Woot, the bane of my existence

I have always had a great relationship with my mother-in-law. She's a wonderful person, and would never do anything to make my life more difficult.

That is, until recently, when she just may have committed the unforgiveable sin.

She introduced my husband to Woot!

Surely this isn't that bad, you say.

Oh, but it is. Woot! is this website that sells one product a day--often products that are interesting to those who love technology--and regardless of the product or how many you buy, shipping is only $5. The item sells until it is sold out, and then you simply have to wait until the next day for a new Woot! item. The deals are often pretty good, and the lure of $5 shipping is pretty strong, especially on larger items.

Having known about Woot! for only about 2 weeks, my husband and I are the proud owners of 2 Woot! items--an mp3 player and a programmable Roomba. In all fairness, both are good products and I'm particularly glad that we bought the Roomba, but this ratio of days to purchases is a little bit frightening. At this rate, robots will outnumber humans in our house in about 1.5 months, and once that happens, it's only a matter of time until they start bossing me around, rather than me bossing them. Not good.

It gets worse. Some days, Woot! has what they call a "Woot-off", where they sell very limited quantities of something, and then once it's sold out, move on to the next limited quantity item. My husband stayed home from work one day last week when there was a Woot-off, and every 10 or 15 minutes, he would shout upstairs, "Hey! Look at this! Do we want a [fill in the useless but extremely cool technological gadget here]?" So now, our odds of buying something off Woot have gone up by a lot, and since the quantities are so limited, the pressure to buy it the minute you see it is incredible. AARGH.

But the worst thing about Woot! by far is that I've found myself getting sucked into these deals. I like technology as much as the next person, but I'm not an avid Slashdot reader and my computer still runs (mostly) happily on Windows XP. But Woot's marketing strategy--the pressure of limited supply, cheap shipping, good deals--is pretty irresistable. Today, for example, the product was a Sony NW-s705 2GB mp3 player with noise cancelling headphones for $49.99. I already have an mp3 player that works quite well, but my first thought upon seeing this was "can I find a use for this?" Not "do I need this?" or even "do I want this?" but "can I squeeze this unnecessary product into my life?"

And during the latest Woot-off, one of the products for sale was a monkey with rubber arms. You pull him back like a slingshot, he goes flying through the air, and as he flies, he screams. Totally useless, and after 15 minutes of playing with it, it would undoubtedly be shoved in some closet. But, when my husband said that one of these was for sale, all my logical reasoning skills flew out the window and I shouted, "Get one! Quick!"

(Un)fortunately, they were already sold out.

Thoughts on The Office Last Night

Overall, I think it was a great episode. I laughed out loud at several lines, and I think the opening and closing bits were quite clever. Particularly Dwight getting Jim back (or trying to), because I didn't see it coming.

Other thoughts:

• I really don't like Creed anymore. I used to think he was pretty funny because he was so weird, and I thoughts his kleptomaniac habits were harmless and added to his weird personality. But last night, I actually felt violently angry towards him. This man has no conscience. He gets a woman fired when it's all his fault, he pretends he has nothing to do with her getting fired, gets her a fake sympathy card, and steals the money his coworkers put inside. Really nice.
• I was pretty impressed by Kelly, though. She was having a lot of fun torturing the accounting department, and seemed to be completely aware of what she was doing. I think there may be more to Kelly that what meets the eye.
  
• I like how there was nothing about romance in this episode. If the show is going to resist turning into one of those "will-they-or-won't-they" type deals, it needs to shift the focus away from the Pam/Jim relationship and onto other things. Last night was a great example of how that could work very successfully.
  
• One of the big things I'm wondering: What the heck is Jan going to say about all this? We didn't hear anything from her all episode, not even when Michael chases Mrs. Allen out of the office, telling her he's going to call the "biotch bureau" on her.
• And finally, my other big question: Is there actually a chance that Michael is going to get fired? It was hinted at by Mrs. Allen calling for him to resign, and the lack of any word from corporate makes me wonder if something like this is coming. If he does, in fact, get fired, does that mean the end of The Office? The British series ended with David Brent, the Michael-like character, getting fired, and honestly, the show wouldn't be at all the same without Steve Carell. If this is what's coming, I have to say, they've done a good job keeping it quiet. And honestly, I would be glad to see the show end on a high note, when it was still very funny and hadn't resorted to more sitcom-like plots to keep viewers interested.

