Baked and nearly ready... Bread Pudding ( CLICK on picture for recipe)
I do enjoy recipes where the product turns out the same every time you make it… but bread pudding isn’t one of those type of recipes. Chefs usually made bread pudding with just about anything they had on hand: croissants, slices of cake, muffins… and yes, bread.
So my usual trip to the day old baker often yields some surprising results: blueberry jam filled puff pastry turnovers, muffins and some french bread ( I prefer baguettes). Oh I have to let it cool… which will give me time to prepare a very nice Amarula/ Barenjager sauce.
white raisins (saltanas) in armagnac, dried blueberries in rye whiskey and vanilla effusing Puerto Rican Rum! CLICK on the picture for the recipe and step-by-step directions.
I call this my ‘starter kit’ for my bread pudding. I’ll let this sit around in the refrigerator before I go to the day old bakery to find the perfect ‘stale’ bread, cake, and croissants for my bread pudding. The ‘sauce’ I’ll make at the last minute….
Although this dessert descends from humble beginnings, there is nothing humble about this wonderful dish by itself, a la mode or at the conclusion of your dinner.
Nothing brings a smile at brunch like a quiche... and for those fun times a little champagne!
If I have any culinary weakness , it is for that wonderful invention of that great German dish…. ‘quiche!’ Okay, you think it is so French, but it is not. Read the first link below for it’s great story:
Yar, the world is full of quiches and various sea creatures, but if it be some strong drink to settle your innards, Capt’n Rog Crab Quiche be what yar lookin for.
A selected view of our Florida Working Vacation....
I do enjoy traveling and sampling the cuisine wherever we go. Sometimes some of the discoveries are quite enlightening. For example, while in Florida , it became necessary to travel between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. I thought it would be fun to try SPIRIT Airlines for a couple of reasons. First, the CEO of Spirit was part of a study lead by our daughter Karen assisted by her sister Kristin and an all star class and presented at this years Association for Psychological Science conference. Secondly, Spirit has it’s fans and detractors and I wanted to see for myself. On the bad side, we were faced with long delays coming and going, I would never consider Spirit with a tight itinerary. However, on the positive side, the flights were superb and the landings extraordinarily gentle. It is clear that the pilots were skilled. The big thing for me was the ability to buy a big seat without first class prices! Would I use the again? You bet, but I would build in a bunch of time for delays.
It’s been a long time since I was in Orlando (1997) and Ft. Lauderdale and Miami (1980), so returning to Florida was a bit like remembering the boy and then meeting the man years later. I was in Gainesville (2006), but college towns really never change in attitude.
I did very much enjoy the beachside ambiance of the Aruba Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale. Which reminds me. Have you ever noticed how food is always more expensive in states with high taxes? I noticeably blinked when I saw how inexpensive a quality dining experience was in Florida. Taxes, like a rising tide lifts all boats…. Jumps retail prices in a factor economist refer to as a multiplier effect. It’s hard to find anything with a competitive price in high tax states like New York, Massachusetts or California.
Oh, Laura my bride of 39 years had a little business to do while we were in Florida, but it gave us a chance to visit some nice folks including our daughter Kristin, her beau an his family.
