Comfort In A Spoon

There really is something incredibly comforting about baking. Maybe it's the knowledge that there is something yummy is in the making, or perhaps whipping eggs and beating butter and sugar together somehow gives some kind of odd, sadistic satisfaction--though I have no idea how that is at all comforting and I doubt that this is the source of any comfort. Perhaps the comfort is all in eating.

Either way, after spending the morning slowly reading my way through Ignatius' letters to various churches--which, by the way, has been very interesting--I knew, just as Pooh often does, that I needed something sweet and deliciously rich to beckon me to hurry with my reading.

 (Well, Pooh just eats his honey. I would eat my honey, too, but I really do enjoy honey with toast, and there is no toast in this house. :( )

In between paragraphs, I pondered what sort of pudding would deliver top-class comfort on a reading-filled, rather gloomy day as today. Then I found this website with a recipe for vanilla pot de creme and crumbly chocolate shortbread. This sounded suitable--creamy, vanilla custard accented with the dark tones and crumbly texture of the shortbread.  

The pot de cremes were surprisingly easy to assemble, and after baking, I set them in the fridge to cool. They had plenty of time to chill, since I promised to abstain from eating them until the majority of today's text had been read. 

Some hours later and some chapters later, I made the chocolate biscuits to go along with the custards.

And here is where I make my confession: I was going to try to finish all of the assigned letters for Ignatius, but I gave into temptation at three chapters left and went downstairs to indulge in the sweet pleasure of dessert. I fear I do not regret this, since I probably would not have finished those three chapters until eleven or so this evening, and I never like to eat right before bed.

The custard was quite divine, if I can dare say that without being too heretical? When baked in the waterbath, it had formed a bit of a thicker crust of cream on the very top, which cracked slightly as I dove in with my spoon. It was very reminiscent of creme brulee, sans the crispy sugar topping, of course, and a tinsy bit less extravagant since I had used half cream and 

half whole milk. The biscuits were wonderful with the custard, as well. Crumbly, buttery dark chocolate biscuits with the cool creaminess of the custard.

This was pudding well worth every minute spent away from my reading, and it definitely delivered much comfort in each spoonful. :)

(Sorry for the poor quality of the photo! My camera was missing so I used the camera built-in my laptop. Cameras in computers? What will they think of next? Built in showers? That might come in handy while on the road.....)

Hurrah for Food and Rain! [Boo for a lack of a better title]

Hurrah for the glorious, refreshing rain after a week of incessant heat! Gloomy, rainy days seem to add to the coziness of a restful weekend following a whirlwindish week of term papers and tests. April showers in May? It works for me! Hot lentil potato soup for lunch and chocolate bread pudding in the oven--it's a bit reminiscent of the hearty stews and puddings of wintertime. However, I am ready for summer. Summer is the time for lighter fare--fresh and simple, yet full of flavour. Summer is the time for alfresco dining. Summer is the season for cherries and peaches, vine ripened tomatoes and sweet basil, and spontaneous picnics. There's nothing like packing a picnic basket full of cheeses, fresh fruit, some nuts, and a crusty baguette and heading to the park to read, paint, and eat. (Don't eat paint, however, or else you might start doing odd things). I used to dislike summer because of the hot weather, but I'm starting to realize that summer brings so many wonderful and good things that far outweigh the heat. So hurrah for the coming of summer! And hurrah for the good food!

Spring!

Hello friends! Spring is here! It's time to go outside and enjoy the flowers, listen to the birds, and feast on the delicate yet delicious offerings of the season. How refreshing are all the flavours and textures of spring bounty! The crisp snow peas with delicious cold cream; Sweet Vidalia onions; artichokes, asparagus (baked atop a puff pastry shell with some Gruyere...mmm), the crisp baby lettuce mixes, and even rhubarb and strawberries for pies.
This evening I picked up some leeks and new potatoes to make potato soup. I love potato soup--especially homemade potato soup. It's creamy and velvety but not overly milky, and the leeks and shallots add a mild sweetness. (An oniony taste. What is an onion? What does an onion taste like? Gah!) This was my first time cooking with leeks. ...I think I like them... :-) Be sure to smell them before you cook them, and smell them while you cook them, and of course, smell them as you're eating them. I suppose you could smell all your food..But what about raw meats and poultry? Hmm..

I hope you are all enjoying the wonderful things of Spring!

I hope I shall learn to enjoy the things that I ought to enjoy...

Good night! (And be sure to listen for the birds. :-D)

Golden Raspberries (How's that for a straightforward title? :-/)

No, I'm not referring to the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation. (I'm very curious why they chose a Golden Raspberry for their title....wiki? Google? either way.)
I really do mean Golden Raspberries!

Behold their golden goodness!

I never knew there was such a thing as a golden raspberry until I stumbled across a recipe for Golden Raspberry Tartlets in a cookbook the other day. Intrigued by their unusual colour (well, unusual to me at least, since I'm used to raspberries being red or purple), I searched the web for more information on these golden beauties. I learned that the Fall Gold variety (which is pictured above) is the result of crosses between a Korean wild berry, the Fall Red raspberry, and the red Taylor raspberry. (Gah! I have been living a berry ignorant life! [no pun intended]. I never knew there were different types of red raspberries, let alone raspberries that aren't even red! So much to learn!) I have yet to taste a golden raspberry, but I hear that they're available from May through October, so hopefully I will be able to hunt some down.
Off to Gelsons! Or Whole Foods. Or the Farmer's Market. Or all three..

Hello Summer!

Whew! Another year of school completed! :-) I'm not sure which year of high school I just finished, or what grade I will be entering next year, but either way, I'm ready for a little break. My last few weeks of school were so very hectic that I never tried to "plan out" my summer vacation, and once it finally arrived (last Friday), I wasn't quite sure what to do first. So....after some serious consideration :-P, I decided my first order of business was to do "nothing"! And nothing I did--for a day and a half. It was fun at first, but in the end I was reminded of the chapter from Little Women where the sisters attempt to "do nothing" and things become quite disorderly. In the end, my time doing "nothing" made me want to do "something" all the greater. ("nothing" and "something" and "nothing" and "something"...this whole blip is rather confusing. :-/)
My first "something" was to catch up on housework I had neglected during finals and such. It's rather refreshing to clean and tidy up the house after long weeks of being too busy to really care. Hopefully I'll finish cleaning my room sometime today, and then sort through all our bake ware and crockery. I also want to give this poor house a good dusting and scrubbing, and maybe pull weeds in the garden. But one thing at a time. :-) I have a bad habit of trying to do too much at once, and I end up not doing anything at all.
I'm really enjoying this early summer weather--not too hot, not too cold. It is quite a lot like spring. Perhaps it is the spring we never get here in California. o.O Hmm. It's also a good day to wash things (such as cars and doggies), and I think I'll go and do just that! Have a merry summer!