The first time I made pudding was last Thanksgiving. It was pumpkin pudding, pretty much plain pudding with a can of pumpkin and pie spices, and it turned out wonderfully.
The second time I made pudding was Saturday. It was standard chocolate pudding and it did not turn out wonderfully.
The pumpkin pudding was so easy, and the directions for the chocolate were easy, it’s hard to see what went wrong. “Heat this, stirring” is hard to screw up, but it never set.
I think I didn’t cook it long enough for the cornstarch to work its magic. Sunday I reheated it with more cornstarch and that worked, though it ended up lumpy as the pudding at the bottom of the pot solidified.
This is going to require some experimentation. Tasty experimentation.
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Lately my favorite thing to go out for in barbecue. I blame the Middle Eastern restaurant for closing. Friday we went to the Black Dog Smoke & Ale House for their brisket and pulled pork, and sat at the bar watching tennis. I need to remember next time to get a different bbq sauce than their house sauce, because it’s too spicy for me to eat a lot of it. Good, though.
I also had a good stout (this one, scroll down: Dieu du Ciel Peche Mortel Imperial Stout). Which had coffee in it. Very dark, very bitter, exactly how I like my beer.
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Finally, the crockpot remains one of the best inventions ever.
Last week we had chicken and beans, and though the top layer of beans ended up a bit crunchy, the rest were delightfully soft. Some day I’ll get around to working out a way to make just the beans with no chicken.
Last night we had pot roast with eggplant, which turned out nicely. Beef has got to be the easiest thing to do in the crockpot. Chicken tends to dry out on me but I don’t think beef knows how to do that.
I like to cook, but “put ingredients in, ignore until dinner time” has a lot going for it.