By the way: Happy birthday, Mom! :)

Harry Potter and the Two-Way Mirror

I've been rereading some of the Harry Potter books in preparation for the big day, and as I was rereading book 5--Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix--I came across something that I wasn't quite sure what to make of.

By the way...I am going to talk freely about what's happened to Harry through the end of book 7 in this post, so if you haven't read the books yet but plan to, this might spoil things for you.

If you remember, in book 5, Harry keeps having these dreams/visions where he can see what Voldemort is doing; in the climax of the book, he sees Voldemort attacking his godfather, Sirius. Because of this vision, Harry and some of his closest friends rush off to the Ministry of Magic to find Sirius, only to find out that it was a fake vision, just a trap to lure Harry away from Hogwarts. In the battle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters that follows, Sirius is killed. As might be expected, Harry feels awful about this; at the beginning of chapter 37, Harry is crushed by guilt, thinking, "It was all his fault Sirius had died; it was all his fault. [. . .] It was unbearable, he would not think about it, he could not stand it."

Before Harry charged off to the Ministry of Magic, he did try to figure out whether his vision was fake by using the Floo Network to visit Sirius' house. But instead of finding Sirius there, we find the sneaky house-elf--Kreacher--who says that Sirius is gone, which, we later learn, is a lie. Sirius was safe at home the whole time.

Got all that? Harry is indirectly responsible for Sirius' death, but he did try to check the accuracy of his vision, even if he should have suspected Kreacher of being dishonest.

Here's where my question comes in. When Harry leaves Sirius' house after Christmas break is over, Sirius gives him a gift, saying "use it if you need me." Harry mentally refuses to open it, knowing that "he would never use whatever it was. It would not be he, Harry, who lured Sirius from his place of safety..." (chapter 24). After Sirius' death, Harry opens the gift, hoping that he will somehow be able to contact Sirius beyond the grave. The gift is a two-way mirror that would allow Sirius and Harry to talk to each other, but is not strong enough to cross the barrier of death.

The mirror then becomes this piece of incredibly ironic foreshadowing. Harry is in fact the one who lures Sirius from his place of safety, and if only he had used the mirror, it wouldn't have happened. But what I find really interesting is that Harry never realizes this. When I read the scene in chapter 38 where Harry unwraps the mirror, I feel an unbearable sense of regret--if only Harry had used the mirror instead of trying to go and save Sirius. For me, the mirror is a painful reminder of Harry's biggest mistake, the mistake of not opening and using Sirius' gift. Harry, however, doesn't feel this regret; for him, the mirror is simply a potential way of contacting Sirus after death. It never crosses his mind that if only he had opened the mirror sooner, Sirius would still be alive.

Why doesn't Harry realize this? What does it mean that Harry doesn't recognize his incredible mistake in not using the mirror instead of the Floo network to try to talk to Sirius the night of his vision? Is it, as some have suggested, simply that Rowling needed a better editor for books 4 and 5? Or, as my friend K. said to me yesterday, perhaps Rowling didn't want to give Harry more than he could handle. He was devastated by all sorts of hypothetical "what ifs?" that come to anyone who has lost a loved one; perhaps knowing that he should have actually done something would be too much for him to take, and he would have been completely incapacitated by grief. Or is it a sign of his immaturity that Harry doesn't realize the true role he played in the tradgedy?

I'm also wondering what it means that I feel regret for something that doesn't even occur to Harry. I can't come up with other examples in fiction where this has happened to me. Yes, I've felt anger at characters for doing stupid or mean things, but I don't ever remember feeling regret for something the protagonist did--meaning that I've identified with and like him/her--that he/she doesn't already feel. Maybe this is a brilliant, deliberate move on Rowling's part to set her mature readers apart from Harry. Although most of the content of the book is set in a high-school-like setting, the conflicts of friendship, romance, leadership, feeling useless, etc. are ones that appeal to all ages, and therefore it would be easy to expect too much from Harry. Perhaps by creating an emotional state in her readers quite different from that in Harry, Rowling is saying, "Yes, he's a great wizard, but he's not grown up yet. Give him a little more time."

