Meet The Mares: Plumsweet · 2:55am Sep 23rd, 2021
There’s only so much that can go into a story, especially one with as many characters as 16 has. So I’m opening the floor to asking these characters questions. Post your reply with any questions you have and Plumsweet will be happy to answer them (I’ll be editing this blog to add those questions). I’ll be posting the other characters in the coming weeks (up through Snowcatcher; the rest will come after their chapters are posted).
Interview subject #11: Plumsweet
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/kurutyan/art/Plumsweet-718364828
Cutie mark?
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/durpy/art/Cutie-Mark-Plumsweet-296409490
Thanks to Feathermay, I discovered that pony names don’t translate to English quite as well as everyone originally thought. What’s the most direct translation of your name?
She Who Is Sweeter Than the Sweetest Mirabelle Plum.
You were on the very first busload of ponies brought to the consulate the day the portal opened. Is that correct?
That’s correct. I was sitting with my best friend, Cherry Spices. She went back to Equestria after our short-lived television show was canceled.
Relationship status?
Single, but I’m not too worried about it. They say the way to a stallion’s heart is through his stomach, and I can cook. You don’t get my figure by eating salads!
Favorite part of living on Earth?
Discovering new recipes and perfecting them. Once I’ve got enough of them, I’ll send them to Cherry Spices to start test marketing in Equestria. See what sells and what doesn’t.
What’s your favorite song? Specifically, your favorite song that our audience on Earth might know?
Eat It by Weird Al Yankovic.
Favorite TV show?
I’m not particularly fond of TV.
I suppose that’s understandable. I understand you had a very brief career in front of the cameras. What happened?
One network fired me over something that should have been completely avoidable. Who signs a margarine company to sponsor a cooking show that celebrates everything unhealthy?
I quit the other one after being pelted by dodgeballs. They showed that clip on their channel for weeks until Ploomette stepped in. I understand that it probably would’ve continued to be shown for a year if not for the threat of an interdimensional incident on their hands. That didn’t stop people from uploading it to the internet though. I think it has a couple of million views on YouTube.
Has anyone recognized you from that?
Yes. Surprisingly, it’s always kids. A lot of adults tend to think all ponies look alike, but kids notice details like cutie marks. Children also tend to like really unhealthy sweets and treats. It’s not like those are my specialty or anything. It’s not hard to come to an understanding that’s mutually beneficial.
Favorite movie?
I’m partial to Rodney Dangerfield movies.
Favorite color?
Brown. Chocolate is brown. No further explanation is needed.
I’m told you’re an amazing cook. What’s your specialty?
Desserts, mostly. I found an Italian recipe for pastiera that’s amazing. I think that’s my best, but everybody else raves about my caramel brownies.
Do you have a car?
Source: AlwaysDressesInStyle
I get winded if I trot more than three blocks. Of course I have a car. I’ve got a Ford Pinto. Not only is it named for a horse, but I heard something about it also being a barbeque. Would that make it a carbeque? The problem is I haven’t figured out how to activate that feature yet.
What do you miss about Equestria?
The food, mostly. And my bestie, Cherry Spices, now that she’s gone home. She paid back her stipend, so she’s not coming back any time soon.
Emil: What was the favorite food/drink that you discovered on human-Earth?
You’re going to make me choose? The New York metro area is a melting pot, and there are so many amazing ethnic foods to try. It would be easier to list human foods I don’t like: tofu. Yuck!
I just mentioned pastiera, and we definitely don’t have anything like that back in Equestria. I could pick that as a favorite, but that’s selling so many other choices short. Boston cream pie is another good one. Panzerotti, disco fries, and knish are all great appetizers. Or do like I do, and make a small meal of them and focus on dessert instead.
And bacon. I know it’s meat. It does horrible things to my stomach when I eat too much of it. But it’s sooooo good. I really shouldn’t admit this because cows are sapient back home in Equestria. Even among the ponies that have tried meat, beef is considered taboo… but I discovered pastrami by accident. I wish I hadn’t, but it’s delicious.
So, in closing, everything but tofu.
SportsCall: What do you think of Famous Pastry chefs? Who is your favorite?
I’m not familiar with Famous Pastry. Is this a television show or a web series? It sounds right up my alley!
As for my favorite human chef, that’s a tough decision, but I’ll go with Jennifer Paterson. My show with Cherry Spices was patterned after her show with Clarissa Dickson Wright, Two Fat Ladies.
Spamotron: Have you ever thought about doing a cooking/baking YouTube channel as a hobby?
You know, Diamond Rose suggested that too. She’s really good with social media, maybe she could help me get a channel started.
