Collage tends to have a bad reputation in the art world, often viewed as “crafty” and not really a serious art form. But the list of famous artists that have dabbled in collage or used it as their main medium is pretty impressive including: Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Henri Matisse, Marcel Duchamp, Otto Dix, Robert Rauschenberg, George Grosz, Ray Johnson, David Hockney, and Jean Dubuffet.

So with that in mind, The Funhouse Gallery is proud to present an all collage group show. Featuring a wide variety of collage techniques including 3 dimensional assemblage. Will include the work of 30+ local, national and international artists. Full list of artists coming soon.

And in the Side Show Gallery, ceramics by Kelly Kaatz

Artist’s Statement-

The creation of forms using hand building techniques, with minimal use of tools, ables me to further the idea of clay as a natural material. The essence of my methods are embodied in my work, and each serve as narrative to the other. All of my pieces are organic and fluid which makes them comfortable and exciting to use on an everyday basis.

-Show will open April 13 and run 5wks through May 18th

-The opening will be from 7-11pm on Sat April 13th and will feature special musical guests playing in Studio 20 by 15 down the hall:

-8:30 pm Desolation Angels

-9:30 pm The Lookouts

-10:30 pm Best Idea Ever

Gallery hrs Fri 5-9, Sat 2-6, and every third thursday 5-9, or by appt. 248-933-0558

Parental Guide: Some of the pieces in this show contain mature content, 18 and over recommended, under 18 welcome at parent’s discretion.

Artist Line Up:

Linda Allen, Beth Amber, Mark Arminski, Kimberly Autumn, Ralph Baginski, Erin Benjamin, Dan Casado, Darwin’s Daughter Couture, Dekilah, DVS, Ren Fracture, Steven Goossen, Dion Hitchings, Maralena Howard, Diane Irby, Johnnythuders UFO, Jack Johnson, Gwen Joy, Mike Kelly, Dave Kent, Killmonkies, Jared Konipitski, Molly Landis, Brian Lewandowski, Luke MackGilvery, Michael Marcus, Carson Matlock, M80, Dennis Metea, Kelly Miller, Monkeyteeth, Carol Morris, Catherine Peet, Kelly Papcun/Brandon Burke, Aaron Prukard, Ashley Reakes, “Scary” Cary Safarian, Simone Schiffmacher, Anita Schmaltz, Sisi, Carolyn Smythe, Jack Summers, Justin Tumey, Matt Walters, Marty Winters, Allison Zuckerman

Block House 01

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8.5×11 print $10

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Throw away your trench coat, wipe the crust from your eye, and come out of that dank basement — sex toys have gone mainstream. No longer do we need to schlep to the seedy parts of town and slink into poorly lit, windowless pits to find sexual stimulation enhancements. Sex toy development has gone way beyond the edible underwear, expressionless blow-up dolls and French ticklers of yesteryear. How much tickling do the French really need anyhow? We’ve moved beyond the gag gifts of bachelor and bachelorette parties and onto high-tech gadgets you might actually want to use.

While the Internet may be destroying brick-and-mortar bookstores, its wrecking ball has yet to dent the walls of the new sex-toy shop. Stores like Lover’s Lane, Babeland andEarly to Bed provide a friendly staff that offers information and encouragement to people of all genders, orientations and experience levels who want to explore their sexuality. There are testers of lubes and oils available for comparing slipperiness, taste and scents. Toys can be handled, to better evaluate feel and vibration intensity levels. You can’t do that on the Internet. All of these stores do have shops online, for those who are still a little too shy or who live too far away to make it into the shop. But don’t fret small-towners, if Howell, (population 9,500) can get its own Lover’s Lane (which just opened two months ago) then there’s hope for your sleepy town too.

In this brave new world of mainstream sex toys, some clear trends are starting to emerge. Women are becoming empowered and taking charge of their sexuality, men are seeking sleaze-free, sex-positive stores, couples are shopping together, and people are looking for earth- and body-conscious products.

