Cinnamon Sugar Popovers

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS.  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I watched Day of the Doctor today.  Hello!  Amazing.

Before we dive headlong into that, though, let’s talk about everything leading up to it.

To begin on a personal note, I have always been a wildly avid Doctor Who fan.  The Doctor has seen me through so many points in my life and has brought me laughs, comfort, smiles, cries (and how!), and so many sweet memories.  The Doctor is one of those people that you instantly feel drawn to; somehow you know him so instantly, so deeply, and, were you two to meet, you know he would know you so well within a blink of an eye (but don’t blink, haha).  Not only the doctor, but his companions as well!  Recently we’ve got Donna and Rose and Martha and Amy and Clara!  Not to mention people like Sally Sparrow, Craig Owens, Captain Jack Harkness, and good old Wilfred Noble!  But before I get too caught up and disorganized, I’d better start organizing my thoughts. *smile*

Alright, so doctors.  Good grief there are a lot of them, aren’t there?  I am happy (and thoroughly proud) to say that Tom Baker was indeed my first doctor.  I will never forget that dull afternoon that was so quickly sparked by that timey-wimey, whirling opening tune.  And then there was this long fellow with a mop of brown curls and the most absurdly long scarf!  It was hard not to smile, so smile I did and after that I fell in love with the Doctor and all of his adventures.  I have since watched A LOT of Doctor Who.  *smile*  And I’m going to admit that I really don’t have a favorite Doctor (shocking!) because I love every single one of them and what each one brought to the character.  I mean, I was certainly enamored by Eccleston’s dramatic voice and Tennant’s unforgivingly good looks and Smith’s unapologetic quirkiness, but I love all of them (including the ones I haven’t gone into detail for lack of time).

When Doctor Who came back after its (too) long hiatus, I thought that Eccleston did a smashing job bringing the character to life.  Number nine was incredibly unique in that he was so calm and so deep.  There was a definite darkness to him that made him akin to the calm before a storm.  He was edgy and mysterious, but it was always thoroughly amusing to see him get his feathers ruffled, i.e. Captain Jack Harkness.  Not to mention the incredible character dynamic between him and Rose.  But, of course, all things must come to and end.  And so after only one season, Eccleston regenerated into Tennant.  While Eccleston’s stay was very brief, I think that without his superb Shakespearean acting, the show wouldn’t have had as excellent of a push that it did to spur eight, going on nine, seasons after it!

When it was Tennant’s time to take the torch (Olympics, anyone?), none of us were disappointed.  With him came superb Shakespearean acting, unforgettable companions, and some hands down amazing storylines (weeping angels and the Ood and the introduction of River Song!).  Tennant was quirky and charming but also regretful and morose.  Good night, some of his episodes were gut wrenching.  He was so deep and so passionate and so profound.  It was very hard to see him go.  When it was time for him to go, I unashamedly cried (and then cried some more and some more).  What really did me in was his final, “I don’t want to go.”

But alas, he did go and Mr. Matt Smith stepped up to the plate.  On my initial attempt to watch “The Eleventh Hour” I couldn’t do it, so I took a brief break from Doctor Who.  I needed a grieving period.  When I did finally come around, though, I was glad.  Matt Smith really has delivered brilliantly.  He’s witty and dorky in an obstinate way, “Bowties are cool!” and “Fezzes are cool!” and “Glasses are cool!”  And he was so unbelievably nurturing, talking to Lorna in “A Good Man Goes to War,” or little George in “Night Terrors,” or even sacrificing Amy’s faith in him in “The God Complex.”  Plus, who doesn’t like seeing the Doctor getting all blushy and kissing his sweetie, River Song.

While I have not finished all of Matt Smith’s run as the Doctor (darn Netflix!), I am eager to see where his story is ultimately going to lead.  And even though I know it will be terribly hard to see him go, I am very eager to see what Peter Capaldi is going to do.  I have always enjoyed Capaldi’s acting, and that coupled with the fact that I know Moffat would never lead us astray, I am shaking with excitement for where he’s going to take the character.

Now let’s talk about companions!

Let’s see…  We’ve got, more recently, Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, and Clara.  Then we’ve got little additions such as Wilfred, River, and Rory.  Initially, Rose was my hands-down favorite until the tail end of Tennant’s tenure.  She was spunky and warm and bubbly and had a fantastic relationship with Eccleston.  When his time ran out, though, she got along marvelously with Tennant and I found their relationship to be equally entertaining and sweet!  But long after she had gone and Tennant’s time was running up, I found it to be terribly unfortunate and disappointing that she took a bit of a jealous turn when she came back.  Regardless, I did enjoy her quite a bit beforehand, and her being torn away from the Doctor was probably one of the most tear jerking television experiences I have ever endured.

