I wrote two guest posts commemorating the Apollo 11 anniversary. Over at Smart Bitches Trashy Books, I tried to reason out the romance of the moon, and at Frolic, I rated the romances in astronaut movies.
Please read, comment on, and share these essays, and if you haven’t picked up the Fly Me to the Moon box set, it’s still just 99 cents. Grab it at Amazon, iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play.
If you’re here because you read one of those pieces, welcome. If you’re thinking about trying the Fly Me to the Moon series, I hope you do. The fan favorites seem to be Earth Bound (which is in the set) and Free Fall.
And finally, I owe you a Jell-O mold. I made one on the Fourth of July that I intended to run in celebration of A Midnight Spark, but it was an utter disaster. It was even worse than the phallic lobster, which was at least funny. This was just a misshapen lumpy mess.
The concept for this new, and far better, Jell-O came from Liz Lincoln who posted a cola-cherry-cream cheese Jell-O recipe on Twitter; it was similar to this one except the cream cheese was actually in the mold. And, y’all, I just couldn’t bring myself to put cream cheese into Jell-O. It’s what holds me back from embracing the retro, in the end. Basic food decency.
I did like the idea of cherry cola Jell-O, so I played around with what I had in my kitchen. The results were delicious; it’s probably the yummiest Jell-O I’ve ever made. The recipe is after the fold. It’s the perfect thing to eat while pondering the historic significance of Neil Armstrong’s stroll on the moon.
Cherry Cola Jell-O
- 2 packages gelatin
- 2 cups tart cherry juice
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups cola
1.) Pour the cherry juice into a medium sauce pan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and allow to bloom for several minutes.
2.) While stirring, heat the sauce pan until the gelatin/juice mixture is steaming (don’t let it boil!).
3.) Off the heat, whisk in the sugar until it dissolves, then add the cola.
4.) Transfer the mixture to a 3.5 cup mold.
5.) Chill until completely set (approximately 4 to 6 hours), then unmold and serve.
Notes: I was in a rush, and so I poured the combined mixture straight into the mold and it turned out fine. I have found, however, that if you chill the mixture first until it is thickened and then transfer it to the mold, you get more bubbles in the finished product. So if you want something extra sparkly, chill the mixture between steps 3 and 4 until the mixture is just starting to set, approximately 30 or 45 minutes. Additionally, to mix it up, you could add chopped or whole pitted cherries and/or sub 1/4 cup of the liquid with kirsch, rum, or some other liquor to make it boozy.
Emma Barry 