Eco-friendly toys are not just about a healthy planet. Keeping toxic chemicals out of your body is probably a good idea, but, until recently, most toys were made from some pretty nasty, cancer-causing stuff. Jasmine Portofino, founder of Earth Erotics, thinks this trend will only continue to grow.  “I started Earth Erotics in 2007,” she says, “and, since then, I have watched dozens of body-safe and environmentally conscious adult products come onto the market.” Eco-friendly sex toys are made from high-quality nontoxic materials and are often vegan-friendly.

Get yourself off without fucking the Earth

Leaf Vibes

What could be greener than a vibrator shaped like a leaf? Sex-toy company Leaf Vibes makes a variety of toys with spring-fresh foliage designs. These toys don’t just replicate nature, they help sustain it. With a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, piles of spent batteries will no longer litter the floor around your bed. Leaf Vibes are also Phthalate-free, great for keeping your naughty bits cancer-free.

Glass dildos

Glass? Yes, glass. It is a naturally occurring recyclable material that is manufactured without heavy chemicals or solvents. Glass toys are made from borosilicate glass (the same stuff as your Pyrex baking pan) and can withstand the thermal stresses of the most enthusiastic user. The glass of these toys is usually hand-blown into beautiful designs that are easy to clean and can last a lifetime. Pass ’em down to the grandkids!

Stainless steel dildos

Stainless steel toys are made from the same grade of metal as medical equipment. If it’s safe enough to replace a hip, it’s probably safe enough to put in an orifice. It can be cleaned with soap and water or boiled for sterilization, keeping harsh chemical cleaners out of the drains and out of your body.

All-natural vegan lubes

Have you ever read the ingredients list on a bottle of lube? Hydroxyethylcellulose, chlorhexidine methylparaben, sodium hydroxide. What the hell is that stuff? Do you really want to slather it all over your most intimate areas? Another common ingredient lurking in many tubes of lube are animal byproducts, which, if you’re vegan, is kind of a big deal. Here’s where all-natural vegan lubes ride to the rescue. These certified organic lubes are paraben-, glycerin- and petroleum-free.

We asked around at a number of stores, and every person we talked to mentioned Fifty Shades of Grey, the book famous for introducing housewives to BDSM. Searah Deysach, owner of Early to Bed says of the book, “People’s interest in kink got piqued, and we are still seeing new comers trying out some fresh tricks.”

S&M lite

Handcuff and whips and ball-gags — oh, my!

Not sure where to even begin with all the crazy BDSM accoutrements? Try a bondage beginner’s kit. Most online retailers, such as Babeland, Early to Bed, and Muf.com, offer a variety of kits that include things like cuffs, blindfolds, and riding crops to get you started, some even include the book as a sort of guide.

Fifty Shades of Grey

Take a gander at the book that started this suburban BDSM trend. You can pretty much pick it up anywhere, even at the drugstore, next to paperback mystery novels and Sudoku puzzle packs. The book takes a lot of flak for being poorly written. It’s on par with any other dime-store romance novel. How well it’s written isn’t important anyway; what’s important is, it got women who had previously been too shy to ask for what they wanted in the bedroom, to finally ask for it.

Sex toys are often thought of as something we use all by our lonesome, and they are, but more often they are being used with others. Megan, store manager at Lover’s Lane in Howell, describes her client base as “mostly couples.”

Let’s Work Together

We Vibe

The C-shape design slides into the vagina, stimulating the clitoris on the outside and the G-spot on the inside, leaving plenty of room for her partner to slide on in and enjoy the vibrations right along with her.

Hello Touch

This sleek vibrator from Jimmyjane fits discreetly over the fingertips with a slim battery pack that is worn around the wrist like a bracelet, resembling something out of Tron. Next time your partner is too tired for lovemaking, you could try to coax them with a relaxing massage — enhanced with vibrations. The pads can be placed directly on the fingertips for intense vibrations or flipped around to the back of the finger for direct skin-on-skin vibrating action. Sounds like a great way to amp up foreplay.

