Hot Cross Buns...in January?
Have you ever been shocked to discover that everyone else seems to know a common fact (embarrassing examples below), but that fact has somehow evaded your brain? It's almost as if you were absent from school the day that particular thing was taught, and never had an opportunity to learn it again.
That's why I made Hot Cross Buns in January -- I was absent from school the day everyone else learned that these are a Good Friday-specific baked good. (Also, in my very weak defense, I'm a Hebrew school graduate.)
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| At top, hot cross buns in "bun formation" |
It all started when Kristen Brown of the Park Slope Patch stopped by one morning last week to do a story about my blog. It was too early to serve cake, and who can resist a sweet bread hot from the oven? I found a recipe for hot cross buns that sounded good, and I was especially anxious to follow the instruction: "Put on a sheet in bun formation." As if bun formation was part of everyone's knowledge base!
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| Before rising |
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| And after |
As with many yeast doughs, this was very satisfying to work with and yielded a terrific result if you ignore my kindergarten-style crosses on the top. Next time -- which will be in the spring -- I'll use a pastry bag.
No one at work seemed to mind these out-of-season buns. And one person (who was raised in a very Catholic home) proved even more clueless than me: When she saw the buns, she asked: "Is it Lent?" Come on, even I know that Lent is NOT in January!
Since you got all the way down here, the embarrassing examples are:
1) Until I was 25, I thought the phrase "all intents and purposes" was "all intensive purposes," a fact pointed out to me by my first editor in New York in a not very nice way.
2) While accompanying me as my "spouse" on a business trip to Washington, D.C., my former roommate returned to the hotel after a day of sightseeing to announce: I didn't realize the Capitol and White House were two separate buildings.
And I'll post more, as I remember them.
Too funny! In the back of my mind I recall that I once read that hot cross buns were an Easter tradition, but it's not something I would have really remembered without having it pointed out. And Susan, where I grew up EVERYONE says "for all intensive purposes"! I feel so educated now!
ReplyDeleteAh, you make me feel better, Tug's Girl, about the hot cross buns. But maybe it just sounds like "intensive purposes" and they're really saying it right?
DeleteEager to try your buns recipe - my mom will love them. I also hear people say "supposably" instead of "supposedly" and also "wouldn't of" instead of "wouldn't have." My list of mistakes is much too long to post here! Live & learn, I say!
ReplyDeleteThose buns are good, quiltyknitwit! And it's fun to hear everyone's mistakes - while realizing we all make them too.
DeleteHi Susan:
ReplyDeleteI was brought up a total heathen, and it wasn't until I was 24 and experienced my first Ash Wednesday in NYC, where I promptly walked into a room and loudly asked why everyone has dirt smeared on their forehead.
I also pronounced Silicon Valley as Silicone Valley into my 30s.
sigh.
Very funny, MRS. I wonder what everyone said when you pointed out the "dirt" on their foreheads!
DeleteUntil a year ago I thought it was "for all intensive purposes" too!! My English professor corrected me... so it wasn't bad, but still a tad embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteAlso, for what felt like the longest time but probably only till I was 8ish, I had trouble distinguishing tomatoes and potatoes from one another, and mittens and gloves likewise... I still sometimes say tomato when I mean potato and vice versa...
ReplyDeleteFunny, Sara! And I hate to think of all of the things we "do" and "say" wrong that we're not even aware of!
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