To end on a side note: for those of you who are wondering, here are my predictions for book 7:

• Dumbledore is really dead (not much of a prediction anymore, since Rowling has pretty much confirmed it).
• Harry won't die, but Ron or Hermione (or perhaps Ginny) will, creating an uncrossable rift between Harry and those closest to him.
• Voldemort will die.
• Snape will turn out to be good.

It's April 26, 2007. Have you preordered your copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yet?

Peanut Sesame Noodles

For those of you who like Thai food, this recipe is awesome. It's spicy, has a peanut flavor, and can be made in less than a half an hour. We enjoyed it tonight as a main course; it would also be good as a starter or side dish. It is pretty spicy though, so if you like milder food, you will want to cut back on the red pepper flakes.

The original recipe called for thin linguine to use as the noodles, but our grocery store has a decent selection of some ethnic foods, and so I'm able to get Thai rice noodles to use instead for a more authentic flavor.

This recipe can be found on p. 243 of the latest Gourmet cookbook.

Peanut Sesame Noodles
Serves 6 as a side dish; 4 as a main course
Time: 30 minutes

For dressing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup warm water
2 T. chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 medium garlic clove, chopped
2 T. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 T. sesame oil
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

For noodles
3/4 lb. dried thin linguine or spaghetti (Note: I used Thai rice noodles)
4 scallion, thinly sliced
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch wide strips
3 T. sesame seeds, toasted

Make the dressing: Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Make the noodles: Cook pasta in a 6-8 quart pot of boiling salted water until tender. Drain in a colander, then rinse well under cold water. Add pasta, scallions, bell peppers, and sesame seeds to dressing, tossing to combine. Serve immediately.

Enjoy! :)

How do you break up with someone at sea?

I read an article today about this couple in New York who set sail for a 1000-day non-stop sailing voyage around the world. This trip would break the record for the longest non-stop trip by almost a year. An impressive effort, certainly. But after reading the article, an number of things struck me as potentially troublesome.

• The guy--Reid Stowe--is 55. His girlfriend--Soanya Ahmad--is only 23. Now, this is probably very unfair on my part, but this screams trouble to me. I know they've been together for 4 years, but a 32-year age gap seems like a big challenge for any couple to overcome. What if, halfway through the trip, they decide things aren't going to work out? Do they break up? How do you break up with someone on a boat that's only 70 feet long? You can't really avoid them. And not speaking to them doesn't really seem to be an options, since not saying "Watch out for the boom!" could be fatal.
• Another big problem is Soanya's sailing experience. She has never been out to sea. Ever. The article says that she has only been sailing on the Hudson. Holy. Cow. I don't even know where to start on that one.
• But for me, the most troubling thing by far about this voyage is the books these two are bringing. They are bringing the collected works of Joseph Conrad and every book written by Herman Melville. The thought of reading nothing but Moby Dick and Heart of Darkness for 3 years is enough to make me want to throw myself overboard.

And that's before I add seasickness and romantic troubles to the equation...

Drunken Monkeys

I was watching a show on disorderly animals on Animal Planet, and there was this bit on the monkeys on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. Apparently, residents of this island tried to control the monkeys, but they were too fast, so they gave them alcohol.

These days, it's the tourists who give the monkeys booze--sometimes unintentionally by just leaving their half-filled drinks unattended--but apparently, some scientists are studying these monkeys to learn about the possibility of an "alcoholism gene."

Turns out, monkeys behave pretty similarly to humans when they get drunk. Some of them get quiet and fall asleep, others go nuts and break stuff, and some only drink socially.

Drinking also has benefits for the monkeys themselves. According to the Animal Planet show, the monkeys that drink the most are the most respected and get chosen leader.

Huh.

Sound familiar?

Identity

I've always been a bit of a sucker for a good game show. I think it comes from watching Jeopardy in the afternoons with my mom, and also, as a more special treat, The Price is Right when I was home sick or on a break from school.

I haven't really gotten into any of the newer ones that have sprung up in the last few years, though. I didn't like the way the host of Weakest Link was so mean (yes, I realize that's the point), Millionaire was ok until it was on every night...and now that Meredith Veira is the host, I really can't stand it (ok...her), and I actually have never watched Deal or No Deal.

But then, when on our cruise, we turned on the TV one of the last nights we were there because we were exhausted and the thought of getting off our comfy bed was simply impossible. After flipping through the channels, we realized we could either watch an in-house ad for Carnival Cruises, or we could watch Identity, a new game show on NBC with Penn Teller as the host. We went for Identity.

