Chile Rellenos and the Grandma that made me appreciate food

A while back, I was eating a Mexican restaurant with my mom and she ordered a Chile Relleno.  When I asked her why, she said it was her Mom's favorite and it makes her think of all the good times they had. She passed a couple years ago, but she would have been 97 this year.  She was my prim and proper Grandma.  The one who's makeup was always perfect, her manners impeccable, her attitude regal and kind, but could assert her will when necessary. 

And she was the one who really taught me to try new things.  When I was a little kid, I was a really picky eater.  Until almost age five, I ate hot dogs and green beans almost exclusively.  Put something new in front of me, and you're pretty much assured to have most, if not all of it on the plate a half hour later.  When I hit elementary school, I expanded a bit.  You could get me a burger from the old Dee's drive-in, but PICKLES ONLY!  I'd even scream that into the loudspeaker from the back seat myself, just to make sure.  You could put ketchup on my hot dog , but that mustard was just icky.  And don't even thick about relish!  There's BIG difference between relish and pickles to a five year old.

I went on a trip to my Grandma Lucich's house when I was seven.  We had just visited my uncle (who lived up the mountain DIRECTLY across from the Lucas Ranch so we got to see some of the Empire Strikes Back development!!! But that's another story) and decided to go to this little restaurant on the water in Sausalito.  It was quaint and homey and received the freshest seafood you could get anywhere in the world.  Mom ordered a shrimp cocktail, Grandma wanted the salmon and I was going to get one of the kid's meals.  Grandma squashed that plan and said, "We're going to have you try something new.  How about some Giant Prawns?"

"Ewwww.... I don't wanna!", I said

She retorted, "Honey, it's just like big french fries with a really yummy type of ketchup."

"No!  I want a hot dog!!", I whined.

Then she looked me directly in the eye with a combination of caring, determination and the slightest bit of menace, "Honey, you are going to try this.  And if you really don't like it, we'll get you something else.  But you have to at least try it.... and if you eat it all, I'll get you some ice cream."

So reluctantly, I waited for my weird new food.  They looked like bugs, I knew it would be horrible, I knew
the hot dogs were on the way.  I turned my nose up at the extraterrestrial meal when it was placed in front of me.  Grandma reassured me it was all right... and that ice cream was just around the corner.  So I doused it in the "weird ketchup" so it would at least TASTE like a hot dog and took a bite... and I was hooked.  I ate every single one of those prawns and started eating the leftover cocktail sauce with my fingers.  My mother was a little shocked, but my Grandma just smiled.  I got that ice cream and loved every bite.  And from that point on, I started trying some new things, because it may be just as good as those prawns.  Seafood buffets around the nation have seen decreased profits since that fateful day.

Grandma's birthday was earlier in the month.  So in honor of Grandma Lucich, I'm making a batch of Chile Rellenos.  They are simpler than you would think.  The key is to get the skins off.  The combination of the grilling/broiling and the bag steam will lift them right off.  You'll see them bubble off the body as the heat seeps into the meat of the pepper.  When one-half or two-thirds of the  skins have bubbled up or charred, remove them from the heat and give them the necessary time to steam in the bag.  And this preliminary cooking will also soften them up so by the time they come out of the oil, the edge of the fork will slice through the pepper. 

Chile Rellenos
Makes 6 Chiles

6 large Poblano or Pasilla chiles
1 pound block monterey jack or your favorite type of cheese
6 eggs, separated into whites and yolks
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
Oil for frying

Take the peppers and either roast them on the barbecue or place them under the broiler.  Cook until the skin bubbles up or chars on each side, making sure to turn them frequently to prevent burning.  Remove from heat and seal in a ziploc bag for ten minutes so the skin loosens.  Remove from the bag and pull the skin membrane off, scrape with a knife if necessary.

Slice down one side of each pepper just enough to remove the seeds and internal veins.  Cut the cheese into long strips and place them inside the peppers.  Do not overstuff.  Close the peppers and seal the slit with either a toothpick or a piece of spaghetti.

