Fanfic-Inspired Food Porn

[vanillalime]

Toby edged his way out to the kitchen again, and brought out a salted caramel peanut butter pie that might have been the best thing Elliot had ever tasted in his life.
~~ drsquidlove, "Someone Like You," Chapter 44

(Of course, I like to think that Toby is the best thing Elliot's ever tasted in his life. Heh.)

*****
As most Oz fans on my flist probably know, drsquidlove wrote the Pultizer Prize-worthy Oz/SVU fic "Someone Like You" and began posting it about a year ago. (I can't believe it's already been that long!) The story was full of incredible angst, humor, tenderness, sex, violence, and, perhaps suprisingly, a lot of really detailed descriptions of great-sounding food.

Consequently, I have been dying to make a salted caramel peanut butter pie ever since February, when I first read the above line from the chapter where Toby prepares Elliot's birthday dinner ("The Chicken"). I believe that both salted caramel and peanut butter should be a part of everyone's daily nutritional food intake, and putting them together can only be full of win, right?

But I've held off on any effort until now, because, frankly, I'm not that great a cook. I mean, nobody's ever died from my cooking yet, but I have a list of basic meals that I rarely stray from, since "trying something new" is almost always a culinary disaster just waiting to happen. However, a Google search yielded what sounded like a promising, fairly straight-forward recipe from Pillsbury, and....

Ta-da!!!  Here is my attempt at a Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Pie!!!  *waves hand in a flourish*




And it turned out pretty good! It reminded me a lot of a Snickers candy bar? It was also very, VERY rich. (Like, one slice was probably the equivalent of three king-sized Snickers.) And I'm really more of a salty-snack kind of person, rather than having a sweet-tooth, so I probably would like it more if it had more salted caramel and less... everything else. But the pie disappeared pretty quickly, so I guess it was a success!

As for the cooking itself, it was touch-and-go there for a while. There was an issue with the crust being too small for my pie plate, and then there was too much filling, and then I wasn't sure if it had cooked all the way through because the recipe didn't indicate how to check that it was done, and then even though I waited for it to cool down for as long as the recipe said, it was mostly a gooey mess when I first tried to slice it up. (It was much better the next day after being refrigerated overnight.)

But you know what? Whenever I started to get stressed, all I could hear in the back of my mind was a semi-hysterical Toby freaking out and banging plates down and saying, "It's not about the fucking chicken!" and I would laugh and laugh. 'Cause I think that might be my favorite line in the whole story.

Well, that and the "I love you." :-)

I still don't think I'll be de-boning a fish anytime soon, though. It's too depressing to think that an 11-year-old girl could do it better than me, even if she is a fictional character.

Comments

[mazephoenix.livejournal.com]

That's awesome that you did that. Food porn! I can't believe it's been a year..

[vanillalime]

Ah, yes, it seems like just yesterday that Toby was slipping on that little red dress.... :)

Thanks!

[drsquidlove.livejournal.com]

This may be the best story response I've ever had in my life. My friend who was sitting nearby when I read it had to ask me what I was grinning about. Please e-mail me a nice chunky slice of that pie, because it looks freakin' incredible.

I'd idly pondered the idea of posting recipes along with chapters, but since I don't actually have recipes for most of the dishes Toby and Holly cook, and plenty of them I've never even eaten, I didn't really have a starting point.

Thank you, vanillalime. You totally, totally made my day!

S.

[drsquidlove.livejournal.com]

Also, I can't believe it's been *only* a year!

I'm re-reading it at the moment, and it feels much older than that.

S.

[vanillalime]

HA, well, you'd been living with these characters for a long time before the rest of us even "met" them, so I guess that makes sense.

I often think of my favorite parts of the story (their first kiss, the Murphy chapter, Toby slutting around in Franco's, Elliot and Holly's reconciliation) and I start re-reading those sections, and then I can't stop and keep going. I still need to do a proper re-reading of the story from start to finish.

[vanillalime]

Aw, I'm glad I was able to make your day!

My original reaction was that my culinary skills were a big failure once again, and then I was so pleased the following day when it all came together, more or less.

I'm probably not adventurous enough to try another one of Holly and Toby's meals, but I'm tempted to tell my mother that I'm bringing couscous to Thanksgiving dinner this year, just so that I can see the expression on her face. LOL

[drsquidlove.livejournal.com]

Heh. As far as I remember, the only meals in there that I've made are beans on toast, and chilli-crusted chicken on cheesy noodles. Oh, and gnocchi, but I've never bothered with prawns.

But this picture is seriously tempting me.

S.

[drsquidlove.livejournal.com]

Hey... Also, would you mind if I linked this post?

I'm about to post the last picture for that story, and I'd love to link to your beautiful pie.

(And now I'm imagining adding food-pics all through the story, and totally cracking myself up.)

S.

[vanillalime]

Go right ahead, I'd be flattered! Heck, if I'd known it was going to be immortalized, I would've used a fancier plate or added some embellishments! Too bad my photoshop skills are still in the beginner stage (much like my cooking skills... ).

[drsquidlove.livejournal.com]

It doesn't need a fancier plate.

Who cares about a plate when you're looking at something that beautiful? It glistens with deliciousness.

S.