Even toys that are geared to a specific gender have got couples of all orientations more interested in spending some quality time together.

A new frontier

for the fellas

Gay, straight, bi — everyone seems to be clueing into the secret of prostate stimulation. The prostate, that walnut-sized gland responsible for the production of the clear fluid that carries sperm during ejaculation, is also called the P-spot, and stimulating it leads to intense orgasms. It can be a challenge to reach back there, or to get your partner to, but, luckily, there are some toys on the market that are ergonomically designed to reach that tough spot.

Something for the ladies

Who says science can’t be sexy? This crazy sex machine was invented by Doctor X. Treme and while that may be a pseudonym this guy really does have a Ph.D. in applied physics, from Yale no less. What started out as a request from his wife to make her a sybian (aka a sex-machine), turned into a nerdy obsession that eventually lead to the creation of the X1 Orgasmatron, which delivers intense orgasms using all the awesome powers of math and science.

Texas de Brazil

1000 Woodward Ave., Detroit

313-964-4333

texasdebrazil.com/location/detroit

Lunch Hours: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday

Dinner Hours: 5-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m. Friday, 4-10 p.m. Saturday, 4-9 p.m. Sunday

Lunch: Regular $19.99, light $17.99

Dinner: Regular $42.99, light $24.99

If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be the hot girl at the club, all the men vying for your attention, go to Texas de Brazil. Waiters, overwhelmingly one after another coming up to you, meat sword in hand, trying to tempt you to choose theirs, is roughly the same experience. The music just loud enough to render normal conversation inaudible and garish red walls don’t detract from the club feel either.

Of the many all-you-can-eat joints in metro Detroit, Texas de Brazil is one of the swankier, with its candlelit tables topped with crisp white linens, folded napkins and a parade of cutlery. And, just like any other all-you-can-eat establishment, it has its share of decoys and fillers to distract you from the priciest items. Before the cavalcade of meat ever begins, diners are handed a leather-bound tome listing an assortment of sugary cocktails, and are then directed to a salad bar at the center of the restaurant. The term salad bar is used loosely to describe what is essentially a buffet before the buffet, featuring deli meats (including razor-thin slices of jamón Serrano), cheeses (fresh goat cheese and salty Manchego), soups of the creamiest variety, sushi, grilled vegetables slathered in oil, and baskets of bacon. Go ahead and throw some lettuce on there too if that helps ease the glutton guilt. The most deceitful of these decoys is the complimentary basket of silver dollar-sized cheese-filled biscuits that arrives with the garlic mashed potatoes and fried bananas covered in caramel. It’s easy to eat one or two (maybe three or four) before you realize just how filling they can be.

From the extensive list of drinks, we stuck with the half-dozen or so varieties of mojitos and found the traditional one to be the best. The other drinks were all a bit too sweet and would probably best be suited for an after-dinner dessert drink rather than a before dinner cocktail.

The meat is, of course, the star of the show — and it is a good show. The servers wielding the meat swords wear campo-style trousers with thick leather belts and boots, resembling a well-scrubbed gaúcho who somehow got lost wandering though the grasslands of southern Brazil and wound up in Detroit. Each diner is given a small card with green on one side and red on the other to signal to these urban cowboys when to bring on the meat and when to hold back. You can choose from cuts of beef, pork, lamb, Brazilian sausage or chicken. But who comes to a steak house for chicken? It’s a bit sad really, watching the chicken guys get repeatedly turned down.Chicken? No thanks. Parmesan-encrusted chicken? Really, I’m not interested. Bacon-wrapped chicken? Not even wrapped in bacon, buddy.

