pudding. oh, yum.

10:50pm
Let's start ya'll off with a recipe. I apologize for the late hour. ;) Can I help it if inspiration hits at such a time???

The Best Chocolate Pudding (not. kidding.) :)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 c sugar (I use less, because I use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but that’s just me—I don’t like it overly sweet. Make a prototype:))
1/8 tsp salt
3 cups milk
6oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, or dark chocolate if you want that dark-chocolate-kick. ;)
1 tsp vanilla


Whisk together the cornstarch, sugar and salt in a large bowl, then add the milk, whisking a lot still, till it’s wonderfully combined.


I use a stainless steel bowl, a big one, and put that over –it fits nicely—a large pot filled half ways or less with water, depending on the fit of the two. With the stovetop on high, so the water boils, the mixture in the large bowl will heat slowly, and when it gets warm, whisk it every once in a while . . . then, when it gets hotter, mix it more often, clearing the sides of the thickening liquidy-pudding.
When it’s gotten thick –it will only get so thick; it’ll thicken more when it cools, so put the bowl on the counter when the mixture coats the back of a spoon nicely. Mix in your chocolate and vanilla


I add a few tablespoons of extra-fine ground coffee. At night, I use decaf, but if it’s in the daytime that I make this (which is rarely, let me tell you), I’d use regular. Whatever I have on hand, y’know. ;)

Tonight, I made it with the bottom 9-cups-worth of the 5-gal thing Dad brings home (in the winter) with cream in it. Heh heh.
We didn’t have much milk at all left from the gallon he brought home this morning, and Dad didn’t want to go out and buy ‘that crap’ –milk from the store, as Mom suggested. Ha, I guess you could say we’re a weird brand of milk snobs. (Sarah, I know you don’t like our milk...it's just not your...type. LOL. But hey; to each his own. Whatever. ;))
So, it turned out extra creamy (we use whole milk anyways, not pasteurized, etc, it’s wonderfully good, ha ha) and coat-the-tongue amazing, 1000-calorie-mocha-pudding, as Anna so kindly put it as she scraped out the bowl with a rubber spatula. Haha.


So, next week I’ll let you know how much weight we’ve gained. (just kidding)
It was soooo good, but it probably won’t happen again, so don’t be worried for our health. ;)
Yesterday I didn’t get to read any of Operation Firebrand: Crusade, I was so disappointed. I read a little today, and yes, when I mentioned James last time, I read it around 12a.m.-ish, it was good . . . and off I go to bed again.
 Here’s a quote from a song in Once, an Irish film . . .


Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice
You've made it now
Falling slowly sing your melody
I'll sing along
[Falling Slowly; Glen Hansard]

Once was beautiful, and the music was absolutely amazing, but to caution you, it had uite a bit of strong language (and i only saw 20 minutes worth of scenes), I guess it doesn’t mean half what it does here in the U.S. It's just kind of...flippant. Casual. Not venom-filled, passionate, or punctuated when used (like i've heard some people say it), but rather instead of saying D. Or S. And they say it sometimes very softly and other times, . . . like any other normal word in a human's vocabulary. :) Heh heh.

Yep, I’d suggest it mainly if you have that ClearPlay DVD player thing, or if you could get it edited. Unless language doesn’t bother you, or you don’t have kids, or you don’t care if it goes around in your head all day, OR unless you use those words anyways. Yippee.

Goodnight!

Oh . . .
P.S. If you want to see some beautiful pictures of the making-of the chocolate pudding, go to this link . . . :) 
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/02/best-chocolate-pudding/