Bread Pudding on Saturday

Pineapple Guava/Feijoa from the Garden

Last night, around 12:45 a.m., actually, the electricity went off!  I was replying to some comments on my blog, when, all of a sudden, everything turned black!  At first, I wondered if a fuse blew off, because on Friday evening, gardener M had replaced the bulbs on the motion detector security light over my garage door (since A, the handyman, has not shown up to do that!) and the light kept coming on every few minutes!  I am not quite sure what is setting it off, but, it might be the branches of my neighbor's bottle brush tree, which hang down like the branches of a weeping willow tree over my driveway.  Or, maybe the garden cats set it off.

Anyway, a quick peek out of my windows showed that it wasn't just my house, but, rather, the whole block.  Fortunately, I know exactly where I keep the flashlights (or, torches, as we used to call them, when I was growing up), so I was able to feel my way to the one I keep in the family room and I went to bed, shortly after that.  I kept the nightlight switched on, so that I could tell when the power came back on.  Fortunately, it came back on at 2:30 a.m., so I didn't have to worry about food spoiling in the fridge, etc.

Yesterday had been a warm day.  But, today was cold in the morning.  I dressed warmly in a couple of layers, but, I was still cold, so, I turned on the heater and plopped myself in front of it!  Once the house warmed up, I turned the heater off.

Later in the morning, around 11:30 a.m., cousin P called.  A member of the extended family had called her, last night, saying they were going to have a post-Halloween party at Aunt T's house, inviting her and telling her to inform me, too.  Cousin P said she and her daughter will be going and said they could give me a ride.

That left me with wondering what to take to the gathering.  I have a couple of bottles of sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic) and thought I could take them.  Then, I remembered that the person who is hosting the party had told me, last year, at another gathering to which I had taken a bread pudding, that, if ever I wished to give him a gift, to make him one of my bread puddings, as it was one of the best bread puddings he'd had since his mother died!  Well, I had all the ingredients I needed on hand. It took a few minutes to cut bread into cubes, beat four eggs and some milk (I didn't measure, but, about 2 1/2 cups) with some sugar (about 1 cup) and vanilla together,  combine it all in a buttered baking dish,  and stir in some cashew pieces.  Then, I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes until it was set:

Bread Pudding Straight Out of the Oven

It got a bit over browned because my oven tends to run hot; I probably could have taken it out after 40 minutes and it should have been fine.  It deflated a bit after sitting on the counter, of course.

Not even 10 minutes after I took it out of the oven, cousin P called.  She was sorry, but, her daughter was too tired to drive us/didn't feel like going to the gathering.  I suppose I could have offered to drive us both (cousin P won't drive), and, I might have done so if it had been a prayer gathering, even though I don't like to drive that much at night, but, not to a belated Halloween party.  It's not like the host had called and personally invited me, as opposed to telling my cousin to tell me (yes, I'm a bit picky, that way!  I normally don't accept second-hand invitations).  Instead, I invited cousin P over to have a piece of still warm bread pudding!  She came over and we ate bread pudding and chatted.  I sent a big piece home with her to share with her daughter. 

Dinner was a bowl of chicken and vegetable soup I had made, earlier.

Today, I am grateful for:
- Electricity!
- A working heater
- M dropping off another plant, a variegated iris, for my garden
- Bread pudding warm from the oven
- Cousin P visiting

Today's joyful activities were: reading, having cousin P visit, and eating bread pudding!

How was your Saturday?