The beef is cooked as it should be, rare to medium rare, and seasoned as it should be, sparingly and mainly with salt. The lamb, too, is removed from the flame before it has cooked too long and become gamey. Our favorite choice of the lamb cuts was the dainty lamb chop, which has a crispy salted crust encasing a moist tender center. Many of the cuts of meat are served wrapped in bacon or encrusted with Parmesan or garlic, but we preferred the more naked choices, served with nothing more than salt crystals, such as the prime rib, filet or pork tenderloin. The cuts of meat are high-quality, with just enough fat for a rich flavor.

After all the meat, all the mashed potatoes, all the biscuits and other assorted decoys, you’ll lean back in your chair and pat your belly declaring yourself full. This is the precise moment the server will come by to entice you with a silver platter lined with hulking plates of assorted desserts, carrot cakes, chocolate cakes, flans, brûlées, or my favorite bananas Foster pie served with two fried bananas and drizzled with warm caramel sauce.

Diners can choose between the regular dinner — which is a continuous service of the salad area, meats, and side items — or stick with just the salad area, which Texas de Brazil has amusingly labeled the light dinner. The same two options are available for lunch. Desserts, taxes, beverages and gratuities are additional costs. It’s by no means an inexpensive meal, but, for the amount of food and fancy accoutrements, it’s worth the treat. The loud music and busy atmosphere lends itself better to a group outing than it does for something more intimate, like a romantic date.

WHEN PEOPLE THINK ABOUT CHEESE, more specifically, the process of making cheese, they may think of robed monks carefully inspecting hundred pound wheels stored in remote French caves made meticulously using recipes handed down for hundreds of years, or people may think of workers in white coats and hair nets stirring milk in 30-gallon, stainless-steel vats in a sterile factory. Though these are both very effective cheese-making methods, cheese can be made at home by anyone (even monks and factory workers) with just a few ingredients and equipment you probably already have in your kitchen.

Urban Cheesecraft  makes great DIY kits that range in price from $9-$50 and come with everything you need to make cheese: citric acid, cheese salt, rennet tablets (for more complex cheeses like mozzarella), cheese cloth, cheese salt, even a thermometer.  All you have to do is add the milk.

I used the mozzarella and ricotta kit. There are enough ingredients inside to make 10 batches of cheese. Though the kit is labeled mozzarella and ricotta, the instruction booklet also contains recipes for yogurt cheese and rustic farm cheese, which can both be made with the supplies found in the kit.

Whole milk is the easiest to work with – just make sure it isn’t ultra-pasteurized. Aluminum and cast-iron pots and utensils will react with the acid in the recipe so avoid using them when making cheese. The finer the cheese cloth, the fewer layers needed for straining.

Starting with a simple cheese like ricotta is the best way to get into home cheese making.  The recipe is easy to follow, and you’ll likely be so amazed with the results that you will quickly want to try more intricate recipes.

RICOTTA

Ingredients

1 gallon of whole milk

1 teaspoon of citric acid or 1/8 cup vinegar

1 teaspoon of cheese salt (or to taste) If you are not using a kit, you can use kosher salt or sea salt.

Supplies

A large heavy-bottom pot (at least 6 quarts)

Butter muslin (fine cheesecloth)

Thermometer

Colander

Large spoon (slotted if you have one)

If you are using citric acid, dissolve it in ½ cup of water.

Pour the gallon of milk into the pot and heat on a medium/low heat. Clip thermometer onto the side where it is easy to read.  Stir the milk often to keep it from burning on the bottom. Do not boil. Stir in cheese salt.

When the milk has reached 185 F  – 190 F (This will take a bit of time. Be patient and don’t turn up the heat to speed up this process, or you’ll burn your milk.), slowly add the citric acid mixture or vinegar.

The curds will begin to separate from the whey. Cook for just a moment or two longer as this process happens. Turn off the heat and allow curds to set undisturbed for 10 minutes and watch science work.

