Would you want to see Dustin Hoffman save the Alamo?*

Today we went to my uncle's for a Christmas open house - which was scheduled for before Christmas but it snowed and was postponed. While there, the most intriguing conversation ensued. I made a ham biscuit, except it wasn't on a biscuit. There was some comment made by Samantha and then we were all wondering what the bread before us was. We know what a biscuit is, that's easy enough. But what is the different between a bun and a roll? We know about dinner rolls and hamburger buns, but sometimes there doesn't seem to be a difference (especially rolls and buns of the potato variety). We asked Joanna because she worked at a bakery in her younger, working days, she didn't know. Mike, a chef at a catering company, didn't know - unless he did and he just kept quiet for pure amusement. And what the heck are hot cross buns? Not knowing this made it more difficult to tell what the difference is. And yes, we spent quite some time as a family talking about this. I think it's easy to see now how I spend so much of my life dwelling on pointless topics.

However, you may find one day that this very topic comes up at your dinner table, so to prepare you for that moment I have googled the information. Just a warning, DO NOT google "buns"...add 'bread' in there, but don't just put 'buns'. Okay, let's get on with it.

Buns - are made from sweetened, yeast dough enriched with butter, often with raisins or spices added and are glazed or decorated before baking.

Rolls - are less sweet, or unsweetened, and are not enriched.

That brings us to an important question, and I feel certain you all know where I am going with this, but what the heck is a cinnamon roll then? It is sweet with spices (is cinnamon not a spice? -which, pardon the randomness but 'does not a buttock compare to a people matter?'*) and often has raisins, yet, it is not a cinnamon bun (though there is the cinnabun...hmmm, curiouser and curiouser*) Am I to understand that a cinnamon roll is an exception to the rule?

Also, when did the popped collar come back into style? I feel certain that it hasn't, but this afternoon my cousin purposefully popped his collar. I put it down and seconds later he comes into the room with a popped collar! I told him that I wouldn't stand for popped collars in this house, but in the end I had to threaten him in order to get that collar unpopped. He wanted his remote control car and I happened to have it in my hands while staring at his hideous collar so I told him if he wanted the car the collar had to come down and stay down. He said, "Okay, but what it I am playing and it pops." ...because we all know that sometimes collars pop themselves. So I told him that he had to stay vigilant, I didn't want to glimpse that collar up the whole afternoon, and if I did, the car would be mine. It worked - the rest of the time I spend in the same vicinity as he there was no sign of a popped collar.

And just as a self serving side note. It really does bug me that I have 28 followers and not something more complete...like 30. So 30 blog bucks to new followers and also to the people who "recruit" them, the new follower would simply have to leave a comment saying who referred them. We'll see if that works. Desperate? No...just taking advantage of the competitive people who read my blog. Muhaha!