…and this is a 
Who'd have thought geology and paleontology and cooking would go together so well?
Category: Weirdness
Posted on: February 23, 2007 8:38 AM, by PZ Myers
My wife is going to be upset at this—we're going to have to have a couple more kids, just so I have an excuse to take advantage of the Geologic and Paleontologic Cook Book. It's got recipes for Ammonites in a Blanket, Cephalopod Celery, a Cheese and Bugles Coral Reer, an Edible Devonian Marine Ecosystem (I've always wanted to eat a whole ecosystem), Trilobite Cookies, and much more. This is wonderfully kid-oriented…too bad my kiddies are all turning into serious-minded old adults.
But wait! I'm immature enough for a whole family of kids all on my own! I also do the cooking…I think we're having Cephalopods in a Blanket for dinner tonight.
Comments
Damn you, this made me realise I was laughing so hard at Conservapedia that I've missed lunch--and I'm in France, where missing a meal (ought to be) a crime--but hey, those Trilobite Cookies look promising. And Professor Hart's tagline is great:
Posted by: blf | February 23, 2007 8:54 AM
How about cooking for grandkids? Or is it too soon for that?
Posted by: factician | February 23, 2007 9:00 AM
Those trilobite cookies look amazing, and I see just how to do them without using butter. Coolness. I want a paleoconfectionary laboratory of my very own!
The "Note" at the bottom of the trilobite cookie page made me laugh so unexpectedly I aspirated some saliva and now I can't stop coughing. My lungs don't like you very much right now, Prof. PZ! :)
Posted by: Interrobang | February 23, 2007 9:45 AM
Any ideas for how to improvise one of those bizarre dough-syringe contraptions he uses?
Even I'm not geeky-baker enough to buy a whole weird machine just for cookie trilobites.
Posted by: MissPrism | February 23, 2007 10:52 AM
If it will make things easier on your wife, you can borrow my kids. I know they'd love the trilobite cookies! Mmmm.
Posted by: kristi | February 23, 2007 11:02 AM
Trilobites are definitely best if served on the 1/3 shell...
Posted by: NJ | February 23, 2007 11:04 AM
MissPrism, I wondered the same thing. I also noticed that the contraption he had looked a great deal like a caulk gun, so I wonder if one took a Pringles can, cut a hole in the lid to the appropriate squiggly shape, cut out the bottom to make it condensable, then filled it with dough and put it in a caulk gun...
My husband will be out of town this weekend and not available to laugh at me, so I'm tempted to actually try this. :)
Posted by: Carlie | February 23, 2007 11:56 AM
To compliment your creations, don't forget the Octodog. It's the Frankfurter Converter that turns your wiener into an eight-armed wonder. :D
Posted by: Cephalopodcast | February 23, 2007 3:29 PM
Carlie: a caulk gun works pretty well as a cookie press.
And many things will curl up in a tentacular manner if you cut them to expose surfaces of different structure/composition than the outside, then dip them in cold water. This works on many kinds of shredded vegetables, and probably on sausages too.
Posted by: octopod | February 23, 2007 5:00 PM
Okay, I'm all over it. I have a 9-year-old son who has an autographed picture of Paul Cereno on his bureau and still claims he's going to be a paleontologist when he grows up. I've bookmarked the book of cookery. TX.
Posted by: wistah | February 23, 2007 8:53 PM
This is so cool! We've been making trilobite cookies for awhile, which made a trip to the Smithsonian even MORE fun (as if that place could get any better) but Ammonites in a Blanket is going to SO rock my boy's world!
Posted by: K | February 23, 2007 9:08 PM
Cookie presses can be had quite inexpensively, Miss Prism. Check your local supermarket.
Posted by: Pieter B | February 23, 2007 10:12 PM