And I actually really liked it. As I'm sitting here writing this, my husband tells me that he thinks it's dumb and doesn't want to be associated with this post in any way, but I'll stand by what I said. I like the show :)

The basic idea of the show is that there are 12 strangers and 12 identities, and the contestant has to match each stranger to an identity. Some of the identities are professions, some are hobbies, some have to do with age or religion or weird talents or contests the stranger has won. Some of the matches are pretty obvious--it's not too tricky to pick out a bodybuilder, or a lingerie model, or a George Bush lookalike. But some are really hard, like the woman who looks like a supermodel but turns out to be an astronomer. The contestant gets a few gimmicks to help him or her out--they can ask a panel of experts about one identity, for example, and after they have successfully matched several identities with strangers, three of their friends come onstage to give them advice.

When I watched it on the cruise, I saw the episode where Christina Howard won $500,000 (the show's top prize). She was really excited and wore her heart on her sleeve, and it made for a fun episode to watch. The episode I watched tonight had less interesting contestants, but I still enjoyed it because it contains that element that I like in both Jeopardy and The Price is Right--the feeling that I could do just as well, if not better, than the current contestant, and if I were only there, I would be totally rich.

Penn Jillette is interesting to watch as host of the show. I find his hand gestures pretty distracting and he has this irritating way of drawing out his words, but if I can tolerate Alex Trebek's snarky comments and Bob Barker's perma-tan, I can easily handle this.

But what I find most intriguing about the show is how it forces people to be upfront about their preconceived notions of others. During the episode with Christina, she had to pick out a hula dancer, and she kept leaning toward the Asian woman even though she said she knew hula dancers don't have to be Asian. For some reason, the show makes people feel comfortable enough to talk about their expectations regarding race, gender, beauty, and other physical traits in a remarkably upfront way. And perhaps that's where the lasting value of Identity lies.

Pandora and Arcade Fire

Well, I think I've finally done it! For a while now, I've played around with what to listen to while at the computer. CDs and Mp3s are fine, but I want to hear a variety of music, and also, new music that I wouldn't have listened to on my own. My husband and I have tried Radio Paradise, a free internet radio station, but have found it to be really hit or miss. We love some of the songs, but others make us want to scream.

I've also tried Pandora, and before tonight, I've had relatively little success. Pandora is another internet radio website, but with a twist. You enter music that you like, and it creates a "station" that plays music that is similar to the artist or song that you entered. I liked the concept, and so I started an account (totally free). I entered Bruce Springsteen, but he has such a large range to his sound that just about everything could match. I also tried creating stations off of artists where I only liked/knew 2 or 3 of their songs. This didn't work very well either, because the songs I like weren't really representative of their sound as a whole.

So, I left Pandora alone for a while. Tonight, as I'm putting off grading student presentations, I thought I'd try again. And what do you know? I finally had success! This time, I entered a band--Arcade Fire--where I liked one of their whole CDs, not just 2 or three songs. The other advantage to Arcade Fire is that they are a relatively new band, so they haven't had time to put out the massive amounts of music that someone like Springsteen has. They just have two albums out--Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007). I've found this combination of my wide interest in the group and their relatively limited output to be a really good one that captures the kind of music I'm interested in listening to tonight. Some other groups that I also really like--such as Death Cab for Cutie and Artic Monkey--have also come up on the playlist, which is cool. And what's even better--I've heard some groups that are new to me and that I like, which means that ultimately, Pandora is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Children of Men

My delightful husband recently discovered the magic of Ebay. I mean, he always knew it existed, but he just connected to it on a personal level. Sort of like being born again. His new philosophy: Why rent a movie when you can bid on it for only $1?

Which is why we now own the charming Clives Owens/Julianne Moore film Children of Men.

I'm using the term charming very loosely.

It was suspenseful, the lighting and costumes did a great job a creating an awful-looking place, and I got drawn into the story. Oh, and Kee (one of the female leads) has a killer sense of humor. The whole thing is almost worth watching just for several cracks that she makes.

But when the movie ended, I was left with a lot of questions.

Spoilers follow...don't read if you don't want to know...

For example: What happened to the world? Why is Britain a haven for refugees? Apparently it has something to do with everyone being infertile, but I never caught a clear explanation.

