Best banana pudding recipe

Banana pudding is, I think, by definition low brow. Anything with cool whip and nilla wafers is not going to qualify as haute cuisine. But isn't it good? The IBM cafeteria on Davis Drive excels at old-fashioned banana pudding with nilla wafers and meringue every Wednesday. It's reason enough to get a job there.

I'm not a huge fan of nilla wafers. I think my mom tried to pawn them off on me as "cookies" when I was a kid. Nilla wafer does not satify the cookie craving. So imagine my delight to find a banana pudding recipe with Pepperidge Farm chess men instead! It is a recipe by a Southern superstar chef, the inestimably charming Paula Dean.

Her recipe is called "Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding Recipe," and indeed it is not! A friend gave it to me and it is published on the Food Network web site.

This recipe breaks all of my rules in terms of organic and local ingredients. It contains (*gasp*) instant pudding, sweetened condensed milk and (OMG!) cool whip. I'd never bought cool whip before! The secret ingredient is Philadelphia cream cheese. By the way, for any recipe calling for cream cheese, use Philly. It is superior. I do not know why.

Not only did numerous people tell me that it was the best banana pudding they'd ever eaten but also it made enough to feed an army. So, here is a link to Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding by Paula Dean.

Paris: Angelina's for hot chocolate

After a long morning of Musee D'Orsay and a lovely lunch, my friends and I needed an afternoon pick me up in the form of hot chocolate from a tearoom called Angelina's right on the rue de Rivoli overlooking the Tuileries.

This was no ordinary cup of hot chocolate! It is the house specialty called Chocolat a l'Africain. It is a thick, dark, creamy, smooth cupful of heaven served with fluffy clouds of fresh whipped cream. We all pretty much agreed that it was the most wonderful liquid we'd ever tasted. There are not words to describe it. Orgasmically good! Maybe even better than that. In fact, I'm not sure there is sex that good!

Do not even think about skipping a stop to Angelina's for Chocolat a l'Africain if you go to Paris. Try not to think about the fact that you are drinking a $10 cup of coffee. It was so good, I'd even pay $50 and my firstborn!

Paris dining: Auberge St. Roch

Tired, hot and hungry, we stumbled across a tiny restaurant in an old timbered building on rue St. Roch off of rue de Rivoli. I noticed French people inside eating so I figured it had to be decent at least. Much to our great delight, the meal was fantastic!
By the way, if you are looking for a place to eat in Paris, go to the places where you see French people eating (you can identify the French by their style and their cigarettes). Do not go to places were you see a bunch of German or English tourists. What do they know about food?

The Auberge St. Roch must surely have the best escargots in Paris if not the world. I wish I'd ordered them, but my friend gave me a taste of hers. She described them as good enough to make her weep. In addition to the usual treatment of garlic and butter, these escargots also included cream. I cannot think of anything better than a sauce of garlic, butter and cream. If you go to Paris do not miss this place!

Those of us who did not order escargots were not let down either. We ate veal roulade in a mushroom cream sauce that also featured some butter. The roulade was perfection! The stuffing was mildly spiced meat. Other than that, I could not identify the ingredients and the menu only said roulade de veau aux champignons so I do not know precisely what was in it. It doesn't matter though, the veal was delicious! I wanted to lick my plate again.

We didn't have dessert. Instead we went to Angelina's for hot chocolate. Angelina's will get a posting of its own, so stayed tuned!

Paris dining: Drouant

Organizing a dinner for 20 people in Paris is no easy feat. Twenty people cannot just stroll into an establishment and expect to get some tables. It requires advance planning. Happily I was given this task (my only other skill besides cooking is being a planner...oh and speaking enough French to be dangerous or at least to understand when French men are being charming).

After some research, I decided to book the table for 20 at Drouant at place Gaillon. Drouant has been recently acquired by the French celebrity chef Antoine Westermann. The staff was extremely helpful and courteous. The service alone is worth a dinner either for a group or a smaller party.

That the food was outstanding is almost a given since it was 1. France and 2. Antoine Westermann's place, but preparing a set menu for 20 people is no guaranteed success. Happily, the culinary execution of our meal was nearly perfect.

We started the dinner with amuse bouches in the form of crostini with a fish mousse and crostini with nicoise olives. The first course was chilled asparagus soup. It was silky smooth, full of cream, seasoned with a hint of cayenne and garnished with chives, a dollop of creme fraiche and butter-drenched croutons.

The main course was perfectly cooked chicken breasts (although we could not quite figure out how it was cut so that bones were sticking out. Maybe these French chickens had arms or something. I don't know) in a delicately seasoned sauce made with butter and drippings, of course. Chicken is not the first thing I normally order on a menu because it can be overcooked and generally boring. At Drouant, the chicken was moist, fleshy, and flavorful. The sauce did not overwhelm but rather enhanced the taste. The chicken rested on a bed of carrots and zucchini, cooked tender but not mushy.

For dessert we had a rum-soaked yellow cake served with whipped cream. It was so delicious that, overcome by enthusiasm, my mother and I both forgot to take pictures! After dessert we had coffee and dark dark chocolate served with preserved oranges. I'd eaten preserved lemons but never oranges. They were spectacular served with the dark chocolate. I did have enough wits about me to get a picture of that plate.

Unfortunately I had no say in what wine we drank. The gentlemen were handed the wine list of course. They made an excellent choice but I have no idea what it was. As an independent woman who regularly picks her own wine, I was a bit antsy about not seeing the wine list at any of the group meals.

The best part of my dinner was the company. I had a tall, handsome, blue-eyed stranger sitting next to me. He had fine lines at the corners of his eyes which I imagined he acquired from smiling a lot. He even had good table manners!