Little Happy Things

A few happy things from this week:

• My jewelry from Kris came yesterday and it’s absolutely beautiful. She sent it originally in January right after I ordered it, but it got swiped from my building (!) (more fun managing garbage). Kris was awesome about the whole thing and remade the earrings I ordered. She didn’t have enough beads to remake the necklace, so she let me choose a new one. Then she sent a pair of earrings made with a few of the beads from the original necklace I wanted as a sweet surprise. They are so, so lovely. Kris, thank you, again, for being so considerate and working with me and the sucky mail system. Not everyone would have been so kind and I really appreciate it! I’ll definitely be buying more from you.
• I’m enjoying a warm cup of Citron Tea. It’s so yummy.

• Last Sunday afternoon we took a walk. NYDD had a class on Saturday and Sunday so he wanted to get out a little. It was a fun way to spend our Sunday afternoon and evening. He doesn’t usually walk anywhere but to and from school so there was a lot he’d never seen before.

• My cousin Aliese is coming to visit tomorrow!! I’m really excited! If I’m missing this weekend it’s probably because I’m playing with her and her husband. I haven’t seen Aliese IRL in years and have never met her husband so I’m thrilled to have them come and play. Squee!!
• I bought Peanut an Easter dress today (ready-made) for only $10! I also bought a bunch of other fabric today for some other fun projects. I finished one of them this afternoon and am positively squealing with excitement about it. Even NYDD says it’s cute. Woah. More on that at a later time. . .
• Peanut and I went to the park the other day when she was having a hard morning. She has so much fun and I took a couple of sweet pictures.
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• I’ll leave you with a recipe. My mom told me about a creme brulee recipe she found that had worked perfectly and emailed it to me to try (well, she had my dad email it cuz she’s kind of computer impaired, but you get the idea – love you mom). We’ve tried several recipes over the years and none have really worked very well. She promised this one would work. I decided to give it a shot this week. It was PERFECT! Like the kind I have in restaurants. I doubled the recipe and made a lot. I even had one for breakfast yesterday morning. Mmmmm. So, so good. My mom loves cooking and trying new things. She found the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated – her new favorite magazine.
• 

PERFECT CREME BRULEE (can be doubled)

(Start this recipe one to four days ahead of serving)

2 c. chilled heavy cream (or whipping cream)

1/3 c. sugar

Pinch salt

1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, or 1 t. good vanilla extract

6 egg yolks

sugar for brulee

*Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine 1 c. cream, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. With paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into pan, submerge pod in cream and bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Take pan off heat and let steep 15 minutes to infuse flavors. If not using vanilla bean, just let cream and sugar boil and then steep. DON’T ADD VANILLA YET.

Meanwhile, place a kitchen towel (folded to fit) in the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan (9×13 works) and arrange four 4- to 5-ounce ramekins (or shallow fluted dishes) on towel. Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.

After cream has steeped, stir in remaining 1 c. cream to cool down mixture. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until broken up and combined. If using vanilla extract, add it to the yolks and whisk in. Whisk about ½ c. of the cream mixture into yolks until combined. Repeat with another ½ c. cream. Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and combined. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into 1-quart measuring cup or medium bowl. Discard any solids in strainer. Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing evenly.

Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack; pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches 2/3 height of ramekins. Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy, about 30 minutes.

Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Remove towel and water from baking pan and dry. Return ramekins to baking pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.

Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture.

Put 6 T. sugar into a small saucepan and place over low heat. Shake or stir sugar frequently, while allowing to melt into caramelized sugar. Don’t let it get too brown. Pour evenly over each custard. Return to refrigerator until cooled, about 5-10 minutes ***Note: I tried this once and it didn’t work very well for me. I ended up with a really thick layer of caramelized sugar and not in a good way. Trust me – I love sugar and this wasn’t a good thing. I now have a kitchen torch and used that for mine. It worked perfectly. I think if you try it this way – with a saucepan – don’t pour on too much and you’ll be fine.