Line a colander with cheesecloth. Carefully pour the curds into the colander. Let the curds drain for 15 minutes. Gather all the corners of the cheesecloth together into a bundle, twist the cloth, tightening it around the cheese draining more of the whey. Keep the cloth wrapped tightly around the cheese and let it drain in the colander for another 10 to 15 minutes. You can also place a weight on top of the cheese to drain off even more whey. A stack of plates works well for this.

Remove the cheese from the cloth. Rinse the cheese from the cloth and wash and dry for future cheese making.  You can put the cheese on a plate and eat it right away or store it in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to a week. This cheese is very basic with a light simple taste and texture. It can be served savory or sweet. It is great drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, pepper and herbs served with crackers or veggies. It is also delicious drizzle with honey or pomegranate molasses and served with fruit.

Mozzarella has a few more steps than ricotta. It may take a few tries to get the right texture and consistency. Be patient, and practice a few times. Even if the cheese isn’t quite the way you intended the first time around, it will still be delicious.

MOZZARELLA
Ingredients:

1 gallon of whole milk

1 ½ teaspoon of citric acid

¼ rennet tablet

1 teaspoon cheese salt

Supplies

Large heavy-bottom pot (at least 6 quart)

Large slotted spoon
Colander
Thermometer
Microwaveable bowl
Rubber gloves

Dissolve ¼ rennet tablet into 1 cup of cool, filtered water (it needs to be chlorine free).  Dissolve 1½ teaspoon citric acid into 1 cup of cool filtered water (this too needs to be chlorine free). Set both cups aside.

Pour full gallon of milk into large pot and heat on med/low heat. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching.

Once the milk has reached 90 F, stir in the citric acid solution. The curds will begin to separate from the whey. Slowly stir in the rennet solution. Continue to heat to 110 F, stirring gently.

The curds will separate from the whey and look like clumps of cheese or shiny custard floating in yellow liquid. Turn off the heat at this point.

Using the slotted spoon, ladle the curds into the microwave-safe bowl.  Gently hold back the curds while pouring off excess whey.

Heat the bowl in the microwave for one minute.

Gently fold the curds over several times to evenly distribute the heat. Hold back the curds while pouring off excess whey.

Microwave for another 30 seconds to one minute. Drain again. Add salt and lightly knead the curds. Continue to work the cheese by folding and stretching it. This is when the rubber gloves come in handy, keeping the hot cheese away from your skin. The curds need to be 135 F before they will stretch. You may have to place the curds back in the microwave for 30 seconds to one minute several times while kneading and stretching to get it back up to the proper temperature.

Stretch the cheese until it becomes smooth. Shape the cheese into a ball. I found it was easy to work with if shaped into several small balls. This mozzarella is best when eaten immediately, but can be stored without excess water or whey in the refrigerator for up to one week. The leftover whey is a great addition to creamy soups, smoothies, hot cocoa or as a replacement for water when making bread or cooking rice or beans.

Serve with basil and tomatoes drizzled with balsamic and olive oil.

By Katherine Montalto
Published: November 28, 2012
Santorini Estiatorio
501 Monroe St., Detroit
313-962-9366
santorinidetroit.com
Lunch, dinner and drinks: $10-$30

Astakomkaronatha, spaghetti in tomato cream sauce with butter poached lobster, from Santorini Estiatorio in Detroit.

The last place you might think to look for a new Greek restaurant is Greektown, where, in the last several years, many of them have closed, with decidedly non-Greek chain restaurants opening along Monroe. Leave it to the owners of the pan-global fusion joint Mosaic to have the vision to work against the trend, closing their doors for three months of remodeling to reopen as Santorini Estiatorio.

What a difference three months makes! The blown glass droplets above the bar are the only design elements from Mosaic that remain. The new decor has a rustic island feel. The color scheme is the obvious blue and white of any Greek restaurant but what’s subtler is the lack of kitsch. Wicker lampshades that resemble fishing baskets hang from the ceiling, and the dining room is separated from the bar by what looks like the hull of a boat. Large paintings of serene ocean views done by local artist Blake Carmichael hang on walls lined with wood that looks like it was distressed by years of ocean mist and sunshine. It makes for a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere.

