jeans and pudding

I have a favorite pair of jeans. Most people do, right? But I’m usually more of a funky-green-chinos-that-don’t-fit-well-but-suit-my-personality kind of girl, so this may be surprising to some of you. My outrageously faddy, though not remotely fatty, brother and sister in law helped me pick them out in Australia 5 years ago. They are the softest denim ever, even straight out of the wash. They are loose through the legs, super low rise, and snug in the butt (a quality I need to look for in pants more often according to the French woman who helped me in the dressing room). “I see zee problem…you have no butt.” She said so kindly. So these jeans are perfect. Just one problem—in Australia I wasn’t working. I was cooking instead. And eating. By the end of my six month stay there I was unable to button the jeans without the risk of a hernia! I’ve had brief periods in my life since when they fit, but more when they didn’t. Of course having Ella didn’t do much for me in the snug-butt-jeans department. But miracle of miracles—they fit again! Which leads me to constantly wonder if I’ve broken a seam without realizing it and people are just too scared to point it out to me. Oh well. I warned Chris when he married me that I would probably get fat and at some point in my life never return from it. I never want to be the kind of person who plans their life around their appearance. I wouldn’t be any good at it. It’s been several years since I bought a tube of mascara, so I think I’m pretty hopeless in that department anyway. Instead I want to cook and eat what I want, stay active in ways that suit my life (which does not mean 6am body pump) and hope that the happiness radiating through me will keep me in decent enough shape that I might be able to wear those jeans at some point again. And if not, I’m okay with that too.

Here’s a favorite recipe from Australia which probably contributed to my pants-issues. I also like to make this one for friends when they’ve just had a baby and the extra calories are the last thing on their radar. The flavor is heavenly and after you eat this cake you don’t need to use chap-stick for a few days! Haagen Dazs recently came out with an ice cream flavor made after this delicious dessert and they did pretty well, but nothing beats the real thing. Dig in!

Sticky Toffee Pudding…
(sorry for the Aussie measurements, I'm just too lazy to convert right now)
cake ingredients:
170 g dates, stoned and chopped
1 t baking soda
300 ml boiling water
60 g unsalted butter
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
170 g self-rising flour
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
sauce ingredients:
200 g brown sugar
1/2 c heavy cream
250 g butter
1/2 vanilla bean, split
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and butter an 8" square cake pan. Mix dates and baking soda, pour boiling water over mixture, and let stand.
Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Folk flour in gently, then stir in date mixture and vanilla and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer.
To make the sauce, bring all ingredients to a boil (be sure to scrape vanilla seeds into the pan and let the bean boil in there as well). Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Pour a little sauce over warm cake and return it to oven for 2-3 minutes so sauce soaks in. Cut cake (pudding) into squares and serve with extra sauce.
note:
I often bake the cake most of the way, pour sauce over it, then let it cool and reserve it for later. When I'm ready to serve it I just pour extra sauce over, bake it a bit more and serve with more sauce! Yumtastic!