pud'nhed.

I've seriously been living like a lazy retired person for the last month (versus an industrious retired person), and I really can't remember the last time I've enjoyed doing so little so much.

There's almost no guilt at all: I just kind of wake up whenever, usually around 11. I have one or two cups of coffee and shoot the shit with Mara, at which point there's often the first discussion of the day regarding what's for dinner.

Then I fuck around online for a bit looking for recipes and/or stretch some work-related task that should take 10 minutes into something like 2 hours. Throughout we will typically engage in some sort of advanced kung fu dancing or hallway battle or general horseplay to liven things up.

I usually threaten to work out at this point but never end up doing it. Sometimes I take a shower regardless.

Then about 50% of the time we've been taking a nap around 3 or 4. After which we get up and possibly play Scrabble and I go to the store and then we make dinner or we make dinner and watch a movie or some other combination of those activities.

Around 7pm I sometimes like to watch Eggheads or one of TLC's makeover shows (during which I am actually saying to my TV screen things like "Oh you're not going to put her in that, are you)?. Then we either eat or watch a movie or fuck around on the internet for a bit or whatever leisure activity we didn't do before dinner. Then we go to bed and read for a while.

It's about to end, but while it lasted it was AWESOME.

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When I was little, I wasn't really the ahem, bleccchhhhhhhh "foodie" I am today. I was a celiac kid, so I didn't eat the same way most other children ate until I "grew out of" my illness/allergy (more on this soon, I'm considering returning to a gluten-free diet for a while). I tended to fixate on sweet things more than savory.  One of my absolute favorite things was either Rice Krispies or Frosted Flakes with blueberries and/or bananas, I've been fantasizing about it lately (when I say fantasize, I mean in a wholesome way, like imagining a version of Momofuku's "cereal milk" with blueberries and bananas).

I also loooved lemon, just about more than anything except maybe chocolate. At some point in my adult life, lemon kind of faded away or receded into the background of my favorite tastes, but at some point over the past few years it's come back.

Tonight after a diverting won ton soup experiment and some Dun Yong gyoza, Mara whipped up a perfect lemon pudding topped with blueberries and we ate it. That's the whole story. Supersatisfying.

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lemon pudding.

2/3 cup raw sugar
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 cup milk
2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
Pinch salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

This will all happen superfast, so watch it. Whisk the sugar and the cornstarch together in a medium saucepan. Add the milk and whisk until smooth. Add the egg yolks, zest, and salt and cook, stirring frequently at first and constantly towards the end, over medium heat until thickened enough to thickly coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and butter. Pour through a strainer into a large serving bowl or 2 individual serving dishes.

Let cool to room temperature. Chill, loosely covered, for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days, or until set and thoroughly chilled. Serve chilled.