Our visit to Santorini was an early Sunday evening, just as a crowd of football fans were leaving the stadium. We beat the rush and were able to get a corner booth facing the dining room where we were greeted with complimentary bread made locally by Assimacopoulos Bakery and an olive oil vinegar mix for dipping — simple, traditional, and done right. We started with a couple of cocktails before ordering. A Mythos Muddler: Skinos Mastiha liquor, muddled basil leaves and lemons, topped with soda, a dry but refreshing drink with a strong basil flavor. We also had a couple of Greek Mojitos. (I’m guessing the Metaxa 5 Star is what makes it Greek.)

We went a little appetizer-crazy, ordering three, including a platter with three different kinds of spreads. We went for something a little different and tried the saganaki feta, crispy feta wrapped in phyllo dough, drizzled with honey, topped with sesame seeds. This Saganaki was flame-free, but don’t worry — the flambéed version is available, as was evident by the smell of fired cheese and cries of “Opa” that filled the dining room. This saganaki was still quite firm but warm. The phyllo dough created a thin crust around the cheese. The salty flavor of the cheese balanced the sweet flavor of the honey and chocolate, keeping the dish from being too sweet. We also tried the octopodaki skaras, a grilled marinated octopus with balsamic reduction sauce and caramelized onions. I’m not normally the biggest fan of octopus, as it tends to be chewy and rubbery. This octopus was an exception to that rule. It was moist, meaty and tasted of the ocean but wasn’t fishy. From the many spreads on the menu we chose scordalia, a garlic potato sauce that was a bit too strong, tirokafetri, a feta sauce with roasted red peppers that cut the burn of the garlic spread, and melitzabosalta, a delicious eggplant spread, the best of the three.

We tried a little of everything on the menu, pasta, seafood, lamb, and beef. The pasta and seafood were served in a single dish, astakomakaronatha, bucatini tossed with tomato cream sauce with butter-poached lobster. We had our server pronounce it for us several times. She admitted to needing a crash course in Greek to be able to pronounce many of the menu items. The lobster portion was generous, a whole lobster tail and several claws, but a bit dry. It was the least favorite dish on the table. We also tried the moussaka, a casserole filled with layered eggplant, potato and simmered beef topped with béchamel sauce. One of my dinner partners exclaimed upon his first bite, “Whoa! I had no idea what that would taste like,” a declaration of praise as it turned out. The favorite entrée was the braised lamb shank with a white wine lemon sauce, lemon-roasted potatoes and green beans. The meat fell off the bone, was moist, tender, and had a delicate lamb flavor without being gamey.

For dessert we had ek mek, a shredded phyllo dough layered with a pastry cream and pineapple, topped with house-made whipped cream and slivered almonds. It had a lighter texture and flavor than baklava and wasn’t too sweet. We also tried the crème brûlée, which was caramelized tableside, making for a warm, sugary crust. It was topped with whipped cream and berries.

The service was fast and attentive, despite the large crowd and being open just shy of a month. The bus boys were perhaps a little too attentive, hovering near our table asking too frequently throughout the meal if we were ready to have our plates cleared, a small kink that will surely be ironed out in the coming months. Our complaints were few, and we generally enjoyed Santorini’s focus on traditional Greek food in a relaxed setting. Hey, with any luck, that’s a trend that’ll catch on in Greektown?

Bringing a small gift  for the generous hosts and hostesses of the many seasonal parties lets them know that their hard work and hospitality is appreciated, and a DIY gift is always an extra-special touch. Homemade toffee is a great hostess gift, and it’s easier to make than you might think. To make toffee at home, you’ll need a large bak-ing sheet, a sturdy sauce pot, some aluminum foil, a good candy thermometer and a few simple
ingredients.