Beat the egg yolks for 20 seconds in one bowl. Whip the egg whites in a second bowl until extremely frothy, two-thirds of the way to the state of meringue.  Fold in the egg yolks. 

Pour enough oil in a saucepan to come up 2 inches up the sides and heat to 350 degrees.  Place the flour on a plate next to the beaten eggs.  Roll one pepper in flour until lightly covered all over.  Dip into egg mixture until completely covered.  Immediately place in the oil, rolling it or completely submerging it so the exterior of the batter solidified (so it won't stick to the bottom).  Repeat and add more peppers to the oil, but do not crowd them.  Cook them in the oil for 4 minutes or until golden brown.

The chiles can be covered with anything you'd like.  I happened to have some enchilada sauce and shredded monterey jack cheese for the picture above.  You can also cover them in a melted queso sauce, chile verde, or whatever you'd like!

So try some today, remember your elders and show them some respect!  They may just teach you something.

Marinated Flank Steak or how to turn shoe leather into sirloin steak

This week's recipe is not my own.  I openly admit it.  But it's incredibly good and I couldn't let a grilling season go by without sharing it.

We visited Liz's cousin, Pam, in Boise a few years ago and they prepared this flank steak for a big family barbecue.  Now usually flank and skirt steaks are the toughest cuts of meats you can buy.  A cut of meat is tougher depending on how close it was to the ground when it was part of the cow.  Since flanks and skirts come from the bottom of the chest and abdomen of the cow, it's some of the toughest.  The advantage it has is that it can be very flavorful.

This steak was delicious.  A perfect combination of salty, sweet, and spicy (and not in the hot spicy sort of way.)  And with the long marinade and preparation, it was pretty darn tender.  How did she make it this way?

First, the type of marinade.  A good marinade has a combination of acids, oils and spices to pass some great flavors into the tissues.  And her combinations were great.

Second, the length of time of the marinading process.  Now if you marinade something for flavor, you can do it for as little 15 minutes.  But the longer you marinade something, the softer the meat will be.  The acidity in the V8 and coke breaks down the muscle tissue during a good, loan soak.  It won't dissolve it all together like they show you in those science fair projects, but it will loosen up the fibers in the meat to where a skirt or flank steak can be almost as soft as a sirloin. 

Third, the scoring of the meat.  She dragged the knife vertically and horizontally across the top and bottom of the meat creating 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep.  Those slight slices gave the meat more surface area, so more chances for the marinade to sink in deeply.

Make sure you prepare this item at least a day before you plan on serving it, so the natural tenderizing can occur. 

Marinated Flank or Skirt Steak
Serves 4-6 depending on how big the steak is

1-2 lbs of flank steak
1/3 cup spicy V-8 juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 canola oil
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 can coke

Combine all of the marinade ingredients into a ziploc bag and shake until thoroughly combined.  Add the steak into the bag and seal tightly.  Place that bag into another bag or into an 8'x8' pan and place in the fridge for at least one day, up to three.  At least once a day, squeeze the bag to move the marinade around and flip the steak over so the other side is facing up.  When ready to cook, set your grill to high heat and cook the steak for 5 minutes each side.  Remove from the heat and let it rest for 5-8 minutes before cutting and serving.

So try this recipe tonight and see if you like Pam's recipe as much as I do.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza.. or the utter universal coolness of my freind Michele

So I had a craving for some barbecue chicken pizza the other day.  I've been making this since I was in college for my friends and it got me thinking about one of the best people I've met in my life. 

I met my friend Michele when I was working at this small retail store in the mall as I was working me and my wife through college.  She was the assistant manager at another location.  My ex-wife and I immediately became fast friends with her.

She's one of those people that everybody loves.  She has a vibrant personality that's contagious.  Just hearing her bubbly "Hello!" on the phone would just make your day brighter.  She's one of those people who truly cares about everyone in her life.  Her sense of humor is wonderful and her laugh will infect everyone around her.