I’ll admit when Martha came onto the scene, I had my reservations.  Rose was so incredible and I had loved her so much.  How could any other companion ever compete?  Well, while Martha never stole my heart quite the way Rose did, she did do a superb job.  Ironically, I liked her even better when she was no longer the Doctor’s companion and would show up to help him out of sticky situations.

And then we had Donna.  Ah, Donna.  Who couldn’t love her?  Fierce red hair, incredible will, and then copious amounts of sass.  Donna Noble really was the queen of sass during Tennant.  After the disappointment with Rose, Donna became my new favorite (though, who knows, this might have been the case even if Rose hadn’t disappointed me).  Words can’t even begin to describe my love and admiration for her character.  I was absolutely elated when she came back in “The End of Time.”

After all of Donna’s sass, I think that it was only beautifully appropriate that the Doctor’s (Smith’s) next companion was a fiery, strong-willed, Scottish redhead–Amy Pond.  I absolutely love Amy.  Like Donna, words cannot describe my love and admiration for her. *smile* She’s spunky and loving and dedicated.  And she is hilarious!  Her and Rory and River and the Doctor?  Simply perfect.

As I said earlier, Netflix is keeping me from being up-to-date with my Who, so I will have to withhold my thoughts on Miss Clara until Netflix decides to catch up, haha.

Alright, and after that novella of a shtick of my Doctor Who thoughts (and that was an incomplete novella, mind you), let’s talk about what all of Twitter and Tumblr have been buzzing about–The Day of the Doctor.

I have only two words to describe the whole seventy-five minutes: beautiful and stunning.  It was humorous, it was heartwarming, it was tear jerking, and it was utterly glorious.  I remember when the first rumors of a Doctor Who special with Matt Smith and David Tennant were tearing through the blogosphere, I was happily dumbfounded.  Happy because I simple adore the two, and dumbfounded because, well, how on earth could the doctor meet two (and what turned out to be three and sorta kinda four!) of himself and not, well, tear apart the fabric of space and time or whatnot?  Well, all of that was handled beautifully.

When John Hurt came into the shack in the desert toting his heavy burden, the Monument, and then its conscience, Rose Tyler, appeared to him, I was thoroughly confused.  But then, as she began to talk and they flashed to Tennant in 1562 England and Smith in present day London, and the time vortices brought them together, it all began to fall together beautifully.  I am honestly incredibly amazed at how Moffat put it all together.

It would be impossible for me to name just one favorite bit from the whole experience, but I do know that I had a profound surge of sweet glee when every reincarnation of the doctor came together to “cup-o-soupify” Gallifrey.  It was beautiful and I readily admit that it made me cry.  And after all of that, we had Tom Baker’s appearance that was nothing short of glorious.

One thing, though.

If John Hurt (“War Doctor”) came after Paul McGann (eighth doctor), then how did he and all of his previous reincarnations know to begin calculating Gallifrey?  Were there more time vortices?  Please don’t think I’m being critical, just a tad curious.

Regardless, the whole affair was simply glorious.  I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from me and my love of Doctor Who on here, so I hope you’ve enjoyed it thus far!

Well, be sure to share your thoughts below or connect with me at other places!  Who’s your favorite Who?  What about companions and episodes and minor characters and even villains?  I always love hearing from all of you.

CINNAMON SUGAR POPOVERS

Recipe barely adapted from David Lebovitz over at that snazzy little New York Times.

For the puffs:

• Softened, unsalted butter for greasing the pans
• 30 grams / 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 244 mL / 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• Scant teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons unrefined cane sugar
• 140 grams / 1 cup all purpose flour

For the cinnamon coating:

• 140 grams / 2/3 cup unrefined cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 60 grams / 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Place the rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.  Thoroughly grease a twelve-cup popover tin or two six-cup muffin tins.

For the puffs, pour your 2 tablespoons melted butter, eggs, milk, salt, and cane sugar into a blender.  Give it a whiz.  Now add in your flour and give it one more whiz, about 5 to 8 seconds, just until combined.  The batter will be terribly thin, but that means it’s good and proper.

Divide your batter among 9 or 12 cups, filling them 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Place in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, until deeply golden brown.  No matter how tempting it is, DO NOT pop open the oven to give it a little peek.  Just trust that things are baking good and proper.  Trust will get you far when making popovers.

Remove from oven and immediately begin working them out of their cups.  If you greased the cups well enough, they should just pop out.  If you are having some trouble, however, feel free to use a knife to help work them out.

To make the cinnamon sugar, combine the cinnamon and sugar.  Liberally brush each popover with the melted butter and coat with the cinnamon.  Place the popovers on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.

Makes 9-12 popovers