While at the (what turned out to be) C+ barbeque shop we stopped in for lunch, Ellen gave Olivia one of her hushpuppies, just to see what she'd do with it.

Ellen: "Here ya go O, have a hushpuppie. It's good! Eat it!"

Olivia, looking at it suspiciously: "wha dat?"

Ellen: "It's a hushpuppie! You eat it!"

Olivia, dubiously: "Eat puppy?"

Ellen: "No, it's a hushpuppie."

Olivia, paused, looked around, then in an emphatic whisper asked, "eat puppy?"

From that point on, until we left the place, she would tap my shoulder and whisper conspiratorially, "hush puppy daddy! hush puppy! Eat it!"

Which she did, and in the process proved it is quite possible to make a splatterific mess with something as simple as a fried dough ball. Sort of like our very own Mcguyver in diapers.