Also, what's the relationship between all these characters? Who the heck is Jasper? What's the deal with his wife? Are they Theo's parents? Why did Theo and Julian break up? Is it because of Dylan? Some details--like the pingpong ball bit between Theo and Julian--hint at well-developed characters, but fleshed out relationships would help even more.

I realize that information like this isn't really necessary for the furthering of the plot, but I think it would be helpful stuff to know, especially in framing the situation of Theo (Clive Owens) and Julian (Julianne Moore).

Another irritation (not so much a question) is that several key plot points are glossed over in hushed voices speaking rapidly in British accents. The whole after-hours boss meeting at the Fish headquarters that Theo overhears was completely unintelligible to me. Not cool, especially since it sets up the motivation for the rest of the film.

I also think there are several loose ends that they filmmakers could have done more with. Throughout the film, Theo is shown as having a certain appeal to animals, so much so that it seems like it will be significant. So, you start paying attention to the animals. Are they leading Theo somewhere? Are they going to betray him? And then....nothing. By following through on things like this, the movie could have been made richer.

But, my biggest beef with the movie is this: Why can't humanity reproduce anymore? It's the question that we're teased with throughout the entire movie, with hints that the mysterious Human Project will be able to provide an answer. And when Kee gets on the Human Project ship at the end of the movie, we think "finally! we'll get some answers!" Nope. No clue. No idea whether Kee's baby is a fluke, whether there will be more children, or whether Theo, Julian, and countless others have died in vain. Children of Men has set itself up to be a powerful social critique of something, but even at the end, I'm not sure what that is. Certain things--the Abu Ghraib hoods, the clippings against Iraq, the refugee situation, etc., indirectly critique the current US administration, but that critique could have been made much stronger and more interesting if we had gotten some clue at the end of the movie as to why this all was going on. By avoiding the question altogether, the movie doesn't risk looking trite or cliche, but by not taking any risks, it also loses the chance at really saying something.

Wild Win!

I like hockey, and I'm definitely a Minnesota Wild fan. It's just that...well, I forget to watch the games. Or I don't have time. Or something. So, even though I've only really been watching during the playoffs, I don't think it's accurate to call me a fair-weather fan, because I like the Wild regardless of how they do, and I like to watch the games during the regular season (when I remember they're on).

Regardless of what kind of fan that makes me, I have been watching the playoffs, and going into tonight's game, I was sad, because it seemed that the Wild's Stanley Cup dreams were at an end. And then the most amazing thing happened. In spite of the refs, and the Wild's inability to score on a powerplay, they scored one goal. And then another. And another. And another!!! All while the Ducks only scored one :)

To be honest, the score should have been 5-0. The goal the Ducks scored was on a powerplay against Veilleux of the Wild that was complete bull. Yes, he was fighting. And then, he gets sucker punched in the side of the head! Does that get called? Of course not. But his continued fighting does. Baloney.

The Wild's last goal also got called back because a Wild player was allegedly in the crease (for too long, perhaps? I'm fuzzy on this rule...). I'm not sure if he was or if he wasn't, but if that's going to get called, and some of the other offenses against the Wild aren't going to get called, that's nonsense. Quite impressive that the Wild beat not only the Ducks, but the refs as well.

And the game got pretty dirty at the end. Thornton jumped Hall, and Johnsson got dropped in an unbelievable display of unsportsmanlike conduct. Sure, the Wild had their share in starting fights, but they kept it clean. You know it's a crazy game when it ends with a 5 minute Minnesota powerplay and the crowd of 19,000 shouting for Boogaard.

Hey Ducks--if this is the only way you can win, take your nonsense back to California. We'll see you there.

Gratz!!

Big congratulations to AWM for his successful defense of his dissertation. Nicely done, Dr. Dude (or is that dude, Ph.D?).

Mascarpone Tart with Honey, Oranges, and Pistachios

Well, for Easter I tried this tart, and it was a big hit. Not only that, but it only required one bowl for mixing, which is always a plus :) I used my own pie crust, but you can use pre-packaged ones to save time. The end result looks very fancy, and is light and creamy.

The recipe is from the March 2007 issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe can be found online here.

