Day 15 - Lemon Pudding

     My apologies for not blogging yesterday.  I feel horrible about it and do not want it to happen again.  I did my baking, just wasn't able to write because well, keep reading.
     Do you ever have those days when you feel like you're going 500 miles an hour, have so much to do and feel like you're head's spinning?  I didn't think so.  I knew I was the only one feeling this way!  No, I know we all have those days.  Yesterday just happened to be one for me and I was feeling like a chicken with my head cut off.
     "I want to get out of here. I want to get out of town."  Two sentences I've heard from my husband before and I know I'll hear them again.  Two sentences that can send me into a freaking frenzy!  Because he doesn't mean, "I want to go in a month or even a week, so let's start planning."  No, no.  He means this afternoon. Or tomorrow.  Or if I'm lucky, and at the very latest, the day after tomorrow.  When he says this, the "good Lynne" on my right shoulder starts screaming, "Wait, but what about..., when will I..., how will..., who will...," and what I heard her say the loudest the other day was, "BUT YOU HAVEN'T EVEN CLEANED THE HOUSE FROM EARLIER IN THE WEEK!"  I know, I know.  The "bad Lynne" on my left shoulder says, "Go on, enjoy yourself.  Go away.  You've all been working hard and it'll be good to enjoy some quick time away as a family.  Besides," giving a gentle wave of her arm, "it'll all be here when you get back."  I know, I KNOW!
     A combination of an extremely quick trip to Vegas to see the Blue Man Group (which I highly recommend), a return home in less than 19 hours and yesterday's events;  arrive home, pack child lunch, child off to school, much needed nap, different child to appointment, pick child up from baseball practice, run some errands, pick up dinner ('cause I sure as heck wasn't going to make it!), bake the pudding, wash the dishes, work on the blog - hmpf, child needs computer to finish paper due tomorrow, work on blog from laptop - grrrr...hubby needs his laptop; definitely left me feeling like a headless chicken.  And since I didn't finish blogging, a headless chicken without any closure.  Fortunately, I wasn't hormonal.
     Now don't get me wrong, I love spontaneity.  I just want it scheduled.  We had a short, good time, we we're just exhausted.  Besides, I can't be gone for more than a half a day - I need to have access to an oven.


The following is yesterday's blog entry:  Today's puppy (no, not literally) just came out of the oven and it's about 9:00 pm.  The house smells really good and I can't wait to try it, just waiting for it  to become "tepid".  Lemon Pudding from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook Thirteenth Edition, pg. 676; author, Marion Cunningham; publisher, Alfred a. Knopf, Inc., a division of Random House; ISBN 0-394-56788-9.  The recipe calls for 7/8 cup sugar.  Not having a 7/8 measuring cup, I googled it and I found that the amount is equal to 15 tablespoons.  So when you're measuring the sugar, make sure you don't have any distractions because it'll be very easy to lose count.  I made sure I counted it out loud, very loudly, so that all family members would know I was busy.



     Lemon Pudding
     2 tablespoons butter                                   
     7/8 cup sugar

     3 eggs, separated

     1 cup milk

     1½ tablespoons flour

     1/3 cup lemon juice

     Grated rind of 1 lemon

     Heavy Cream

     Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Beat the butter until soft, then gradually add the sugar, beating it until it is all incorporated.  Beat in the egg yolks one by one. 

Add the milk, flour, lemon juice, and rind, and beat to mix well, although the mixture will have a curdled look.  Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then fold into the batter. 

Turn into a 1½-quart baking dish and set in a pan of hot water that comes halfway up the sides of the dish.

  Bake for 50-60 minutes. 

Let cool and serve either tepid or chilled with a pitcher of heavy cream.
     Ok, serving with a pitcher of heavy cream is odd to me, so I chose to whip it, whip it good with a small amount of sugar.  Ok, I know, that was bad, so very, very bad, but I couldn't help it because I watched some 80's videos today and I'm having some flashbacks, and I'm getting giddy 'cause it's late.  It doesn't make any sense to me to pour the cream directly onto the pudding; sounds rather unappetizing actually.  Or am I supposed to drink it while I'm enjoying my pudding?  Gag.  You decide how you'd like it.
     So now, the taste test...really, really good.  If you love lemon, this is something you'll really enjoy.  I loved that the pudding was on the bottom and on the top there was an airy cake-like mixture from the flour and egg whites.

There was quite a bit of rind, so I think next time I'll lessen that and only grate half of the lemon.  The whipped cream on the top really added to it, too by taking some of the tartness away.  It was a great combination!

Ooh, I should be rating these recipes.  Why didn't I think of that sooner?  Ok, so on a scale of 1 to 4 with 1 being the worst and 4 being the best, I give this 3½ rolling pins.
     Happy baking!