Have you ever had one of those experiences where you bite into something and you feel like your dancing on starlight? Yes, I have eaten many a food item that has left me softly orgasmically groaning at the table. (aka., just about every restaurant in Vegas I went to withy Kristen "KatieMonster" White) but I rarely if ever have had this experience of joy ... especially while eating something I made. I usually am down right very mean to myself and I am my own worst critic. That's why I'm just sitting here semi taken aback by this whole experience of eating Quiche Lorraine. ( Of course its from Julia Child's cookbook, there is NO OTHER version to make in my humble opinion) I honestly wish I had friends coming over for breakfast, but alas I shall be forced to eat it.. LOL.... Last night I panicked over the crust.. it really is not a very "pretty" crust, and it did not fit my quiche pan (next time i double or 1 1/2 the recipe) and somehow between me spreading the crust in the pan, shoving it up the edges.. we made it barely fit, but we made it work. So I did the pre bake with the beans and foil. The last time I did this.. the foil stuck horribly to the crust, ripped it, and there was a mess. So there I was muttering under my breath how Julia made this all look so simple. And, as I would say to anyone else who posted a comment like that, it is simple.. it just takes practice, in the case of pie or quiche crust.. practice makes perfect. But back to spiritual experiences... When I was blending the crust and using a pastry cutter to break the butter and shortening down into pea sized bits,,, over the years I have heard of chefs saying the food "talks" to them ( spiritually speaking) to let them know hey I'm done or ready.. the quiche did that to me last night while i was blending in the fat... at one point, I smelled it, and it smelled right, very hard to explain, and then i felt the texture of the dry ingredients and fat coming off the blades of the pastry cutter, and the pastry dough said... Im ready.. now the fat bits looked a little larger than i would of normally left them, but, the crust had spoken. From then on out the rest of the experience was a dream. I put the what i was sure going to be a failed crust in the oven per Julia's instructions. Then the moment of truth came when I had to remove the beans and foil from the crust. I tell you I was shuttering, i did not want to do it, because in my mind i kept thinking oh crap here we go.... officially ruined crust. You know, those foil and beans removed themselves without a tear or disaster of any kind. Then you have to prick the bottom of the crust with a fork and return it to the oven for 2 to 3 minutes. Your not fully baking the quiche shell, it finishes when you are baking the quiche, however if you do not pre bake, you will have a soggy bottom... and there will be no soggy bottoms on my watch!! LOL!! So I sat in the kitchen thinking, okay here we go, it will shrink away so bad from the edges I will simply not be able to put any filling in it tomorrow morning and will have to start all over again.... you know I'll be dammned... it really did not shrink. No cuts, no nothing. MY jaw dropped in awe. The Quiche Gods were on my side!! (and my faeries, and angels and oh my!) So smiling from ear to ear, ( yea okay insert picture of me here as a happy 70's house wife with an apron on LOL) i put the crust to cool on the counter and went to bed. I woke up excited at 7:!5am eager to complete the quiche. A gorgeous sunny morning, with the sun streaming through the kitchen window, and the oven pre heating. While I was slicing and simmering bacon in water before crisping it for the quiche. The crust was still in excellent condition, the sun was shining, and I was barefoot once again!! As I was sauteing the bacon and mixing the egg custard, it occurred to me, how many other people/chefs on the planet right now at that very moment were making Quiche Lorraine in one form or another. From another home kitchen to a restaurant... someone else on the planet had gone through the pain staking measures I had to make the perfect quiche. i felt united with all the other people cooking quiche on the planet at that moment... very hard to describe in words how i felt, but there you go. All is one! And then the starlight dancing experience... there was some minor leakage from the quiche, I don't know where that naughty rip was at, but, still, maybe a tablespoon or so of the mix seeped out... not a biggie. And then i baked it and removed it from the oven.. IT ACTUALLY PUFFED UP!!!! JUST LIKE Julia's!! Yea!!! I let it rest for 10 minutes before digging in, oh and then... I took one bite.. the crust was so incredibly buttery, and the egg mixture was so soft and creamy, the bacon had just the right amount of smokiness, I felt like I was in heaven, and just dancing on starlight. *Sigh* Very hard to describe it all in words what I felt... but now do you see why i love cooking so much. So many soft moments within moments, leading to starlight dancing!
[Edit: Reading Bobby's Blog I remember when he wrote it! I can hear his excitement, this really was on his "Bucket List" and the JOY he got from cooking was infectious! I can't count the times we cooked TOGETHER, he in Chicago, IL and me in Fresno, CA... The 2 hr. time difference rarely mattered - He spoke of Vegas - I was both of our FIRST TIME and YES, the food was PHENOMENAL! We would eat and dissect the ingredients. Second only to our LOVE for cooking was our MUTUAL LOVE for Stage Plays! We saw three shows in four nights! (tbc)"
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