Rice pudding

First of all, that was some damn fine rice pudding. I have it in my lunch today as well. I am excited to eat it. Would you like the recipe? Oh, ok, I have it right here!

• 1 cup of rice (both recipes I references said to use long-grain rice, but I only had normal-grain rice on hand, and it worked out just fine)
• 2 cups of water
• A bit of lemon zest
• A knob of butter
• 4 cups of whole milk (again, I'm sure you could use low-fat milk, but I had whole milk, the recipes called for whole milk, and I want a bigger bum, so I used whole milk)
• One vanilla bean, split (or vanilla extract, like 1.5 tsp)
• 2/3 cup sugar (I used mostly white sugar with a bit of brown sugar)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. salt

Already you are excited, right? So cook the cup of rice in the two cups of water with the lemon zest and knob of butter in the water. You know how to cook rice, right? Good. (OK, if you don't, you cover the pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and wait until the water is absorbed, about 15 minutes.) I kept my rice extra sticky by NOT rinsing it beforehand (as you would for Japanese-style rice) and using the full 2:1 water/rice ratio. Don't let it get too dry. Move the rice to a bowl, remove the lemon zest and discard it. Wipe out the pan you were using, and pour into it the rest of the ingredients: milk, sugar, spices. (As an aside, if you are using vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean, wait to add the extract until the very end, and do it off the heat.) Bring to a simmer until the sugar is dissolved, add the rice back into the milk mixture, return to a gentle simmer, keep the lid OFF, and stir regularly until the whole thing is thick and delicious. For me, on medium heat, that took about 30 minutes. You want to get to a point where a spoon will stand up in the pudding by itself.

Now serve it up and eat! Can be served warm or chilled. It's just that awesome.

Well, I was going to write a post about how Evelyn is uber clingy lately, but only when I am home, and especially in the mornings, but now I have gone too long. Let's just say that she really wants me to hold her ALL THE TIME and she has taken to getting between me and whatever I am standing in front of (say, the stove) and pushing my legs until I move back and therefore have room to pick her up. She does not do this with her father. She is content to play by herself for a bit when she is with her father. But when I am home it is an entirely different story. If I am cooking, she wants to be held. If I am sitting on the couch, she wants to be sitting on me, or climbing up my chest, or sliding down my legs, or crawling on my lap. The constant tugging at my pants as I walk around is awesome, too. I have some working-mom guilt going on, because I totally give in to her every single time. (Also, this behavior is 10 times worse on the days I go to work. Weekends are much easier, at least on this front.)

I get so frustrated because, COME ON, I need to pee without you trying to get on my lap! And I need to get dressed for work without you crying and whining and flailing about on the floor. And I need to make dinner without holding a 25 pound baby because eating bean burritos and potato chips is not a balanced meal!

I am so spent by the time Evelyn goes to bed, even though I have only been home for a couple of hours, that the night is over for me. Two hours of pushing and pulling and crying and tugging and whining and grabbing is my limit.

But I love that baby. I do. So much. More than I can write because I don't have a vocabulary big enough to convey the amount and intensity of the love. I only wish that sometimes, in the evenings, just a little, I had my body to myself. It's a phase, right? Right?!