Saturday, April 4, 2009

grandpa's 65th birthday pud

Since the UK grands arrived here in Japan 1.5 weeks ago, I've been doing some cooking but not a lot of posting. Anyway, here's Grandpa with his oldest grandchild (notice the Maffa Bean's line of sight - he loves dessert but adores watching lit candles even more!).

I reincarnated my cranberry-lemon bread pudding with plum-wine sauce, stuck a 6 and a 5 in it, and away we went! One of Grandpa's favorites is bread-and-butter pudding, so he was pretty happy about the whole situation, especially as there were some leftovers to eat cold the next day with the warmed sauce (while we played Gift Trap - my birthday gift from the grands last year).

This time, per the hubster's mighty fine suggestion, I simmered the dried cranberries in plum wine before adding them to the dish, and they plumped and juicy-fied up very well. Last time I added the zest of two lemons and the juice of one, and this time added not just all the zest but the juice of both as well. Even more zing!

Grandpa recommends it (and asked to have it again before they leave - I think I might just manage that).

11 comments:

Rachael Hutchings said...

YUM!!! I hope you enjoy the rest of their visit!!

Ivy said...

Happy birthday to "grandpa". Is there any leftovers from that cake?

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Fuji Mama - Thanks! They're staying a full month so we have a few weeks left! Hooray!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Ivy - Sorry, it's all gone! But I'll make some for you! :)

FOODalogue said...

Love your nicknames for the family. HB to Grandpa and a squeeze to the little one.

Reeni said...

What a delicious cake! Happy Birthday to Grandpa! Have a great visit!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Joan - Thanks! Will happily pass on the wishes and squeezes!

Reeni - Thanks! We're having a wonderful visit and I'll tell Grandpa your message. :)

Lo said...

What fun!!

Love the plum wine sauce concept... might have to keep that in mind for my next bread pudding. Yum.

K and S said...

exciting, happy belated birthday!

Cate said...

mmmmm, that cake (pudding) looks divine. happy bday, grandpa!

the bean? love that he can keep his focus. so so cute!

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Lo - We made the plum wine a couple of years ago (a huge batch) and it just keeps getting better with age!

K and S - I'll pass on your birthday wishes to Jiji!

Cate - Will pass on the wishes to Grandpa. The Bean always loves an excuse not to look at the camera! He's very focused on whatever he's interested in. :)