Dan: What do you think of other traditional umami vegetarian staples like kombu and miso and nori and shitake mushrooms and tempeh? Or since you prefer sweet stuff, red bean paste or boba tea or mochi or pocky?
I’ve never been a big fan of mushrooms, so I haven’t tried shitake. I’ve also discovered that Japanese food tends heavily to seafood, so I haven’t explored the Japanese restaurants in the area as heavily as I have some of the others. For the record, miso isn’t technically vegetarian. From what I’ve experienced, it’s made with dashi, which is tuna or bonito stock. It’s okay, but I’m not overly fond of seafood, though I do like kombu. I have to be mindful of these things because the rest of the girls like to ask me for suggestions, and they’re not nearly as open to trying meat as I am. They also tend to get disgusted when I eat meat in front of them, so I have to be sneaky when I want to indulge in carnivorous ways.
Bubble tea is quite good. I bought a box of Pocky to try and brought it home. It was empty the next day, and I know I didn’t eat all of it. I presume that at least one of my coworkers also found it to be tasty. I’ll have to get some more one of these days…
Snowliasion: Who is your favorite colleague you silly tofu hater?
Cherry Spices when we worked together on our TV show, and now at the hotel it’s Cherry Pie. She likes tart instead of sweet, but I can respect that. She and Spices are second cousins, so that gives her bonus points.
penguincascadia: What do you think about human baked goods in grocery stores? How about those from standalone bakeries?
I think it goes without saying that a dedicated bakery will do better than what’s available at a grocery store. I’ve noted a lot of grocers have a bakery section, but it never looks particularly appetizing. It’s almost like they sucked the soul out of baking, and that makes me sad. Any time I encounter a bakery that makes something I like, I immediately try to reverse-engineer the recipe to try and replicate it.
penguincascadia: Since you are interested in media, what do you think about NPR and PBS?
I wouldn’t say I have an interest in media. I’d actually go so far as to say I now have an intense dislike of media. My interests lie with cooking, and media was a way to make a living at cooking and baking. But alas, that door has closed to me. Suffice it to say after my experience, I do my best to avoid watching TV. The network I’d most be interested in is the one that fired me. The one my guests watch most frequently is the one that kept showing a clip of me being injured because it was ‘funny’.
Neither NPR nor PBS has the content I’m most interested in, so I don’t think I’ve listened/watched either for more than a few minutes total in all the time I’ve been on Earth. Neither has been popular with my guests, and as such, I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other. Aside from saying I fully support not having sponsors for programming.
Okay, no tofu.
What do you think of other traditional umami vegetarian staples like kombu and miso and nori and shitake mushrooms and tempeh?
Or since you prefer sweet stuff, red bean paste or boba tea or mochi or pocky?
Have you ever thought about doing a cooking/baking YouTube channel as a hobby?
What do you think of Famous Pastry chefs? Who is your favorite?
As per norm, Who is your favorite colleague you silly tofu hater?
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As always, thank you for the questions!
I've added each one to the blog.
Dashi just means broth, and bonito is one variety. Miso is another, being made from fermented soy paste. I guess vegans might object to it on account of the poor, innocent bacteria in it, but there's no fish in it. I've got 3 and a half little tubs of the paste in my fridge right now. Autumn is the best time for pots of hot soup. In fact, it's Booya season, when churches and fire departments brew massive cauldrons of spicy vegetable soup for fundraising.
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Per Wikipedia:
The most common form of dashi is a simple broth made by heating water containing kombu (edible kelp) and kezurikatsuo (shavings of katsuobushi – preserved, fermented skipjack tuna or bonito) to near-boiling, then straining the resultant liquid; dried anchovies or sardines may be substituted.
Stock, sometimes called bone broth, is a savory cooking liquid that forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups, stews and sauces. Making stock involves simmering animal bones, meat, seafood, or vegetables in water or wine, often for an extended period of time.
My thoughts on this: if I was a vegetarian (I'm not, though I imagine this is a gray area for vegetarians), I wouldn't touch it. For the purposes of the story, broth is too 'meaty' for most of the characters. Plumsweet's the exception: she's willing to try new things, even meat. Even the taboo, like beef. But she's not fond of seafood. With so many other options out there, I don't see her eating miso any time soon. Broth is the thing daring ponies try as a gateway into meat. They have no problems digesting it, it's the smell that bothers them. There are also those among the population that morally object to killing animals.
Dewdrop & Snowcatcher go fishing because cat food is expensive (that chapter will be posted Wednesday, in conjunction with Snowy's interview), so there are some ponies who don't object. But note that one of them has a pet that's an obligate carnivore. Even then, they're not willing to hunt mammals or birds, though a cat (or an Abyssinian, griffin, minotaur, etc.) would have no such objections.
