Remembering Walter Cronkite

The world lost a legend yesterday, and though I was too young to remember many of Walter Cronkite's defining moments in TV news, I do fondly remember his contribution to Disney. Back to Neverland was played at the beginning of The Magic of Disney Animation tour back when MGM was still a film studio, and before anyone wanted to be the next American Idol. Enjoy:

Recipe: Melktert from Boma at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge

I've never personally stayed in Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge and will be doing so for the first time in a few weeks (squee!), but that didn't stop me from making some South African awesomeness earlier this week. The Melktert is a traditional custard pie that's just the right amount of sweet, and it keeps well - I've been eating it all week. It's not the easiest thing to make, but this recipe may make it to the dinner table come this Thanksgiving. It's that tasty.

Ingredients:

1 Pre-baked 9" Pie Dough Shell

2 cups Milk

2 Cinnamon Sticks

6 Peels from 6 Tangerines

1 Vanilla Bean, split in half

½ cup Heavy Cream

¼ cup Cornstarch

1/3 cup Sugar

1/8 teaspoon Salt

2 Tablespoons Butter

2 Tablespoons Apricot Jam

2 Eggs

3 Tablespoons Sugar

¼ teaspoons Cinnamon

Let's Cook!

1. Pre-bake the pie shell for 7 minutes until light brown in color.

2. Steep the milk with cinnamon, tangerine peels, and vanilla bean in a pot for about 3 minutes.

3. Remove pot from the heat and cover tightly for about 20 minutes. Then strain to remove the vanilla bean and peels.

4. Mix cream, cornstarch, sugar, and salt into a smooth paste. Temper into the milk.

5. Put the milk back on the stove and cook for about 2 minutes until mixture is heavily thickened.

6. Add the butter, then remove from the stove to cool to room temperature.

7. Brush the apricot jam on the inside of the pie shell.

8. Mix the eggs into the milk custard and pour into the pie shell.

9. Mix the 3 tablespoons of sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of the pie.

10. Bake the pie in a 350o oven for about 35 to 40 minutes until filling is slightly puffed and brown.

What's Next for the Disney Channel?

More of the same, really. Jim Hill wrote an excellent post last week on some of the projects that are currently in the works, and I'll recap them here:

Camp Rock 2: Final Jam - Without even delving into the plot, it seems a bit premature to call this installment the "Final Jam," because - if the current business model still stands - Disney will obviously want to think about a third movie if this one does well. But I know you're just dying to find out what happens to Shane and Mitchie, so let's move on. In Camp Rock 2, Mitchie (Demi Lovato), Shane (Joe Jonas), Nate (Nick Jonas) and Jason (Kevin Jonas) all go back to Camp Rock for reasons unspecified (why do rock stars attend regular person camp? is it because friends are like, totally awesome?) only to find that all the former Camp Rockers are now attending the unfortunately named Camp Star, which is like, way better. Things become more complicated when Nate falls in love a Camp Star hottie, who also happens to be the camp director's daughter. Lots of angst, stomping around, and an inevitable sing-off occur.

High School Musical: East Meets West - Yes, its a fourth installment and no, this one isn't coming to the big screen. And it will have a whole new cast! But it won't have Troy, Gabriella, Chad, or more importantly, Kenny Ortega. So we'll see. While I'm sure a zillion kiddies will tune in, this is still a big "we'll see." Based on the title, let me speculate wildly: East High Wildcats and West High Knights are thrown together through some plot hole that results in integrating the two high schools. Conflict arises. Some dude from East High loves a girl from West High. Zomg, dramz. Sing-off occurs.

Hannah Montana's fourth season - The final stretch of Hannah Montana moves off of the beach and into Malibu for a completely superfluous last season. Of course, without the beach, there is virtually nothing for Jackson or Rico to do (the last episode had them singing introductions to each scene in various musical styles). And based on the last episode of Hannah Montana, it looks like the next season is all about - surprise - a love triangle. Will Hannah choose movie star and Dancing with the Stars loser Jake Ryan or bad boy hottie guitar player Jesse? (Jesse, duh, he's way cuter.) Or will she choose neither because friends are more awesome than boyfriends and let's sing a song about it? It will be interesting to see how Disney chooses to wrap up the show.

And on that note ... I think I hear my DVR calling.