She's a vast wealth of knowledge when it comes to pop culture.  When she worked at a local college, I'd watch people walk in and say, "Hey, what's that one song with that one girl who sings, blah, blah, blah, blah" and Michele could tell you the artist, song, album, year it was made, and the recording label off the top of her head.  She was IMDB before IMDB was around.  And when it comes to the Internet, she's a goddess. We were some of the first people to moderate chat rooms on AOL way back in the day and no matter where she would go online, a mob of people would follow.  Her awesome personality would emanate through the keyboard and people were drawn to her like a moth to a flame. 

We also had the same second job for a while at a used CD store.  We'd occasionally luck out and have the same shift and the conglomeration of music put into the store's CD player was always eclectic to say the least.  I remember when Michele, Joe and I would sit on the couch on Sunday evenings, devour entirely too much pizza and watch a movie or two.  We'd stay up until all hours just talking about everything and nothing at the same time. 

And when I was in the darkest time of my life, she was by my side, reassuring me that everything would work out for the best.  And she was right. Having her in my life helped me keep my sanity when the world fell in around me.  I don't know how I would have made it through without a great friend like her.

My life is infinitely better now.  And I'm an infinitely better person for having her in my life.  Yes, I'm speaking in superlatives and hyperbole, but this is one of those cases where it is completely justified.  Michele's one of the best people on the planet.  I'm extremely lucky to have someone like her in my life.  Yesterday was her birthday, so this recipe is dedicated to her.

Barbecue Chicken Pizza is deceptively simple.  Use your favorite barbecue sauce as the base.  Also, use good bacon, don't cheap out on this part.  If your local grocery store has some fresh cut bacon in their butcher block, get it.  And you can use other cheeses as well.  If you want a smokier taste, you can add some shredded Gouda or muenster as well.  You can also add some heat to it by adding some jalapenos.  Just be careful.  One jalapeno can go a long way on a pizza.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Serves 4-6

1 pizza crust (you can use my recipe if you want)
1 cup favorite barbecue sauce
3/4 lbs cooked chicken breasts
1/4 pound bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled into small pieces
1/2 purple onion
1 teaspoon cilantro
1 1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1 1/2 cup grated colby jack cheese
1 jalapeno pepper (optional if you want heat)


Prepare the ingredients.  You can either cut the cooked chicken breast across the width, making small thin slices or shred the meat using two forks to pull it into small pieces.  Cook the bacon and crumble it into small bits.  Cut the onion in half and then slice across it as well, creating very thin half moons when you're done.  Saute the onions over high heat for 2 minutes, just so they loosen up a little.  Slice the top off of the jalapeno, remove the internal veins and seeds, then slice them into small disks.  Chop the cilantro into small flakes.

Roll the pizza crust out to the desired size.  Spread the barbecue sauce liberally across the crust.  Cover the pizza with the chicken, bacon, onions and jalapenos.  Next, distribute the cheeses over the top, trying to cover as much of the area as possible.  Sprinkle your desired amount of cilantro over the top of the cheese to add some color, it's more of an accent flavor and a decoration than anything else.  Place in a 425 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.  For best results, cook on a pizza stone.

So make one of these this weekend and enjoy it with your best friend... better yet, reconnect with a friend you haven't spoken to in a while and invite them over for dinner.  Michele, if you're ever in SLC, there's one of these waiting for you.

Pizza Dough and over 1,000 visits!!!!

That Means We Get Pie has reached a significant milestone.  In the space of a little more than 3 months, we've have over 1,000 visits!!!  Thank you all for reading the recipes, trying them out and the all wonderful comments.  Keep watching for a celebratory giveaway coming up in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, please continue to spread the news of the blog.  Tell your friends, tell your family, Like the That Means We Get Pie Facebook page and become an official Follower on this blog page. 

So in celebration of this milestone, I'm making homemade pizza over this weekend. In making any type of pizza-like item, be it basic thin crust pizzas, deep dish Chicago-style pizza, calzones, or strombolis, you have to start with a good basic crust.  You may use the best toppings in the world, but if the crust tastes like cardboard, it's going to be bad.  So here's the basic recipe I use for all my recipes.

