April 01
April Fools Day
 

The Brits have turned the annual hoax into an art form. More recently, the BBC has become the one of the principal hoax players.  In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.

In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

In 1982 the Daily Mail reported that a local manufacturer had sold 10,000 "rogue bras" that were causing a unique and unprecedented problem, not to the wearers but to the public at large. Apparently the support wire in these bras had been made out of a kind of copper originally designed for use in fire alarms. When this copper came into contact with nylon and body heat, it produced static electricity which, in turn, was interfering with local television and radio broadcasts. The chief engineer of British Telecom, upon reading the article, immediately ordered that all his female laboratory employees disclose what type of bra they were wearing.

In France,  April Fools is called "April Fish" (Poisson d'Avril). The French fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs and when someone discovers this trick, they yell "Poisson d'Avril !"  In Scotland, April Fools Day is 48 hours long. The second day is called Taily Day and is dedicated to pranks involving the buttocks. Taily Day's gift to posterior posterity is the "Kick Me" sign. The kickee is called an "April Gowk" which is another name for a cuckoo bird.

April Fool's Day  is often celebrated  with a cream and fruit pulp mixture called a foole. The word foole comes from the French word fouler ,meaning to crush. In British cooking, foole, or fool as it was later called is similar to other cream dishes such as Syllabub, Fairy Butter, Sweet Almond Cream, and Tender Curd.

The original foole was made with gooseberries. In English slang, "gooseberries" mean testicles and a "gooseberry breaker" are the undulating hips of an attractive woman. Unfortunately, both "gooseberry breakers" and gooseberries are often difficult to obtain in the United States, but the kiwi, also called the Chinese gooseberry, makes a good substitute for the latter.

12 kiwi fruits, peeled
3/4 cup sugar
2 TB water
2 tsp cornstarch

1 cup light cream
2 egg yolks
3 TB Grand Marnier
1 cup whipping cream

1. Quarter kiwi fruit and puree in food processor.
2. In a small saucepan combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup of puree. In a cup or small bowl, mix cornstarch and water until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to puree mixture in saucepan. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for two minutes until mixture becomes thick and clear. Add to remaining puree mixture in food processor with Grand Manlier and turn on and off 2 or 3 times to mix. Refrigerate until chilled.
3. Make a soft custard by heating light cream in a saucepan. Do not let boil. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks with remaining sugar. Pour hot cream slowly into egg mixture, beating constantly with a wisk. Return custard mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat for about ten minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until custard thickens and begins to coat the spoon. Do not let boil. Remove fran heat, cool, and refrigerate until chilled.
4. Whip whipping cream until stiff. carefully fold in cold custard cream. Then fold in kiwi mixture which should remain in streaks in the cream mixture. Spoon into glasses or dessert dish and either serve or return to refrigerator for I to 2 hours until ready to serve.