Caption Challenge No. 3: Your move, democracy

By Scott Feschuk - Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 27 Comments

And the winner is . . .

WINNER DECLARED: At 2 p.m. ET, madeyoulook held the slightest of leads over e_ron in what is surely – and I’m going from memory here, so forgive me if I’m making a mistake – the closest finish in the three-week history of the Caption Challenge. I for one am spent.

Congratulations, myl. Please flip me an email at scott.feschuk@macleans.rogers.com for prize-based reasons.

Coming Thursday: A special year-end-themed non-caption caption challenge. Whaa? Alert your friends, neighbours and the smarter of your domestic pets.

•

Yes, yes: For some reason it has been – and may still be – impossible for you, the home reader, to peruse all the witticisms vying for lexical glory in Caption Challenge No. 3. For some reason, the second and third pages of comments were as cloistered yesterday as Tiger Woods’ naughty bits. But through the magic of the Internet and, more important, the magic of magic, I have been able to gain full access to the slate of entries. It cost me the eyes of my last newt, but I did it. (And now I’m out of newt eye – right at the holidays.)

Anyhoo, I’ve narrowed Caption Challenge No. 3 to five finalists. Read the entries, consider the entries, sniff, sip, swish and expel the entries (with your mind) – and then vote below* for your favourite. The prize – a $30 gift certificate to famed and very sexy bookseller Amazon.ca, who appears to have lost weight (have you lost weight, Amazon.ca?) – goes to the finalist who’s Continue…

Pie wars

By Jessica Allen - Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 3:40 PM - 0 Comments

Butter or lard? The raging debate over how to make the flakiest, most delicious pastry crust.

This autumn hundreds, maybe thousands, of fruit-filled, double-crust pies—the sort grandma use to make two or three of at a time—will be entered into pie baking contests across the country. The recipes, often fiercely guarded relics passed down on stained five-by-seven-inch index cards, will vary endlessly. Some will call for specific fruit combinations or grinds of flour, while others will detail particular methodologies. But you’re bound to find one common denominator: these golden crusts will be crafted by home bakers using lard or vegetable shortening, rather than butter, which is the choice of many professional pastry chefs and domestic goddesses like Martha Stewart.

The pros argue that an all-butter wins on taste, and they may be right. But will the crust be as tender and flaky? Every pie eater has an opinion (sorry Martha; I’ll take Aunt Ruthie’s Crisco crust over your classic French pâte brisée any day). And so, too, does every baker. Continue…