If you are looking for inspiration Check out the YouTube channels "Tasting History", "How to Drink".
As to trying new things, I'm a somewhat self-taught baker and currently working in foodservice. I would love to share notes and recipes [I specialize in pies and strawberry shortcake (the dessert not the cartoon)]. Don't know how well I could handle a hay shake or other such things, but I would certainly be willing to try.
Just don't eat any daisy flowers here on human earth, they are toxic to equines.
As to the Ford Pinto "barbecue" the original cars were a half-rump rush job, and just like rushing a recipe can have unintended consequences, rushing a car, even more so.
Say Plumsweet (would you mind if I called you plum? or since we don't know each other very well would it be better to call you Miss/Mrs. Sweet?)
I was wondering if you would mind sharing the recipe for that chocolate chip cookie crust cheesecake I was watching a video on YouTube of some mind-blowing cake artistry and in passing, I mentioned your creation to my brother and he absolutely LOVES cheesecake (and cookies).
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Answering here in the comments because even though Plumsweet would be happy to share, I honestly can't provide a recipe. When it comes to cooking my first goal is not to burn the house down. My second goal is that the food's edible. If it doesn't cause food poisoning, that's an added bonus. ...Suffice it to say that the author eats a lot of takeout. I love good food. As such, I leave the cooking to professionals.
From the research I did when writing Plum's chapter (she'd totally let you call her that, by the way), I know that such a thing is possible, but not how to make it. Chocolate chip cookie crust cheesecake recipes exist (see first link, this was the closest I found, but it's missing the raspberry part), and raspberry cheesecake can be made many different ways. I just combined them into one dessert. I find it hard to believe no one else has ever attempted this, because it sounds absolutely delicious, yet I can't find a single recipe that matches what I pictured in my head.
https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-bottomed-cheesecake/
This one also looks crazy good:
https://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/caramel-chocolate-chip-cheesecake/
What Plumsweet made: chocolate chip cookie crust (as in the first link), chocolate raspberry swirl cheesecake. Plumsweet has a cutie mark for making desserts, while the most I would be able to do is eat it (and I soooooo would). I count calories - the more, the merrier! Plumsweet was also adamant on using authentic Italian ricotta instead of cream cheese. Keep in mind that when I was writing Plumsweet's chapter, I intentionally picked a dessert that would be insanely unhealthy. So consider this a disclaimer.
If you manage to make it, please let me know. I apologize profusely for not being able to provide you with a recipe. I will also add that in a different story I've written (Filly Cheesesteaks), Coconut Cream's parents are bakers and there's this exchange with the human protagonist:
My canon is that ponies have an incredibly high tolerance for sugar and sweets.
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I'm not a certified chef, but if you ever have any questions about cooking or baking I can see about helping you out. (Maybe move it to PM's so as to not clog traffic here). As to the cheesecake I might have to do some experimenting here in the near future.
Here's a picture of a Lemon Meringue Pie I made a few years ago. I do take orders/commissions if you, yours, or Plumsweet are interested.
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/16c0bacb-0ba8-4acf-9a45-d500dc820949/db1333l-1704628c-b827-4861-8d77-a5e455f7aee9.jpg/v1/fill/w_894,h_894,q_70,strp/homemade_lemon_meringue_pie_12_23_16_1308_by_ilvbrownies_db1333l-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTAyNCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzE2YzBiYWNiLTBiYTgtNGFjZi05YTQ1LWQ1MDBkYzgyMDk0OVwvZGIxMzMzbC0xNzA0NjI4Yy1iODI3LTQ4NjEtOGQ3Ny1hNWU0NTVmN2FlZTkuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.YaYXi5yHwftrhW_674cpN6gOhYUc6NTEKwhu_VwIlmU
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If you can pull off the chocolate chip cookie crust chocolate raspberry cheesecake recipe, please post photos of it, and I'll add it to her chapter's blog entry and credit you as the creator of the masterpiece. That lemon meringue looks fantastic!
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I decided to give it a go, I am following the recipe I found online as best I can replicate and we'll just have to see 🤞.
Some of the issues I've had include the fact that I don't have a food processor, so I used the blender, which made the filling a bit soupier than it was supposed to be. As a result, I baked it a little longer than the recipe called for (hopefully it will still work out).
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Good luck! I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing it!
What do you think about human baked goods in grocery stores? How about those from standalone bakeries?
Since you are interested in media, what do you think about NPR and PBS?