Some days at my cafe are leaps and bounds more fun than other days. And then there are those days that are just plain ordinary turned astounding. As we prepared food for the customers a not so unusual story somehow begins. This is the part where “astounding” makes its debut. Mindi, starts with, “My pastor’s secretary got a phone call from her mentally challenged son who was at home while she was working.” Now in my mind, I’m processing “my pastor” and immediately credibility is already established even more so than it’s Mindi telling the story knowing she’s highly trustworthy. She continues the story by saying the mentally challenged boy tells his mom he has a troll in his closet. His excitement speaks volumes as to something is up. Worried by the claims, the mother immediately runs home to check in on her son and investigate what he is saying. The woman greets her son and asks about the troll. He smiles with great pride as he believes he has a real live troll and leads her to a closet door. She opens the door and out runs a little man–as in stature who explains to the woman that he is a census worker that was only doing his job when her son swooped him up and puts him in the closet.
Ironically, this took place during this past year’s census. Needless to say, to all within ear shot of this remarkable story, we were shocked and amazed.
The rest of the day was filled with intermittent rounds of shaking our heads and laughing at the aforementioned doozy of a tale. And so, not being able to keep this made for t.v. moment to myself, I called a friend saying, “You’re not going to believe this story.” By late that evening I was informed in an even more peculiar fashion that the unbelievable story I told was now suspect as this friend started our conversation with, “You’re not going to believe this story.” I said, “Well, it certainly cannot top the one I told you earlier.” He said, “Check it out.” He explained something eerily similar to Mindi’s drama stating someone at the gym told him. It was then that I realized how the birth of a legend or myth or plain old lie is perpetuated. The internet was instrumental in pounding that point home when I finally googled the particulars of that now infamous cafe moment. It was a lie that no doubt has entertained many. Who knows where a myth begins. I suspect its origins are as as innocently reported as the story I just told. Somehow, I imagine, its believability rests solely in the person who is delivering the details. It has taught me to count most of what I hear as something to investigate further and conclude its validity based on my findings rather than falling for it hook line and sinker as I have been guilty of many times. It’s why when I enjoyed my first taste of creme brulee’ in a pricey five star restaurant, I decided just because it appears to be a complicated-only-trained-French-chefs-could-make dessert, that maybe in reality it was simple as pie to bake. And now I know a little inquiring pays great dividends in revealing truth as this is a decadent, classy, oh so simple dessert ANYONE can make. Even better, the prep time is less than ten minutes. I used a blow torch to form the crusty caramelized top which might intimidate some but you can use the broiler in your ordinary oven to achieve the same results. A blow torch in the kitchen is positively exciting and fulfills my growing need to live dangerously in my humble home. The uses of a blow torch are many including cinnamon toast but that’s a whole other story.
Creme Brulee
By Published: February 22, 2011
- Yield: 12 Servings
- Prep: 10 mins
Edible creamy silk. Easy and Elegant.
Ingredients
- 1 quart heavy whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean split and scraped
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 large egg yolks
- boiling water in a pan
Instructions
- In a large pan bring to boil the vanilla bean and heavy whipping cream
- In a kitchen aid mixer combine the egg yolks, vanilla and half cup of sugar. Beat until the mixture turns a lighter shade of yellow about a minute. Discard the vanilla bean and slowly pour the cream in the egg mixture while the mixer is beating on low. Add the sugar and mix for 1 minute. Strain this through cheese cloth. Or just let it sit for 5 minutes and skim the froth off the top.
- Pour into ramekins. Place the ramekins in a glass oblong baking dish and pour in the boiling water to bring the water level up to the half way mark of the ramekins. Bake at 325 for about 40-50 minutes or until the custard is still jiggly but fully baked.
- Refrigerate for about 4 hours or overnight and top with brown sugar and either blow torch the top to form a nice crusty sugary top or place in a hot broiler oven to brown and caramelize. Serve with berries.
