Tip top shape

“He ate my tip!”

My friend Sarah said that with eyebrow-cirnkling rage while we were out grabbing drinks on a laid-back patio a few nights ago. She shook her head sternly and surveyed our table of belchy beer drinkers for emotional support.

We offered none.

In my defense, I had no idea what she was talking about, so I just took a sip of my strawberry lemonade and whipped my citrustache from the top of my lip. When I casually glanced back at Sarah I saw that she was still steaming so I tossed her a thin-lipped nod and a flimsy half-hearted response.

“Your tip, huh? Boy that is really too bad. I’m sorry, girl.”

I figured we were done but she wasn’t stopping. Nope. Not even close. She slapped her palms on the sloshy metal table covered in soggy beer and peanut shells, coasters and lemon wedges, leaned her head in really close, popped her eyes out like a B-grade actress who’d just been axed in the back in one of those super corny but still super creepy horror movies.

“You know, the tip of my pumpkin pie. He ate the tip of my pumpkin pie! He knows I love the tips! I always talk about how much I love the tips and last night he had the nerve to steal it from me. He ate that perfect, delicious triangle at the front of my dessert. I was SO mad!!”

And then I suddenly got it.

Tips.

“Whoa, whoa whoa…he stole your tip?! What did you do?!” I asked, suddenly sucked into this tale of sugary robbery.

“Oh, you want to know what I did? I’ll tell you what I did! I ate the tip off of every single piece of pie that was left in the pan. There were seven pieces left and I just scarfed down seven delicious tips!”

Now this really got my attention. What a feisty little nibbler, I thought. My pal’s boyfriend jokingly stabs his fork in his girlfriend’s dessert and suddenly she turns into the mad Hulk, lightning bolts flickering in her eyes, her teeth grinding and her lips curling into a clownish smile (we’re talking It here, people. IT!). Not  to mention she carried this tip-eating grunge to the next day.

I kind of liked it.

Frankly, all of us sitting at the table that night did. We all laughed at Sarah’s tip-eating rampage and realized that, come on, tips are pretty darn amazing. I mean, let’s think about it for a second here…

1. Slice of pizza. Bubbly cheese, crispy pepperoni corners and tiny drops of hot orange oil swirl around at the center of the pie. It’s the nucleus of the pizza and the core of all the yummy taste. No, there’s no danger of uneven sauce coverage here and the crust is nice and thin. Plus, if you’re lucky, you might score a cheese dangle, which involves your pizza tip using the power of the melt to snag excess toppings from a nearby slice. And hey, if your tip is the one getting robbed of toppings here, no worries. You just scrape up the bits of cheese and sausage from the rest of the box and toss it on top. Everybody gets a great tip.

2. The top of a Dairy Queen swirl cone. Folks in the biz know it’s an art to create that delicate swirl on the top of that cone. It’s the only real baby-nibble on the cone and therefore a nice tease for the next few minutes. Most of the way down you’re licking and biting your ice cream, so that top swirl makes for quite the little appetizer, a per-cursor for the main course. Plus, isn’t it cutest little thing that you ever did see?

3. Quiche. Does anybody but my mom and the Queen of England eat quiche? Well, if you’re in the game for this one, I’m guessing you’re loving that chunky broccoli, salty ham, fluffy egg and oily crust combo at the front of your slice. Tres yummy, no?

4. First crispy nacho from the top of the tower. Full-size triangle chip with crisp corners, bubbly cheese, and a little salsa puddles, waiting innocently for you to dive right in. We’re not talking about bland, lettuce covered shards at the bottom of the heap. No. We’re talking about the tip of the nachoberg here people.

5. The first sip from a bottle of soda or beer. This is the liquid tip. Not as triangular or pointy, but let’s face it: for those who drink that first sip of beer on a Friday afternoon after work can be refreshing, bubbly bliss.

6. Cakes. I saved the best for last. As those tall, wobbly cheesecake towers arrive at your table or you delicately carve out a thick slab of black forest at a birthday party, we both know that you’re eying that delicious triangle tip right up front. And look at it sugar-shining in the light just waiting for you. It’s practically saluting and pledging allegiance to your mouth, am I right? RIGHT?!

So my friend, come on, Let’s all hold our hands today and remember the many great tips that we have enjoyed over the years. Yes. Smile at all those delicious first bites and first sips that surprised your tongue and teased your taste-buds with hints of what’s to come.

Love tips, love bites, love tips, love life

But you best not EVA mess with my girl Sarah’s pumpkin pie. EVA!

Question of the day: What are some of your favorite “tips”?

Positively Pumpkin

I have a secret to share.

I am in love with everything pumpkin!

Pumpkin Pugs!!

From delicious eats…

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Ice Cream

…to festive decor…

…how could you not hop on the pumpkin band wagon (or Cinderella’s carriage)?

To help celebrate my new-found obsession of gourdy proportion, I thought it’d be fun to share with you some fun pumpkin facts.

Did you know that:

• The word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for “large melon.”
• Speaking of melons…a pumpkin is really a fruit. It is part of the Cucurbita family which also includes squash and cucumbers.
• Pumpkins, like watermelons,  are over 90% water.
• Pumpkins are pretty darn tasty (and cooking-friendly). You can nash down on the fleshy pumpkin shell, the seeds (also known as pepitas) the leaves, and even the flowers.
• Pumpkins are also very good for you. They are stock full of Vitamin A, potassium, protein and fiber. A great excuse to have that second slice of pie on Thanksgiving if I do say so myself.
• Despite their stellar nutritional facts, pumpkins were once used to treat snake bites, cure freckles, and the seeds are a shown to help prevent prostate cancer in men.
• Pumpkins are grown all over the world on six of the seven continents, with Antarctica being the sole exception. They are even grown in Alaska. The self-proclaimed “Pumpkin Capital of the World” is Morton, Illinois which is also home to the famous Libby Pumpkin plant.
•  It was the Irish who brought the tradition of pumpkin carving to America. The tradition originally started with the carving of turnips but when the Irish immigrated to the states, they found that pumpkins were very plentiful and were much easier to carve. Can you imagine? Jack O’ Lantern turnips? I don’t think so.
• The largest pumpkin ever grown came from Chris Stevens of New Richmond, WI. It weighed in at a whopping 1,810.5 lbs! Wowsas!

Now THAT is one great pumpkin Charlie Brown!

• The folks in New Bremen, Ohio sure do know how to bake a pie! They hold the current record for the biggest Pumpkin Pie ever made. It was over 20 ft. in diameter and weighed in at a mere 3,699 lbs. So what does a recipe for a pie of this magnitude look like? Well, all you need is 1,212 lbs of canned pumpkin, 2,796 eggs (233 dozen), 109 gallons of evaporated milk, 525 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of salt and 14.5 pounds of cinnamon. Easy-peasy.

Yum. That's all I've got to say.

• There is actually a sport dedicated to pumpkin tossing/hurling. The World Championship Punkin Chunkin, held in Delaware, is the oldest and largest annual competition. The event began in 1986 and featured over 100 teams in 2010. How cool is that?! Sign me up! http://www.punkinchunkin.com/

I don’t know about you, but all of this talk has got me craving pumpkin something fierce! I am off to indulge in a sweet treat and work on my punkin chunkin skills.

Have a great Thursday night guys!