Lost in Translation

Clever film showing the risk of using web-based machine translation.

The original text was translated through various languages and back to English. Here are the hilarious results.

Popsicle Report

After visiting our friends near Lyon, France this summer who made lots of yummy homemade popsicles, the boys were into them, so I have been experimenting with popsicles since our return (see our earlier entry about our France trip report and photos!)

Here is what we went through to find the successful recipes stateside, below!

Experiment #1: A lot of recipes suggest using vanilla yogurt and mixing with various things. First experiment was to mix with mini chocolate chips and also, separately, with fresh, mashed strawberries. Result: the choc chip one was weird. It was too hard and when it started to melt, it was, well, like yogurt. I like the strawberry ones (taste is really good), but they are too hard for the kids.

Experiment #2: Second experiment was "chocolate pops" cool whip (to make popsicles softer when frozen, as I would never buy this normally - ick), some milk, and 3 oz. pack of instant chocolate pudding, from a recipe online. I should have gone with my first instinct, because these were yucky. The chocolate had that fakey taste, like instant chocolate pudding, I guess. My kids' taste buds are too sophisticated I guess, because they were not too keen for them either. ;)

Success Story #1: Then, I made the tried and true approach that Cathy in France had used. Went to liquor store to get fruit syrups (very common in France, and you can buy at liquor stores in US). I bought grenadine and orange syrup. They have lots of other flavors. The kids really liked these. They are a bit hard too, but not so bad and more appropriate for this type of mixture.

Recipe for Fruit Syrup Popsicles
2 cups water or fizzy water
1/3 cup fruit syrup

Pour into popsicle molds and freeze overnight or 4+ hours.

Success Story #2:

Watermelon Raspberry Popsicles
2-1/2 cups seeded diced watermelon
1/2 cup fresh raspberries or frozen unsweetened, thawed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon crème de cassis (black currant-flavored liqueur) or light corn syrup

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor; puree until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds or paper cups, dividing equally. Freeze overnight. These worked really well--the consistency is also very good--and are so tasty!

Variations: use strawberries instead, use jam if you have no fresh fruit, add some fresh mint. Use chambord instead of cassis. Leave out liqueur if for kids (I guess - would one TBS really matter?).

Tips:

Consistency: I read on the Internet that the main problem with homemade popsicles is that they are too hard, which our experiments have born out. The use of corn syrup (or liqueur) is used to counteract this (see watermelon recipe above).

Molds: I ordered shooting star molds and they are nice. But, they are also kind of big (big serving for kids for sure). I also have used kid-sized paper cups. You can either freeze part way and then insert wooden popsicle sticks, or cover each filled cup with plastic wrap. Cut a small hole in middle of plastic wrap with point of a knife and stick popsicle stick in there. It will hold it in place as popsicle freezes. Make sure the sticks are straight up after you place them in the freezer.