Category Archives: bread pudding makes me happy

by | March 21, 2011 · 9:49 am

My Pompous Lunch

Yesterday I was stuck working my lovely retail job all day. Turns out, this wasn’t a bad thing. The weather in Southern California was absolutely insane! I spent the drive to work dodging falling branches and hydroplaning through lakes in the middle of the roads. Apparently, right after I left, THIS happened:
Since that tree just happened to block off my way home, I decided to take a long, leisurely lunch at work.
Jane Eyre, a glass of red wine, freshly baked bread and olive oil. How uppity am I?

There were also some braised short ribs on wilted spinach later, but that de-snobs my premise. Plus, the picture came out blurry.

By the time I headed home, a huge firetruck had shoved the big tree out of the road and, after rerouting me through two different neighborhoods, I finally pulled into my driveway in one piece.

I received another package from Foodbuzz and decided that baking would be a perfect way to spend a chilly evening.
Although I received this bread free from Nature’s Pride, my opinions are my own. WOW, having to say that all the time is going to get annoying! I like that this bread actually expires  in six days and isn’t stuffed with preservatives like other store-bought breads so they’ll stay mold-free for two months.
I LOVE WHOLE WHEAT! Not sure why they felt the need to add raisin juice concentrate, vinegar, cultured corn solids or soy lecithin. Or whey for that matter. GREAT bread can easily be made with whole wheat flour and grains, water, honey, salt and yeast.

One thing I know, it makes a DANG GOOD bread pudding!
I may have a little bread pudding problem… Once I have it, I have to keep having it until all the bread is gone from my house. Uh-oh…

This bread pudding is a miniature of my Magical Bread Pudding. I basically split the recipe in half and filled a really teeny ramekin. I also subbed coconut milk for soy milk. The result? A souffle of warm cinnamon, sweet chocolate and moist (sorry) bread with crunchy flax seeds throughout. I haven’t tried the bread on its own, but for this recipe, it’s a winner!

Today looks like it’s going to be sunny, but after my pompous lunch and bread pudding, I don’t know if I’m okay with that…

Curling up and watching an indie-film marathon sounds much, much better to me!

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Filed under bread, Bread pudding, bread pudding makes me happy, Crazy storm, fallen trees, FOOD, Foodbuzz, Jane Eyre, Magical Bread Pudding, Nature's Pride, red wine

by | March 19, 2011 · 1:29 pm

Bernard’s Wine Gallery

My friend and cousin Allie came over for a day of wine tasting and food eating yesterday. I had a Groupon for wine tasting that I bought way back in December, and it was expiring in three days. We jumped in the car and headed over to Calabasas to Bernard’s Wine Gallery. Tip: Pull into the free parking lot to the left of the store and try to get parking there if you can. When we got there, no spots were left. We ended up driving down the street and valeting with some snobby, uppity guys who scoffed at us and begrudgingly agreed to valet after hearing where we were going.
As you can tell, I got really dressed up for the occasion…
We “splurged” and got the Petit Sirah tasting. The Groupon got us a wine tasting for two people for only $15, but the Sirah tasting was $3 extra per person. We figured we could spare the extra cash, even though we’d gone all fancy with valet.
Our favorite was the third one – Hunt Cellars Irresistable Paso Robles Petite Sirah from 2002. We jokingly asked for a refill and the wonderful gentleman who was serving us generously poured us another taste!
Allie is well-versed when it comes to wine. Seeing that this was my first wine tasting, I did a lot of nodding and agreeing with whatever she said. It all tasted good to me!

After our four tastings, we roamed the adorable little shop for a bit, talked with some of the staff and finally went to retrieve my car from the snobby valets, who we tipped because I’m so very, very nice. It was around dinnertime, so we headed over to… LADYFACE!!!
Ahhh, this is MY kind of place!
I tried their oaked blueberry Trois Filles Tripel that had real wild blueberries in the glass. This beer was very mild, slightly sweet and very tasty, however I just cannot get used to drinking room temperature beer. I went with my current Ladyface favorite – Chesebro IPA.
We split the sweet potato fries with red ale ketchup – another one of my “regular” orders, along with the sausage plate.
BREAD PUDDING!!! We specifically requested a center piece of the bread pudding (I’ve found the corner pieces are dry and hard) and it was AMAZING! Notes of sweet cinnamon, rich caramel and nutmeg made for the best bread pudding I’ve ever tasted in my entire life – including mine! Okay, maybe not QUITE better than mine, but pretty close!

Ladyface Fridays.
It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

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Filed under beer tasting, Bread pudding, bread pudding makes me happy, Ladyface, Ladyface Ale Companie, Ladyface Alehouse and Brasserie, sweet potato fries, wine

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by | October 25, 2010 · 6:33 am

Welcome to 1958!

