Brunch

It's only just beginning to feel (to me) like the new year has started. Those first couple vacation days, with my husband home and free license to loaf, don't feel like real time, but vacation time, and the new year is about making changes, right? Bettering oneself. At least for the first month or so. Which is partially why I just signed up for spinning and yoga classes through parks and rec. But like I said, the first couple days of the year don't count, calorie-wise especially. This has not been my stance in past years but I've spent the first couple (okay, three--but at least today I'm counting my calories to avoid overindulging) days eating French food and leftover Christmas fudge. So my view of the new year has become less puritanical and more relaxed. I don't want to spend 2012 chastising myself every time I slip up nutritionally or sleep in late or forget to work out.

Instead of dieting on January 1st, I made quiche.


I realized, as I was making this quiche, that I have been grossly misinformed about quiches. Mainly because, in my six-to-eight-serving recipe, there were only two eggs. The rest was blue cheese, cottage cheese (I used 2% though it was a Julia Child recipe), half-and-half (the recipe called for cream, but the half-and-half, 2% cottage cheese result was still wonderfully creamy),butter, salt, white pepper, and a little green onion. Of course. Quiches are custardy. They're not omelettes in crusts.

They are also delicious. This part I knew, but I chose the blue cheese quiche recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking because I had blue cheese in the fridge, and I never could have guessed how wonderful it could be. And it was so simple. I did vary the recipe a tiny bit (see my lighter substitutions, previous paragraphs), but mostly in technique. I used a tart pan instead of a flan ring. I did not press my filling through a sieve to remove chunks; instead, I whipped it all up in the blender, which proved a smooth and frothy filling. Julia's pastry crust--mostly butter with a dash of shortening to keep it from crumbling--was fantastic. It was possibly the best brunch I've ever had, and most certainly the first brunch I've ever made. I had bought kiwi the day before for a special New Year's fruit, and cut up an apple, and served it with bubbly cran-apple juice (no mimosas for us--the hubby and I are not morning drinkers).

But, though the quiche was delicious, it's gone now. The real new year is starting to gear up, with real obligations and deadlines and such. We won't be indulging in custard or pastry or custard in pastry until possibly Valentine's Day. But we'll be waiting patiently for our next chance.