Tattoo a banana for breakfast

Designer and illustrator Honey emailed to suggest that serving tattooed bananas might be a good idea for a brunch party. Might be? Heck yes; I love this kind of craziness. Put them in lunch bags! Hide them in the produce section at the grocery store and giggle at perplexed shoppers!

I had to try it immediately.


Simply make lots of tiny punctures in the banana peel with a pin, and the holes will turn brown. (I drew a quick outline on the banana with a sharp pencil first, then filled it in.) The banana will start to turn brown immediately. The longer you wait, the darker the black becomes, and it starts to look a bit debossed.

The heart is the result of 60 seconds of poking, then waiting overnight. The "hi" photo was taken half an hour after puncturing.

But I'm just an amateur banana tattoo artist. Look at Honey's Blues Brothers version:


See more of her work here. Wowzers. Except for the lettered versions, those are freehanded. You could also poke holes through a template printed on paper.

Have fun, kids. You know you wanna do it.

A Valentine latte with pink froth

We were goofing around in the kitchen this weekend and decided it would be fun to make colored milk froth for our lattes. Here's a pink heart that I glopped on with a spoon and shaped with a toothpick.

I think I need a little more practice. But we amused ourselves. Alex often tries to make me a stiff foam 3D cat with pointy ears that looks as if it's half submerged in the cup. I always get a kick out of that one.

He's the foam master. We make stovetop espresso in our Bialetti pot and add hot milk, and then he uses a $2.99 frother from IKEA to make foam. I've tried and can't get it nearly as nice as his. So asked, and here's his method, with direct quotes. Keep in mind this man is an engineer.

Heat about 1/4 cup of milk in the microwave on high until it's just about to boil. At the first hint of bubbles, stop. (About 45 seconds.)

Don't scorch the milk. "It denatures the proteins and changes the flavor profile." Oh, okay. "You have to keep an eye on it, so put your face right up to the microwave door. You'll risk microwave exposure, but it's necessary." Sure, no problem. A good latte is worth it. Heat your milk on the stove if this idea bothers you.

Update! From FKMN's husband in the comments: "The milk must never get above 65 degrees Celcius [149 F] — that will start the milk sugar (lactose) caramelizing and completely change the flavour of the milk and resulting latte." Whoa, good to know. So don't microwave it so long.

Then put the frothing wand in the hot milk and run it for 30 seconds or less. "The key to getting the right foaming consistency that you like is a combination of cup tilting and moving the frother in and around. I like to move the frother in a circular pattern so that new areas of the milk get hit with the shearing motion."

Shearing motion. Got it.

Then let the foam sit about 30 seconds, and it will stiffen up. "You can wait a little longer, but at some point the foam cells start to break down."

Spoon the foam onto your latte.

To make colored foam, add one or two drops of food coloring to the hot milk before you froth it.