     Happy Sunday! I love Sundays: they always mean a morning at church followed by a day of rest and relaxation, family time and lots of reading. Oh wait, that’s not true for me. Normally I’m sucked into the vortex of retail every single Sunday, but today was a nice change: I got to go to set and get paid to do something I love! What a concept!

It’s nice to wake up before the sun once in a while. This picture made the exhaustion even more worth it!
     
     I pulled out the Vitamix and threw together a Monsta with 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of soymilk, 1 frozen banana, 1 lemon and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries. I pulled on some fuzzy socks, arm warmers and a baggy sweatshirt and headed to location with a hot mug of tea.
     When I arrived at set, I got into wardrobe for the first scene. This shoot is b-roll for a commercial that takes place in 1958. My first outfit was high-waisted capris with a button-down frilly sleeveless top and pink converse-style shoes that laced around the ankles. It was pretty hideous – I’ll spare you the picture because I’m awful and forgot to take one!
So. Much. Wool!
Getting my hair styled involved lots of hairspray, headbands, teasing and shellacking. Also pretty awful.
I got off easy with makeup. I only had to get base, blush and mascara. Two of the girls were filming a prom scene and had to get the works! The last time I saw so much blue eyeshadow was on Mimi from The Drew Carey Show.
     The first scene I filmed took place at a piano. I was assigned a boyfriend (Hi, Tom!) and we basically sat at the piano playing a duet and kissing “1958” style, which basically means long, soft pecks. Too much? Sorry. The next scene was a party scene. The director started the turntable and we had some painfully awkward slow dancing (“Stop laughing! Look like you love each other! And kiss!”). 
     Next came my favorite part: LUNCH!
Chicken tacos from Baja Fresh! No, I didn’t partake – I asked for vegetarian and vegetarian is what I got!
(I think I might be able to keep up this vegetarian thing full-time!)
Here we have a horribly plated vegetarian burrito that had black beans, lettuce, grilled bell peppers and cheese inside, with a side of salad, guacamole and a few chips.
     You know what works really well after eating a big lunch? SWIMSUITS! Um, yeah, not. We donned some 50’s bathing wardrobe and spent an hour freezing our asses off outside by the pool, hula hooping, attempting to dance “The Twist” and playing volleyball with a beach ball. These were the only pictures I got of me in wardrobe: Prepare yourselves.
Haha, love Rye-Bread posing in the background.
Please, no snide comments – I blame the shellacked hair. This was like wearing a corset but who needed to breathe in 1958 anyway?
Vintage!
     The final scene took place at a school. All ten of us spent the time prancing around in the most tight “casual” clothes I’ve ever worn. I had to cram my feet into size 6 shoes (my feet are size 7.5-8 normally) and I got some gnarly cuts on my ankles from the backs slicing into them. I’m a trouper :-D. 
     We wrapped after seven and a half hours, far less than the twelve that they predicted, and we still got paid for the full time! Hooray! I drove home through the mist, rinsed the shellack out of my hair and the mascara out of my eyelashes and made a big Kitchen Sink Salad.
Yeah, that should balance out the cheesy goodness from the burrito.
OoOoH! I’m gonna go make more bread pudding!

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Filed under 1958, Baja Fresh, bathing suit, Bikini, bread pudding makes me happy, commercial, filming, The Twist, vegetarian

by | October 23, 2010 · 7:59 am

Magical Bread Pudding!

I made something amazing today. Something so tempting and delicious that once it’s created, it’s nearly impossible not grab a spoon and dive into the depths of this sweet, gooey miracle.

This magical, mystical thing is: Bread Pudding. Not just any bread pudding though – Chocolate Chunk Whole Wheat Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Swirls. The perfect size for a Friday date night ;-).

Chocolate Chunk Whole Wheat Bread Pudding – Printable version HERE
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
2 shakes nutmeg (“shakes” is a technical term referring to a spice bottle full of ground nutmeg)
2 slices whole wheat bread cubed (crusts left on)
2 tbsp chocolate chunks
     1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
     2.. In a small bowl, combine the egg, soymilk, dark brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk well.
     3. Stir in the bread cubes and chocolate chips, then pour the mixture into an oven safe bowl.
     4. Let the mixture set for about 5 minutes so the bread absorbs the liquid.
It will be very, very soupy!
     5. Put the bowl on a baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted come out clean.
Crispy on top and heavenly inside!
 
     I let it sit for about thirty seconds before I threw caution to the wind and dug in with a big spoon.
My new obsession!
 
     I must warn you now: this recipe is ridiculously easy to make and even easier to consume. If you are prone to addictions and have no self control… Well I still think you should make this recipe, but then give your leftover chocolate chunks away. Yeah, that’ll work.

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Filed under Bread pudding, bread pudding makes me happy, chocolate chip bread pudding, whole wheat bread pudding