Babb

Babb is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

See also

Rum baba

A rum baba or baba au rhum is a small yeast cake saturated in hard liquor, usually rum, and sometimes filled with whipped cream or pastry cream. It is most typically made in individual servings (about a two-inch-tall, slightly tapered cylinder) but sometimes can be made in larger forms similar to those used for Bundt cakes.

The batter for baba is even richer than brioche batter, and includes eggs, milk and butter.

History

The original form of the baba was similar to the babka, a tall, cylindrical yeast cake (babka is still cooked in Poland and in Polish communities over the world). The name means "old woman" or "grandmother" in the Slavic languages; babka is a diminutive of baba.

The modern baba au rhum (rum baba), with dried fruit and soaking in rum, was invented in the rue Montorgueil in Paris, France, in 1835 or before. Today, the word "baba" in France and almost everywhere else outside eastern Europe usually refers specifically to the rum baba.

The original baba was introduced into France in the 18th century via Lorraine. This is attributed to Stanisław Leszczyński, the exiled king of Poland. The Larousse Gastronomique has reported that Stanislas had the idea of soaking a dried Gugelhupf (a cake roughly similar to the baba and common in Alsace-Lorraine when he arrived there) or a baba with alcoholic spirit. Another version is that when Stanislas brought back a baba from one of his voyages it had dried up. Nicolas Stohrer, one of his pâtissiers (or possibly just apprentice pâtissiers at the time), solved the problem by addition of adding Malaga wine, saffron, dried and fresh raisin and crême pâtissière. The writer Courchamps stated in 1839 that the descendants of Stanislas served the baba with a saucière containing sweet Malaga wine mixed with one sixth of Tanaisie liqueur.

Phil Plait

Philip Cary Plait (born September 30, 1964), also known as The Bad Astronomer, is an American astronomer, skeptic, writer and popular science blogger. Plait has worked as part of the Hubble Space Telescope team, images and spectra of astronomical objects, as well as engaging in public outreach advocacy for NASA missions. He has written two books, Bad Astronomy and Death from the Skies. He has also appeared in several science documentaries, including Phil Plait's Bad Universe on the Discovery Channel. From August 2008 through 2009, he served as President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Additionally, he wrote and hosted episodes of Crash Course Astronomy, which has recently aired its last episode.

Early life

Plait grew up in the Washington, D.C. area. He has said he became interested in astronomy when his father brought home a telescope when Plait was 5 years old or so. According to Plait, he "aimed it at Saturn that night. One look, and that was it. I was hooked."

Career