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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

BISCOTTI

Sitting at my makeshift office, on my Macbook Pro, kicking back and waiting for a ride in Lahaina town, sitting at Barnes & Noble's cafe drinking a coffee and inhaling a biscotti.

Why? It is kind of on the cold side this evening, lots of clouds hiding the sun, and if you haven't been to Lahaina, Maui, it can be a hot place, but on this 2nd day of 2013, it's on the cold side. Maybe someone from Detroit is laughing at this right now, but we locals freeze in 60 degrees.


So as I wait for my ride, I'm enjoying a plastic wrapped biscotti, that bread stick that is freeking hard, and tough, so it is made for dunking in hot coffee. I love biscotti. So how did this bread get its roots in the culinary world? According to Wikipedia, it is correctly called biscotti di Prato (English: Prato biscuits), also known as cantuccini (English, coffee bread), are twice baked biscuits, made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven.

"Biscotti" is the plural form of biscotto. The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked/baked." It defined oven baked goods that were baked twice, so they were very dry and could be stored for long periods of time. Pliny the Elder boasted that such goods would be edible for centuries. Such nonperishable food was particularly useful during journeys and wars, and twice baked breads were a staple food of the Roman Legions.

It can be made into a self defensive weapon, hide one in your pocket, if you're on a bus and someone wants to rob you, make like you're taking out your money, and PLUNK! Nail the bastard in the eye! Then take that biscotti and stick it right in his Adam's Apple, and then shove it up his... never mind.


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