don't have a clue how to decorate, it's upstairs, I think my house smells of sour milk all the time, etc.), but it turned out just fine and I even relaxed enough to have a good time.
For the party I helped Mike make Lady Fingers (pictured above, and yes, it was Mike's idea to paint the "stubs" red), I made my mom's Summer Cooler punch with a large ice cube in the shape of a human hand,

and I made Hard Tack :

I used a recipe for the Hard Tack from a Civil War memorial society, so it wasn't exactly historical to the book. I enjoyed the Hard Tack because I was so very curious about what survivors of the Essex ate, and once I tasted how salty it was I decided that 93 days of 6 oz. of Hard Tack and half a pint of water was impossible.

7 comments:

renée said...

Um... that's pretty disgusting.

and

Can I get those recipes from you?

:o)

Tina said...

You bet! Most of the women at book club reacted the same way to the lady fingers. But almost everyone tried one anyway.

Karl and Andrea said...

The fingers look awesome!! My kids would love them. I like mike's idea by painting the ends red they turned out really good.

Dimples :) said...

That is so gross! Since 9th grade English, I've had really bad reactions to all things about cannibalism. What can I say? My English teacher had us read accounts of the Donner Party. We also read Alive and A Modest Proposal all in the same year. Ewwwww!

ol' Bob said...

The cookies look like Halloween party treats.

The hard tack (slightly stale) tasted like dried-up play-dough.

Never mind.

Robert said...

It reminds me of hiking a portion of the Mormon Battalion trail in San Diego... we ate hard tack as part of the adventure. And at one point I thought you and Danny and Eli were lost.

Love, Vickie

Megan said...

Tina! I just discovered your blog via Tami's. I can't believe I've been missing out for so long. Love it. And this post brought back some happy memories. I think the book club you hosted was one of our best ever. We will have to put you in charge again soon. Hope you are feeling better today. I think the heat makes nausea worse, so I hope you're doing ok. Drop me an email if you need a break from Zeke so you can take a nap or go someplace air conditioned like a movie. I could come and get him anytime. I even have an extra carseat his size. And did you get the email about lunch tomorrow? Hope you can join us. Though it will probably become an indoor event.