RIP Brown Betty

Yes, it is true. After only a few short weeks, Brown Betty is another of my casualties.  I don't  know what it is about me, but if it can be broken, I will break it. I have always been that way. Just ask my family. Just last week I broke my Bodum tea press that I like to use to make herbal tea in. It is the teapot version of a French press coffee maker. I was peeved at myself, but no big deal. I'll get another one sometime.

But Brown Betty? Oh man, that was heart breaking.  My shiny dark brown pot-bellied friend is no more. I had her sitting on a shelf over the stove and was putting a large casserole on the shelf above when I lost my grip on the dish and it hit the shelf the teapot  was on and broke the spout off. I also broke two sweet little antique cream jugs I have had since I was a little girl. If you are going to go for broke, go all the way I guess. I briefly considered saving the pot and planting some moss in it. Some coming out the top and some growing from the gaping hole that used to be the spout. But I figured whatever I planted would get water logged, so I gathered all the chunks of broken redware and disposed of it. I will be getting another, you can count on that. Just a few short weeks with my English friend has me spoiled to the earthiness of these classic teapots. I can't say the tea tastes any better, but there is just something about that humble little pot, fragrant tea steam wafting through the air,  that makes the whole process that much more pleasant. As if brewing a pot of tea could be anymore pleasant.

After such a debacle, I definitely needed a little comforting, so I turned to another tried and  true friend-food. Brown Betty and I may have been new friends, but food and I go way back. Today's food Rx need to be warm. It was a day of ferocious wind, snow showers, rain, and very cold temperatures. By the time I made my rounds to the farm to gather eggs and on to the dairy to pick up my dairy CSA, I was frozen to the bone and still bummed about my teapot. I needed pudding. Warm, vanilla pudding made with fresh milk, a little sugar, and eggs that were just hours old.

I remembered seeing a recipe on a new blog I found. Simple Farmstead Cookinghttp://www.simplefarmsteadcooking.blogspot.com/ . There are lots of good recipes here. The author has another blog too. Life at Cobble Hill Farmhttp://lifeatcobblehillfarm.blogspot.com/. If you like blogs about simple country living, gardening, pets, and chickens, then you will like this one. I only found it a few days ago, but I am already a fan.

Back to the pudding. It was a simple recipe. I don't really make homemade pudding, even though warm vanilla pudding is heavenly.  I end up scorching it every time. Pudding is the MOTH's department. He is patient; I am not. But this recipe cooked up quickly. In no time, I was hunched over a bowl of the stuff, blowing on it so I could get its warm comfort inside me as quickly as possible. Honestly, I could have eaten the entire saucepan of creamy, sweet goodness.

It's been a few hours since BB's demise and I think I might be ready to head over to the English website I got her from and order another. It's a testament to her character that I must have another. And the healing power of vanilla pudding.