Missouri and Maine

Two inventions from Missouri - toasted ravioli and ice cream cones!   The story about the latter is that an ice cream vendor at the St. Louis World's Fair ran out of bowls, and the waffle vendor next door rolled up a waffle to use for the ice cream instead.  For those that have never had them, toasted ravioli are basically breaded ravioli that are then deep fried.   We baked them in a hot oven instead.   I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of the ones that I've had in restaurants, but I actually liked the ones that we made at home.  Perhaps because we went lighter on the bread crumbs and didn't fry them.

I remembered part way through making the ice cream cones (without an actual waffle cone machine), that I've never had much luck trying to make cookies that are shaped after baking.   I'm afraid the cones didn't work too well either.   They tasted good, but it's really not worth trying at home without the right equipment.

Two foods strongly associated with Maine are lobster and wild blueberries.   Living in New England, I actually make lobster rolls now and then.   Unfortunately, lobsters are rather pricey right now, and frankly, I just didn't feel like dealing with them.   So we bought some freshly made lobster ravioli, which we did not toast, to enjoy with our toasted ravioli.   And we made yummy wild blueberry sorbet to go with our homemade ice cream cones.