Frogs, Frogs, Frogs

We're having my dear friends Katie and Shane over for dinner tonight and I've spent my lunch break searching the internet to find a recipe that tastes delicious (Martha-Stewart-style-delicious), does not require a trip to the grocery store, and uses up the pumpkin we have in the fridge.  Is that so hard to ask?

Yes, apparently it is.

I think most of my problem is I get sidetracked way too easy.  My mind sets out a clear mission-- pumpkin, preferably vegetarian, possibly pasta based... but my fingers?  My fingers blatantly ignored Central Command Unit and typed in 'World's Best Brownie'. 

Which, by the way, I found. 

After a brief detour into the wonderful world of desserts, we were back on track.  Sort of.  Except that this blog link kept flashing on the corner of AllRecipes.com.  A link to an article about a lady's experiences cooking frog legs.

Though  frog legs fail meet any of the aforementioned requirements for an acceptable Friday Night Dinner (though I suppose a trip to the pond is less arduous than a trip to the grocery store), I was intrigued. 

And I must say, after careful consideration, I don't think I'm a frog-legs-for-dinner kinda girl.

They just look a bit too...

human.

Does that not look like someone's lower regions, skinned and egged, waiting to be breaded?

Gross.

There's a reason this is called the 'Frog Leg' pose. 

Because we look like frogs.  Or frogs look like us.  Whatever.  (By the way, don't look too closely at this picture.  I'm not entirely convinced this person shouldn't have been wearing black yoga pants).

So, with Central Command Centre spitting out its warnings and expostulations, my fingers got the best of me once again.

And here's what I learned about frogs:

1.  Skin secretions of some frogs have powerful medicinal and antibiotic properties. Far from causing warts, researchers postulate that such secretions may help repair internal organs post-surgery, mend cuts and bruises, and act as a painkiller 200 times stronger than morphine.  Bonus?  Its non-addictive.  After all, who wants to get addicted to frog juice?

2.  Back in the 1940s, frogs were discovered to be a great pregnancy test.  Scientists discovered that frogs injected with hCG , the human hormone that indicates the existence of a placenta (and thus, a baby), lay eggs within 24 hours.  This led to the development of the wee-on-a-stick pregnancy test that women know and love today.  The Egyptians were clued in way earlier, though.  The Egyptian pregnancy goddess, Hequet, was a frog (or had a frog head, anyway). 

3. Where frog croaks once filled the air, now there is silence.  Apparently the amphibia class (of which frogs are a proud member) is the most rapidly dwindling animal population on the planet.  Much of this is due to a fungus that spread when African Clawed Frogs were shipped around the world to use in pregnancy testing research.  African Clawed Frogs are immune to the fungus.  Other frogs are not.  Fungus aside, Southern-fried Frog Legs probably don't contribute much to the solution, either.

So anyway, there's my trivia for the day. 

And no, I still don't know what's for dinner