Dave's Bread Pudding, ETC.

My friend Dave. Is awesome. And the twin of my husband. Truly.

Dave does many things that amaze me.

Mainly this:

(My favorite moment from Rocky--listening to him sing this song made me weep every performance)

But he also makes up recipes OUT OF HIS HEAD! One of the things he likes to do is take food home from a restaurant and spend a few days trying to figure out what's in it so he can recreate it himself. Astonishing. People who can do that amaze me as much as people who can play piano by ear. I need notes. On a page. And recipes. Written down.

His recipe for Bread Pudding is still in his head. Prima took dictation as he guided me through it, so I have it written down now. But I'm one of only two people he's shared this closely guarded secret with. So, tough luck for you. You'll just have to hope I make it for you sometime.


Here's the thing about Bread Pudding: I've never really liked it. I thought I should make it for purposes of this blog because it really is "old-fashioned". And from what I had heard about Dave's Bread Pudding, it is definitely a new twist on the old. But I wasn't sure if I'd like it. I DID. It doesn't have raisins. Turns out that's kind of the killer for me. Raisins are fine, in general. But when they are swollen up, they just become old grapes. Not yummy. What this Bread Pudding does have is rum. Plenty of it. That's more than a fair trade in my mind. I'll take rum over raisins...every time.

I kind of screwed up the sauce--it curdled. But it still tasted delicious. I WILL definitely try this one again. And if you're lucky, you'll be around when I do.

TGIP Rating--Dave's Boozy Bread Pudding--KEEPER--and try again on the sauce. Wonder what this would be like with some toasted pecans. Hmmm.

And now for the ETC:

Prima had her first baking project this weekend. She checked out a cookbook for kids from the school library and saw something that she thought looked delicious: Oatmeal Squares. So she decided she wanted to make them--by herself. I had rehearsal all day Saturday, so mr. ended up helping her with it. Which is a good thing. There are certain events that I simply don't have the constitution for, first time stovetop cooking is one of them (driving lessons will undoubtedly be the other).


But the experiment was successful. She did pretty well. Nobody got injured. She even washed the dishes herself afterwards.


Seconda helped to decorate the squares with melted chocolate. And they were quite delicious.


Seconda also decided that she would write her own cookbook this weekend. Hilarious recipes accompanied by witty commentary. This is my favorite:


For those who are unaccustomed to 6-year old handwriting it says:

Make a pie and make it red then put a pineapple ring in the middle then put an orange inside it. Man is there smoke in here?!

My kids crack me up.

Next up: I think I'll do something relatively easy this week. It's a busy time and I also owe Kiernan a pie. The girls have a couple days off school, maybe I'll enlist their help to make Chocolate Crackle Cookies. No reason. Other than that I have a hankerin' for them.