Pizza Crust
Makes 2 12-14 inch crusts

1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tablespoons dry yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/8 cup olive oil

Warm about 1/2 cup of water in a cup up to 110-115 degrees, no hotter.  Add in the brown sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add the yeast and stir again until the yeast is incorporated.  Let it sit for 5-10 minutes so it gets all foamy.

In the bowl of a large mixer, add 4 cups of the flour and the salt.  Mix a little and then make an indentation in the center.  Pour the olive oil in and let it sit for a minute or two.  Add the yeast mixture to the flour and mix for two minutes.  Add the other cup of water and mix for another 8 minutes using the hook attachment of your mixer.  Remove from the mixer and knead for two more minutes.  Now if you don't have a mixer with a hook attachment, stir with a large spoon for until incorporated and then knead for ten minutes.  The constant kneading will build up the gluten in the dough so it will become strechy for you later.  Place the dough ball in a bowl rubbed with a small amount of olive oil rubbed over the inside so it doesn't stick.  Then rub a little olive oil on the top of the dough, cover it with a paper or kitchen towel and sit it somewhere warm for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled.

From here, you can use it for anything you want.  Roll it out thin, put it on a heated pizza stone and make a couple of pizzas like this or this.  Divide it into quarters or eighths and make some calzones, or roll it out, cut it into squares and make a batch of strombolis. 

Ice Cream 110 - Pineapple Sorbet and how to beat the Heat Index

Let me first say that I truly feel for those of you in the South and East.  You're experiencing 100 degree temperatures with close to 100% humidity.  I've experienced 110 degree weather in Phoenix and that's NOTHING compared to humit heat.  Because at least  when it's dry, there are ways to cool down.  A wet heat?  That's a whole different story.
For those of you who are fortunate enough to live in a non-humid place, let me explain.  Have you ever sat in a sauna?  Sure, after a workout, it can be a great relaxing break.  The humidity and the heat can help clear out the sinuses, assist your breathing, and sweat out some of the toxins.  Sitting in a swimsuit in a sauna is comfortable.  Now imagine you're in that same sauna wearing a turtleneck sweater, ski pants and a steel toed boots.  Every exposed area of skin heats up to fever temperatures.  Sweat all you want, it won't evaporate to cool you off.  The moisture in the air and the the moisture dripping off your head makes your hair either stick to your head of frizz out of control.  And every piece of clothing you are wearing is soaked, either by the absorbed water in the air, or your own natural moisture.

Sure, you can find some respite from the heat in an air-conditioned building, but the moisture remains, making everything stick to your body.  Want to take a cool shower for some relief?  Fine, but no matter how hard you try, you will never be completely dry.  And air drying your hair is a joke.  Even after all that, the minute you walk out the door, that wall of oppresive heat immediately hits you and you're back to a super-moist, soul-draining hell.  Parts of Minnesota reached a heat index (what the temperature feels like with all the extra moisture) of 124 degrees earlier this year.  That's deadly type heat.

The only way I found to escape the heat was to cool myself internally.  I devoured anything that was icy and flavorful.  Slurpees and snow-cones were a constant snack.  Popsicles helped occasionally.  In New Orleans, I'd have a hurricane a day, but waking up in weird locations wearing beads was not as much fun as you'd think it would be.  But what really worked for me were different types of ice cream.

Now eating ice cream every day, a couple of times a day, can really rack up the calories and fat grams.  Especially when you're adding peanut butter cups, chocolate syrup, caramel, etc.  So in search of a much lighter option, I turned to sorbets.

The big advantage to sorbets is that they are natually fat-free.  So sure, you still get all the sugar of ice cream, but your arteries will have fewer fat globules floating around.  All come from fruit juice or pureed pieces of fruit.  And you can use anything you want.  Be it a strawberry sorbet, raspberry sorbet, blackberry sorbet, lemon sorbet, peach sorbet, mango sorbet, pineapple sorbet, melon sorbet, or even watermelon sorbet, as long as it can be turned into a delicious paste in a food processor, or pressed into juice, it can be turned into a sorbet.  Combine any flavors you desire to make something a little more exotic.

