The Fredösphere

I'll get to the recipe blogging in a minute, but first I'll touch on some perennial, yet neglected topics.  First of all, two words:  airship yacht.  Secondly, it turns out there's a guy based in Rome, calling himself Benedict, who claims to be the Pope.  This is a total scam.  Maybe.

Now, onto recipes, with a seasonal emphasis.  I'm a partisan of bread pudding, living in a world seemingly filled with bread pudding skeptics.  I've found the perfect recipe to appease everyone.  We're talking here about the apotheosis of bread pudding.  The secret?  Use croissants and avoid raisins.

The wifeösphere bought a cookbook hyped by Instapundit.  We can report it is everything it's cracked up to be.  Quick entrées for busy, yet picky, families.

Is the making of Christmas plum pudding a dying art?  I've had decent success with this variation on the traditional favorite.  Again, they replaced raisins with other, less skin-intensive, options, namely chopped dried Calimyrna figs.  Raisins are just evil, people.  The are the antipopes of dried fruit.

Can anyone recommend a good Boston Brown Bread recipe?  I had some at a restaurant once that was soft, sweet, and almost chocolaty rich.  (Maybe that was the secret ingredient.)  All attempts to duplicate this unforgettable experience have disappointed.

As you can see, steamed desserts are the theme here.  I love them for their rich warm goodness, but especially because they take so long to make, and are therefore unusual.  Yes, I'm one who is perversely drawn to the difficult.  I'm organizing a militant branch of the slow food movement, which I call Balsamic Jihad.  Let me know if you want to join.  (On the other hand, there is such a thing as too slow.)