Skates, puddin' and yarn as far as the eye can see

That about sums up my weekend. Lots going on and I've had a blast.

First off, I'd just like to say that Saturday's sales were tremendous and I'd like to thank my customers because you totally made my weekend. I know times are tough for everyone and for you to pop on into my little corner of Troy and spend your hard earned dough, well, I appreciate it more than you know. So thanks.

Unfortunately I missed the Proposition 8 rally for two reasons:

1) Sales were too good to close up early and you never know when this economy of ours will head even deeper into the crapper.

And

2) The rain just wouldn't let up. I'm a wuss like that. Sorry.

From what I've read, it looks like they had about a 500 person turnout and that's great! I'm sure they would have had more if the weather wasn't so bad. Nasty, I say.

After closing up the shop for "my" weekend, I headed home and got ready to meet some friends and witness my very first roller derby. That's right, folks, Mrs. E. actually left the house and went out in public and had one of THE best times I've had in a very long time. I didn't know much about roller derby before my first match and so I didn't know what to expect, but boy is that stuff good! Nabua's daughter Bianca (she owns The Broken Mold for those of you local readers) is a member of the Empire Skate Troopers and they whooped some serious butt on Saturday night. Wow. I'm so impressed by the stamina of these ladies and I found myself leaping out of my seat and screaming like a maniac right along with the other 2,000 people in the place. Great stuff. You can find more info about the Albany All Stars here. If you live in the Albany area, I strongly recommend checking this out. Quite impressive. I need to learn the rules, though, because while I can follow the basics, there were an awful lot of gals tossed into the penalty box and I still don't know why.

So now it's time to get serious. A few days back I read a post on this lovely little blog in which the author mentioned making white chocolate bread pudding. The whole idea of it haunted me me for days and so of course I had to make one for us! Kids, I've never made bread pudding in my entire life and honestly I've never wanted to. This recipe, however, changed everything for me. Not only was this extremely simple to put together, but it was inexpensive to make (with the exception of the $7 WHIPPING CREAM!?! Am I missing something here?) and it comes out of the oven looking and smelling like something the finest of restaurants would serve. You must make this:

White Chocolate Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients
8 ounces French bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat)
1/2 cup sugar
18 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli chips...no chopping needed)
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs

Preparation
Preheat oven to 275°F. Arrange bread cubes on baking sheet. Bake until light golden and dry, about 10 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to rack; cool completely. Increase oven temperature to 350°F.

Combine 3 cups whipping cream, 1 cup milk and 1/2 cup sugar in heavy large saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add 10 ounces white chocolate (about 1 3/4 cups) and stir until melted and smooth. Whisk yolks and eggs in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in warm chocolate mixture.

Place bread cubes in 2-quart glass baking dish. Add half of chocolate mixture. Press bread cubes into chocolate mixture. Let stand 15 minutes. Gently mix in remaining chocolate mixture. Cover dish with foil.

Bake pudding 45 minutes. Uncover and bake until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer pudding to rack and cool slightly. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate. Rewarm covered pudding in 350°F oven for 30 minutes before serving.)

Bring remaining 1/2 cup cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove saucepan from heat. Add remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
Serve pudding warm with warm white chocolate sauce.

***

And can I just say that even if you don't like white chocolate...hell, even if you despise white chocolate you have to try this. It's so vanilla-ey and rich and just decadent and you won't believe it. Boys, if you're looking for something easy to wow your lady friends with, this is it!

I'll end this little novella of mine on the sweeter side of things, but stay tuned because tomorrow I have to share with you the tale of our adventure in Poughkeepsie where four of us went on a buying trip to meet with a yarn wholesaler. Holy moly, if you're a knitter you should be jealous. I know I'd be. I'd write it all out now, but this post is long enough already and I think I really did something bad to mess up my left shoulder. Spooning with the laptop does nothing to ease the pain, believe me.