Now making sorbet is just as easy as making ice cream.  The big difference is that there are no dairy products in it.  The recipe is very simple; it's a mixture of 1 part water, 1 part sugar and 2 parts pureed fruit or juice. 
The key to smooth sorbet is a long mix in the ice cream machine.  The more mixing you do, the more air that is whipped in, so as it solidifies in the freezer it remains easier to scoop.  My example above is a pineapple sorbet, because I had it lying around at the time.

Berry or Fruit Sorbet
Makes one quart

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cups fruit
Juice from half a lemon

Pour the water and sugar into a small saucepan and stir until combined.  Increase the heat to medium high and cook until boiling.  Reduce the heat, place the mixture into a bowl and place in the fridge for at least an hour so the mixture cools completely.

Place the fruit you intend to use in a food processor and puree until it's thoroughly chopped.  If the fruit has seeds, pour the mixture through a strainer into the chilled sugar/water mixture.  If there are no seeds, just pour directly into the sugar water and stir. Add the whole mixture to the ice cream machine and run for at least 30 minutes.  Once the sorbet has frozen as nuch as it can, remove the sorbet to a freezer-safe bowl and place in the freezer for at least 2 hours.  Serve with more fruit on the side.

So make a batch of whatever type sorbet you like tonight and attempt to stay frosty when the oppesive heat descends upon your town.

Buttermilk Biscuits, Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits, and morning discussions on the Drama Couch

So this weekend is my 20 year high school reunion.  Yes, I'm that old.  I'm not old, I'm just that old, 20 years plus graduation age, you do the math.  I really don't worry about growing old that much.   I may look like my late 30's, but inside I still feel like my mid 20's.  It's all about how you feel inside.  As long as you feel young, and act young (not stupid, there's a difference), you're still young.  Seriously, even 60 isn't old anymore.   My dad is in his early 70's and he still outhikes all the kids.  He even helped me re-roof my house last year.  He's aged, but he's not old. 

 

But either way, it's this weekend.  When I first heard it was coming, I thought, "Damn, I've got to get back to the Gym!"  And yeah, that went as planned... Sure, I was doing pretty well while I was back in Stamford, but I fell back into my old habits.  So y'all will have to deal with me in my normal state. 

And really, that should be the way you attend these things; as yourself.  We worry about how some people may view us if we're not as svelte as we were at that young age.  Sure, we all have gained a few pounds, we're not as young and spry as we were way back then, but that is life.  We are ever expanding in the two of the 3-D's that we want to avoid, but would we really want to walk that thin line to become that skinny again?  It would mean 1000 calories and an hour of exercise every day.  No all-you-can-eat Brazilian meatfests, no deep dish Chicago-style pizza, no Oreo cheesecake, no lobster with clarified butter, no over-the-top chocolate caramel malts, and no peanut butter pie drenched in melted fudge.  I believe none of us want to live in that horrible, desolate world.  And do we really want to socialize with those people who would judge you for your size anyway?  Anyone who would scoff at me about gaining weight has a mind that never left high school.  So if you an issue with this former student's extra weight, tough.  I'm happy with it.

What I'm looking forward to is seeing a number of the old friends that I haven't seen for years.   I had a close knit group of friends that never fit easily into any specific group.  We weren't athletic, we weren't the bad kids, we weren't the nerds (much), we were just... well, us.  The group organically fluctuated between 12 and 14 people, because people were free to hang out anytime you want.  As long as you were nice to everyone, you could stay.  But the core group was me and five other ladies.  The running joke was it was me and my harem. And at any time, there were rumors that I was dating any of them at any given moment.  I never dated a one of them while we were in high school.  (I did date one starting immediately after graduation and eventually married her, but that's another story for another day).  Now we did attend dances, like the one Halloween dance where we all dressed up as characters from Twin Peaks.  And there was a plan that I would take all of them out to final Senior Prom, but that never materialized. 

