Butterhorn Rolls

1 package yeast
1⁄2 cup sugar
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk, lukewarm
2 eggs, beaten
4 1⁄2 cups flour, sifted
1⁄2 cup butter, melted

Crumble yeast into a bowl; add sugar, salt, milk, and eggs.
Mix well; add half of flour and beat well.
Add melted butter and remainder of flour.
Knead until smooth, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Divide in half, roll each piece into a circle 1/4 inch thick.
Butter, if you like and cut each piece into 16 pie shaped pieces.
Roll each piece, beginning at the wide end towards the tip end, so that the tip is kept at an equal distance from each end of the roll.

Arrange shaped rolls on a well-greased baking sheet, placing the tip underneath the roll to prevent it from popping up and spoiling the shape of the roll.
Allow rolls to rise until doubled and bake at 375F for 12 to 15 minutes.

Ramen: Indomie Barbeque Chicken Flavor

While not always true; it is a common rule of thumb that the more packets in a package of ramen the better. Indonesia’s Indomie Barbeque Chicken Flavor boasts five packets and has a superior flavor. Part of the attraction is that each packet can be used either partially or in total depending on desired taste. As this was my first time trying it, I used all of each, and was pleased with the results.

The noodles are meant to be drained after cooking, which makes it a noodle dish instead of a ramen soup. The instructions state to mix all the packets contents together before adding to the noodles. To minimize the amount of dishes required, I cooked the noodles in a bowl, then transferred the noodles to a strainer, using the bowl to mix the packet contents before returning the noodles and tossing to cover.

The result was a pleasant sweet spicy noodle flavor that I enjoyed, definitely a noticeable step up from average ramen, although I’d like it even better if it included more dried vegetable garnish.

Clay Pipe

Clay pipes these days are somewhat of a rarity, with glass being the material of choice for many. However, once upon a time clay was one of the more popular materials for pipes, so I thought in the spirit of tradition I’d make a couple, besides, I had some leftover clay and used my glassmaking kiln.

Before firing.

The above is the formed pipe before firing. I used a combination of white and black clays, although the colors are much sharper after firing. I used a bamboo skewer in a plastic straw to build the pipe around to make the hole through the stem. The skewer adds stability as an armature, but in and the straw can be slid out before firing (although if the straw gets stuck, there won’t be much trace of it after firing).

After forming, the clay must be allowed to completely dry or escaping steam may fracture the piece. It must be dried slowly or the difference in the outer and inner shrinkage can also create cracking.

After firing the colors are more obvious. This was fired at slightly over 2,000 F.

Ramen: Lucky Me! Artificial Beef Flavor

Good flavor, comes with flavor packet and garnish packet. The instructions call for 2 cups of water, but the seasoning is potent enough to season them well. Slightly spicy but not overly so. There are odd meat-ish flavored balls in the garnish. They tasted okay, but a little TVP (textured vegetable protein) tasting and may not be to everyone’s taste.