Mascarpone Tart with Honey, Oranges, and Pistachios

Prep time: 25 minutes; Total: 1 hour 10 minutes (includes baking and cooling time)

8 servings

Ingredients:
1 refrigerated pie crust
2 large navel oranges
1 8 oz. container chilled mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 T. honey
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
2 T. chopped pistachios


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Press pie crust onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; fold sides in and press to extend sides 1/4 inch above rim of pan. Pierce crust all over with fork. (Note: I used aluminum foil and pie weights so it didn't puff up.) Bake until golden brown, about 24 minutes. Cool completely on rack.

Meanwhile, grate enough orange peel to measure 1 1/4 tsp. Cut off remaining peel and pith from oranges. Slice oranges into thin rounds, then cut rounds crosswise in half. (Note: I left them as rounds b/c I liked the look better, but that made the tart more difficult to slice gracefully when serving.) Place orange slices on paper towels to drain slightly.

Combine mascarpone, cream, sugar, 1 T. honey, cardamom, and orange peel in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat just until blended and peaks form (do not overbeat or mixture will curdle). Spread filling evenly in cooled crust. Arrange orange slices atop tart in concentric circles; sprinkle with pistachios. Drizzle with remaining 1 T. honey and serve.

(Note: I made this the night before, and it worked quite well.)

Enjoy!!

Kitchen Gadgets

Well, I had the worst baking day on Thursday that I've had in a while. I made a batch of pie crust that just wouldn't hold together when rolled out, no matter what I did. I must have forgotten a cup of flour, or added one too many, or something. I added more water, more flour, chilled the dough...nothing worked. And then, the handles fell off my rolling pin, and the ball bearings fell on the floor. So then, whenever I rolled anything out, my rolling pin would make grinding noises, and small shavings of rusty metal would fall onto the pie crust. Delicious.

I have since gotten a new rolling pin, and have also had the chance to try out my new pie blackbird, and let me say, the experience with both of them more than makes up for the lousy day on Thursday.

My husband and I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond today to get new stools for our kitchen and a new rolling pin for me. The stools part of the trip turned out poorly (since we didn't think to measure our current stools beforehand...d'oh!), but the rolling pin part was fantastic. In the kitchen section, I had the choice of 5 or 6 different rolling pins...a small wooden one, a small plastic one, an enormous one, a corrugated one, and even one that was just a tapered cylinder without handles.

And then, there was the Oxo rolling pin. Nonstick. Dishwasher safe. Handles that always stay upright. 12" long. The most beautiful looking rolling pin ever. Bed, Bath, and Beyond sells it for $24.99, which was easily the most expensive rolling pin there. But my husband grabbed it, and we took it home. And after rolling out 3 crusts tonight, I'm in love with it. Its action (if rolling pins have action) is so smooth, and the extra length really makes rolling crusts out a lot faster. The nonstick feature is also pretty awesome; I had a lot fewer tears and chunks torn out of my crusts tonight than I normally do. I honestly wanted to keep rolling out the dough further than I needed to, just because I liked the feel of it so much. I don't know about how dishwasher safe it is; I honestly was too afraid to ruin my wonderful new toy, and so I handwashed it anyways. :)

My second new baking toy was a gift from my friend K. She gave it to me, and at first, I really didn't know what it was. She explained that it was a pie blackbird, and that, while she had never heard of one, all the people at the cooking store said it was a must-have for those who made pies.

After doing a little research, I learned that you put the pie bird in an unfilled pie crust, put the filling in around it, and then drape the top crust over the bird. The bird's beak will puncture the crust, allowing the bird's head to poke through. What the pie bird does is release the steam from the pie, so that the filling does not overheat and boil over. Today, these pie birds are not only useful when making pies, but are also valued as collectibles, as they come in many shapes and designs.

Further research showed why these steam funnels are often in the shape of birds--apparently, royal chefs in medieval times were always looking for ways to impress the court, and one of the things they sometimes did was put live birds into baked pies, so that when the pie was sliced open, the birds would fly out. Remember the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence"? Apparently, the line "Four and twenty blackbirds/ baked in a pie" isn't complete gibberish after all :)

At any rate, I used it to make my blueberry pie tonight, and I think it's the nicest looking pie I've ever made--the pie bird seems to suck out any extra air, and so the pie is nice and neat looking. And the bottom of my oven is clean (or at least no dirtier than before I started baking).

Happy baking!