Benji and Anne at the same age.

Hm. These children look nothing alike to me. Does the rest of the world beg to differ?

Playdough-off!

Jeanne here.

So I thought I would start making playdough for Benji, mainly because the way he likes to play with it (rolling, smashing, making dinosaur/animal/truck tracks in it, filling dumptrucks with it) requires vast stretches of playdough. I tried three recipes, and I thought I'd rate them here, in case any of you are ever thinking of making Play-dough.



1. Uncooked Playdough. Totally lame -- crumbly, not pliable. Let's not bother.










2. Cooked Playdough. This is the one my mom used to make for us, from a recipe courtesy of her friend Anita. The recipe makes a ton -- perfect for Jurassic landscapes.










3. Jello Playdough. I found this recipe on the Internet, and it was claimed that it would stand up to the real thing.











Our contenders: Cooked Playdough (foreground), Jello Playdough (left background), and "Play-doh" (right background).











First Test: Impressions.

The Cooked Playdough easily makes a nice, detailed impression of tire marks and dino feet. A strong showing.













The Jello Playdough seems to want to spring back into shape -- not surprisingly, given the gelatin. This poses a problem for impressions.
Not quite as deep or accurate.












Play-doh makes a very nice impression -- perfectly crisp -- but it's actually harder to make an impression in it than in the Cooked Playdough, since it's not as pliable.









Second test: Cut-outs.



Cooked Playdough and Jello Playdough had similar drawbacks for cut-outs. They were both a little too pliable for this purpose, so the cut-outs were not crisp.











Yes, the industrial chemicals won this round, hands-down.












Third Test: Extrusion.



Ah, extrusion. Everyone's favorite use for Playdough. Hasbro must know this, because Play-doh extrudes marvelously, with crisp, clean edges.












But the Cooked Playdough does pretty well, too -- less raggedy than the Jello Playdough.












Well, I will continue making playdough for Benji, given that he likes to use several cubic inches of it at once, but I'm under no illusions that I've matched Play-doh. Well-played, Hasbro. Well-played. Of the homemade versions, I'll stick with what I grew up with.

Anita's Playdough recipe:

3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. salt
2 Tablespoons cream of tartar
3 c. water
food coloring
3 Tablespoons cooking oil

Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients.
Blend dry and wet, then stir over low heat until the mixture forms a ball (5 to 10 minutes).
Knead a bit, and let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Reading.

Guard of Honor, by James Gould Cozzens. The best drama about bureaucracy I've ever read. Three days on an Army base in Florida in September 1943, this won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Some of the female characters seemed a little stock, but still enjoyable overall.

Benjy and the Specials.

Yeah, this is old - Benjy's around 18 months here. Jeanne and I were, uh, reviewing some archival material tonight.

Faut-il brûler Babar?

Adam Gopnik on Babar. I enjoyed the Babar books as a child, and Benjy has, too. What I love about the first book, The Story of Babar, is how Babar's activities - and what drama there is - seem so characteristically French. Babar buys a beautiful new suit! Babar eats pastries! Babar thinks of his mother and feels sad! It's not exactly The Little Engine that Could, but it's delightful.

Self-explanatory.

Ninja cat.

Reading.

They Came Like Swallows, by William Maxwell. Melancholy story of a
mother's death in the influenza epidemic of 1918. Written from three
characters' perspectives; the first section, Bunny, about an
eight-year-old, was the most affecting - Maxwell knew what he was
writing about.

Reading.

The Folded Leaf, by William Maxwell. Love triangle between two men and a woman at college. A harrowing page at the end given the author's personal history. Very good.

What I've been reading.

The Forbidden City, by Geremie R. Barmé. A good readable introduction to the history, mystery, and meaning of Beijing's zijin cheng. Part of a series called Wonders of the World. BLDGBLOG's interview with series editor Mary Beard here. Book's short (but still laudable) website here.

Frick and Frack.

Neuron 1: Oh, man, that's funny.

Neuron 2: Yeah, Daddy's pretty funny, Frick.

Neuron 1: I think he's REAL funny, Frack.

Neuron 2: Watch it, Frick. You know how you get. Just make sure you're ... oh, no. Oh, NO.



[Strobing lights, sound of alarms.]

Neuron 2: Frick -- Frick! We're in the red zone! The system is on overload! We are in trouble -- dial it back, man!
















Neuron 2: Christ, Frick.

Neuron 1: I know, I just got carried away. I'm sorry, Frack. It won't happen again, I swear.

Neuron 2: Okay, okay. But -- Christ, Frick.