Butterbeer and Conference

October is my favorite month of the year. The colors are richer and the weather becomes cooler. Yes, even in dinky Page, AZ, the weather changed for the better. Unlike my sister who runs on solar-power (the entire family including her husband and son agree), October weather charges me with enough euphoric joy to foil any villain... or at least power me through the next eleven months.

Today was no exception to the enchantment of this month. Every first weekend of October, for as far back as I can recall, I have tuned my ears to hear talks given in general conference. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e. I am a Mormon), I listen twice a year to messages delivered by church leaders in Salt Lake City, UT. Whatever sense of balance or calmness of mind people think I have, can be attributed to the deep ponderings I have made over the course of my life to spiritual or religious things. General conference enlightens my understanding, strengthens my resolve to do good, inspires me to be better person, and increases my faith.  

I admit that general conference can be a challenge to sit through (8-10 hours spread over two days). As a graduate student, I went to the lab and listened to conference on my computer as I worked on experiments at my bench. Keeping myself busy during conference become an acquired habit. And so...This morning, I decided that I would listen to conference while experimenting with butterbeer recipes. 

Cream soda base for 100% of the butterbeer recipes I have found.

A future blog post will reveal the success of my experimentation. I meant to bring butterbeer to an Oktoberfest meal in September. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to prepare the delightful drink to my standards. My attempt to make butterbeer (last week) was riddled with hiccups and challenges. First, I had to obtain the ingredients, which became quite a funny story of itself. I had to BUY an electric mixer! Yes, you read that correctly. Generally, I do not make purchases for cooking or baking purposes. The exception, it turns out, is if it's for the cream topping that sits atop the butterbeer. Ha. After I made the cream topping, I poured it on top of the butterbeer and it exploded like a kid's volcano science project. Clearly, cooking is an art... and I am not an artist. BUT that experiment was done in September. It is now October and my confidence soars. I am sure my skills as a scientist will make me a butterbeer connoisseur!

Recipe numero uno. Rum extract is imitation rum extract.

Results: I made a glorious mess on the counter-tops. The topping had too much rum? I taste tested the cream soda before adding the extracts and it was delicious! I'm skeptical of this recipe... I tried 3 sips and put it in the freezer. *TEST more recipes! Reduce extract additions! Freeze the butterbeer!