comfort food: vanilla pudding

so many plans for this weekend! i wanted to try macarons finally, and make cinnamon buns, and do some sewing, and go for a hike now that spring is finally here and it is possible to go outdoors.

but: norovirus.

the kid and i were both hit at 5 o'clock friday morning. and that was that. we arefeeling a little better - no more vomiting - but still queasy, with sore achy legs. getting up the stairs is an insurmountable chore.

so, i did nothing. by saturday i was able to knit again, but that was it. after three days of not eating and not moving, i feel weak! time for some nutritious food. so i looked through my cookbooks, and found some recipes labelled "invalid cookery"...

... and decided to avoid them.

i ended up making a simple, old-fashioned vanilla pudding - easy to digest, but with some easy calories and protein to replace what we've been missing. and egg yolks are full of trace nutrients, so that helps too.

after looking at a bunch of recipes online, i went with the one from chow (martha stewart's was basically the same - but with twice the sugar and twice the cornstarch? blecch!) i think the word "easy" in the title kind of sold me.

i don't know if it's the cure, but it was a lovely afternoon break with a pot of tea! and now i have more egg whites for macarons. next week, maybe.

i also got a fair amount of work done on the sleeves of this cardigan. the question remains: will i run out of yarn? it's awfully close! i don't want to buy more, although my brain is already cooking up ideas for what to add to the order to get it up to the "free shipping" amount.

needs blocking obviously, but i'm pretty happy with the neckline.

easy vanilla pudding (from chow)

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbs corn starch
2 1/4 cups milk
3 egg yolks
3 tbs butter (cut in pieces)
1 tbs vanilla

combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. whisk in 1/4 cup milk, whisking till smooth.

beat together egg yolks and remaining milk, and stir in.

cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken.

remove from heat; beat in butter and vanilla. beat till smooth.

strain into 4 individual ramekins. top with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours, or until firm.