We had some great times, but it's funny how a lot of our moments involved food.  As we reviewed for the AP tests, the Study Group from Hell would down a pizza or two.  Every lunch, we'd congregate in the inner courtyard and bask in the sun as we'd chow down on bad lunchroom pizza, an occasional hamburger, and a basket of french fries.  Anytime there was a Chaparral, team sport, or student election assembly (which was frequently), we'd leave the campus immediately and head to JB's down in Fort Union by the creek for either the breakfast buffet or a basket or two of fried mushrooms. 

But the one I probably remember most is the morning congregation in the drama room.  There were large couches in the back of the room, almost set up in conversation pit fashion.  On my way in, I'd stop at Hardee's for a box of cinnamon raisin biscuits.  They were always hot with that sugar glaze slowly trickling over the sides, creating sweet stalagmites on the bottom of the box.  We'd all slowly roll into school, gather in the back of the drama room, joke about the day to come an consume enough sugar to get us through the first two periods. 

So in honor of Brandy, Nita, Candice, Augusta, Danielle (Amanda), Sylvia, Danny, Tanya, and all the rest who used to partake of those frosting covered sugar bombs back in the day, I'm making a batch of the Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits.  There are two keys to making them flaky.  First, make sure you use cold butter and shortening.  Just like pie crust, if it's too warm and melts in the bowl, it'll become pasty instead of pastry.  Second, don't overmix it.  Overmixing will force the fats into the dry ingredients and become pasty as well.  Use a fork, a pastry cutter, or your hands to break up the butter and shortening.  Just pinch the chopped fats between your fingers until they're little bits no bigger than a piece of couscous.  From there, it's pretty easy.

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

3 cups flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter, cold and diced into small bits
2 tablespoons shortening, cold and diced into small bits
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, chilled
1 cup raisins

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl and mix profusely. Add the butter and shortening and mix into the flour with a pastry cutter, fork or even with your bare hands until the fats crumble into small bits and it starts looking like lumpy cornmeal. Don't overmix or they will turn into rolls instead of flaky biscuits. Add the raisins and slightly stir them in so they are interspersed into the dough, no more. Add the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Dump the dough out onto a floured counter top. Add some more flour on the top of the dough, so it isn't sticky anymore. Using your hands, spread the dough out to about a 8" by 4 " square and then fold it in half.  Repeat this about 5 times to create those flaky layers.  Roll out to a large oval and so the dough is about an inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter, or drinking glass, cut out biscuit rounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. take the scraps, combine them, spread out the dough again until an inch thick and cut a few more. Bake the biscuits in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes until they rise and turn a golden brown.

While they are cooking, mix the ingredients for the glaze, adding the milk until it's the proper consistency. After the biscuits have been pulled out of the oven and have cooled for 5 minutes, spread the glaze over the top and allow it to melt all over.

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Now if you don't want all the sweetness, you can make a batch of buttermilk biscuits instead.  I can understand why you may want to avoid the sweetness once in a while. Just leave out the cinnamon, the sugar, and don't make the glaze.  Then slather them in butter right after they come out of the oven... yummm...



Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 12 biscuits

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter diced into small bits
2 tablespoons shortening diced into small bits
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, chilled

Add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl .  Add the butter and shortening and mix into the flour with a pastry cutter, fork or even with your bare hands until the fats crumble into small bits and it starts looking like cornmeal. Don't overmix or they will turn into rolls instead of flaky biscuits.   Add the buttermilk and stir until just combined.

Dump the dough out onto a floured counter top.  Add some more flour on the top of the dough and start to knead for about one minute to incorporate enough flour so the dough isn't sticky anymore.  Using your hands, spread the dough out to about a 8" by 4 " square and then fold it in half.  Repeat this about 5 times to create those flaky layers.  Roll out to a large oval and so the dough is about an inch thick.  Using a 2 1/2 or 3 inch biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter, or drinking glass, cut out biscuit rounds and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet.  take the scraps, combine them, spread out the dough until and inch thick and cut a few more.  Bake the biscuits in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes until they rise and turn a golden brown

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So make a batch of these biscuits one Sunday morning, look at your old High School yearbook, reminisce about the good times, but be ecstatic that it wasn't the high point of your life.