Amazing Pecan Brittle

Here is the not-so-secret-recipe for my pecan brittle. You can use any type of nut, but pecans really do taste the best.

2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup water
2 cups plain nuts (I use pecan halves)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. baking soda

Heat and stir sugar, syrup and water in a heavy 3-quart saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Cook over medium heat and stir often. Add nuts at 250 degrees. Cook to hard crack stage (290 degrees), stirring often. Remove from heat.

Quickly, stir in butter and soda. Beat to a froth for a few seconds. Pour at once onto 2 well-buttered 15-1/2x10-1/2x1-inch pans, spreading with spatula. Break up when cold.
Yield: About 1-1/2 pounds of nut brittle.

What the Heck is JuJu??

Last night, while watching Grey's Anatomy I heard them use the word juju for at least the second time. The first time I heard it was it was used when someone bought hot chocolate for everyone at the hospital. When they used it then, it seemed to mean "something that comforts." Last night Callie used the term "bad juju" to sort of mean bad karma or bad mojo. Today, I set out on a quest to find out what "juju" actually means.

Before Grey's, I had never heard this term before. I figured that since Shonda Rhimes (the force behind Grey's) is African American, and since I grew up in an all white school and had never come across this term before, that the term might have an Af/Am origins. I was correct in that it is an African American slang term. Clarence Major's Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang says that ju ju, is from the Bantu word njiu, which means both 'danger' and a 'fetish against harm'. Most every other site that spoke about juju or ju ju say the word is of African origin as well.

Here is the Wiki definition/explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juju