Most cooking supply stores carry candy thermometers for around $10 to $15. Look for one with hard crack to soft ball notations as well as Fahrenheit measurements. Toffee is a candy made by inverting sugar. It can be made with honey, molasses, or corn syrup. Darker sugars like molasses will produce a dark candy with a strong flavor. Lighter sugars, such as light corn syrup and honey, will produce a golden candy with a buttery flavor. Finished toffee can be dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts or nuts can be added to the hot liquid be-fore it’s poured on the baking sheet to cool. Different temperatures in toffee making will result in different textures and hardness  —  from soft and sticky to a hard brittle. The higher the temperature, the harder the finished candy will be. Making sure the tof-fee mixture reaches the right temperature during cook-ing is key to getting the desired texture and ensures a glossy finished surface.

Honey Peanut Toffee is a simple recipe made with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry  -honey, peanut butter, peanuts, butter and corn syrup. Using all-natural peanut butter will cut down on the sugar content and using salted nuts will balance the sweetness. If you’re not a fan of peanuts, you can use roasted salted almonds and almond butter or roasted salted cashews and cashew butter. This recipe yields enough candy for several hostess gifts.

HONEY PEANUT TOFFEE
Start to finish: 30 minutes
Servings: Makes about 1½ pounds
1 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups shelled roasted peanuts
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Equipment: A candy thermometer

Cover a large baking sheet with aluminum foil extend-ed over the edges. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Stir until all the sugar is wet.
Stir in the honey, corn syrup and salt.

Cook mixture on medium/high heat until it reaches 225 F on candy thermometer. Stir in peanuts. Continue stirring the mixture until it reaches 290 F on candy thermometer.

Remove pot from heat. Stir in butter, baking soda, and peanut butter. Mix until well-combined.

Pour mixture onto the baking sheet and spread as thinly as possible with a spatula.

Allow candy to set at room temperature. Once it has cooled completely, a few hours to overnight, break it into small pieces and serve. Store the candy in an air-tight container.

How long will it keep? No one knows because it is always eaten in a matter of days.

I’m sorta bummed that I missed the show as it was airing. I’m actually quite shocked that it lasted for 7 seasons and on the WB no less. The pop culture references are insane. Multiple Manson family jokes are made over several episodes and several seasons. It’s smart and funny and tho it can be a little silly and sappy at times it’s quite refreshing. It isn’t plot after plot of after school specials like so many network TV shows which seem to be trying to teach you a lesson. Teen-aged characters always stay virginal and sober. It ‘s only their friends that stray from these virtues and then meet with horrible consequences; pregnancy, drunk driving accidents, date rape, stern lectures. Rory and her friends got drunk, had sex, and picked the wrong boyfriends with the kind of consequences that actually happen to real life girls. Sometimes shit worked out and sometimes– not so much, but they always did their best and moved on thru life.

I love the silly little town of Stars Hollow with all its wacky characters and I love that all of them add to the fabric of the show. It reminded me a lot of the town of Cicely, Alaska in the series Northern Exposure where all of the characters big or small where important to the show and sometimes more interesting than the main characters.   And holy crap the guest stars! Not one but two actresses from Twin Peaks, Mädchen Amick and Sherilyn Fenn (who shows up twice as two different characters). Jon Hamm is there pre-Mad Men looking just as handsome.  Sebastian Bach has a regularly recurring guest role as the guitar player in Lane’s band. Madeleine Albright shows up in a dream sequence and Traci Lords as an interior decorator. Even Carole King, writer of the theme song is in a handful of episodes. The guest star that almost knocked me out of my chair tho was Norman-Fucking-Mailer writer of Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book, The Executioner’s Song. The exhaustive story of the infamous Gary Gilmore, the first person in the United States executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Holy crap WB, how’d you swing that?