Adventure Begins in the Kitchen
“Sad Song” from the Au Revoir Simone album The Bird Of Music
“Carried Away” from the Passion Pit album Gossamer
“Come Home” from the Chappo album Moonwater
“Disperate Youth” from the Santigold album Master Of My Make-Believe
“Fireshrine” from the Purity Ring album Shrines
Jordyn & Nick (my cousins) planning the day.
Flamingos.
Phil, the kiddos, and a crocodile.
Giraffe.
Ginnean and her mini-me, Juliette.
Mr. Kangaroo.
Jordyn & Nick, 8 & 6, getting way too big.
Meerkat.
Me & my wee case of baby fever.
An oversized reptile.
Can you believe Phil’s not a fan of kids?
The whole zoo crew!!!
In the midst of one of the best and busiest weeks in work history, I couldn’t help but day dream about a strawberry and walnut dessert. I was obsessed. So instead of coming home from work and tackling piles of laundry from HLS, I decided to pretend clothes didn’t exist and experiment with pastry. Normal, right?
I thawed a pastry shell and sliced what seemed like a million strawberries. I placed the pastry shell in a tart pan, covered the pastry with two dense layers of strawberries, sprinkled with chopped walnuts, and then… poured brown sugar pudding over everything. It looked perfect. I put it in the oven, so excited for what was about to happen.
And twenty-five minutes later, I had the tastiest, soupiest dessert ever. The strawberries released A TON of moisture while baking, which made me realize that quick cooking tapioca is mandatory when baking with berries and pudding. But, this experiment wasn’t a total loss. In fact, it wasn’t a loss at all because I discovered brown sugar pudding. And after tasting brown sugar pudding, I’m amazed that such a thing isn’t already a thing. I’m definitely anxious to recreate and share this strawberry walnut brown sugar pudding tart recipe, but in the meantime, brown sugar pudding is where it’s at!
FoodFash Brown Sugar Pudding
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
3 cups coconut milk
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon non-dairy butter (Earth Balance)
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Mix brown sugar and corn starch together in a medium-sized pot. Stir in coconut milk and continue stirring over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for an additional two minutes. Beat egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add the milk mixture to the bowl, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Add the egg mixture to the rest of the milk mixture, bring to a boil, and cook and stir for another two minutes. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Place in a sealable bowl and refrigerate until cool.
Today as I was roaming around the grocery store (I’ve done that a lot this week) I couldn’t help but think that fresh herbs make everything better. Putting an herb on it makes things better just like putting a BIRD on it makes things better. You with me?
Well, I’m with me. A little too with me, actually. I was so pleased with myself for coming up with the herb/bird thing that I failed to pick up Vegenaise. Side note: vegans eat Vegenaise because it doesn’t contain eggs. I eat Vegenaise because I can pronounce the ingredient list and, honestly, it tastes better than mayo.
So rather than give you a recipe for a make-shift dinner that wasn’t my favorite, I figured I’d give you my go-to steps for making egg salad because I never follow the same steps twice and, if I have all of the ingredients, I’m always happy with the way it turns out.
FoodFash Egg Salad Non-Recipe
1. Chop up as many boiled eggs as you want
2. Add finely chopped celery and onions
3. Put a chopped herb in it (dill, chives, parsley)
4. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of some type of mayo and stir
5. Repeat Step 4 until the consistency is where you want
6. Add a tablespoon of dijon mustard
7. Add salt and white pepper to taste
You can use this rule of thumb with tuna and chicken salad too, just skip the vinegar.