IHOP Girl: Creme Brulee Day

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Creme Brulee Day

Have you ever had one of those days, a day where you get inspired to do something fabulous, something creative, something fun? A day where you want to make Creme Brulee? Ahh yes, today was one of those days. Now I know that not everyone may enjoy a well made Brulee, so feel free to insert above whatever creative creation you like; my point still stands. In every persons life there are days where you dream of that exquisite backdrop of a timeless classic that greets you on the doorstep of imagination and beckons you to into another world, time, and place. These are Creme Brulee days. The essence of Creme Brulee is within its innate simplicity. The elegance, the draw, the universal appeal is not credited to dazzling presentation or creative genius. Instead subtle class and simple flavors have given this desert longevity throughout the culinary world. How the same life works at times (I love when I can combine deserts and life lessons for an amazing illustration). Granted, there are things in today's world that I would miss were they to be removed. However, I think that in every heart there is a little need for the simple things in life. We may not be able to completely shed the complexity we live in, but I would encourage you to take a Creme Brulee day every now and again. Stop, enjoy where you are in life, enjoy a sunny day, the smells on the breeze, a sunset, the fog hanging on the mountain tops, the tousled hair of your kids as they sleep, or even just look back over the years. No man knows fully the hour in which he lives, and how sad it is to not enjoy every moment.

10 comments:

sfl said...: No.

No.

What exactly is Creme Brulee?

Some sort of anti-itch medication?

A special cage match that the WWF or TNA wresting has developed?

The only timeless classic that greets you at the doorstep, beckoning (Nay! demanding) you to another world (called the backyard in order to take a seriously needed leak), time (as in immediately or it will wet the floor), place (see above), is a slightly obese black dog named Girth.

Is Creme Brulee a new code word for taking the dog out for a twelve hour-in-the-making potty break? I will agree that taking the dog out to go to the bathroom is innately simple, although elegant is not an adjective I'd use. As for the stuff after that, all I can say is, "Ack!".

Although I must admit, we all must have a "Creme Brulee" moment every day, actually the older one gets, several a day to be precise. So enjoy every "Creme Brulee moment"...

And don't forget to clean up the backyard every now and then or you'll be having a Creme Shoeee moment...

Hey!; 11:54 AM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Thank you for that - well put thought. Actually though, I've had many a Creme Brulee moment in the back yard with Girth....so perhapes you are not as insane as we once thought. However I believe those moments may have pertained to star gazing, not the subject you refered to. ;-) Your loving SPOT; 7:04 PM
shrunken_frontal_lobe said...: Thanks for acknowledging that my frunkeness, while considerable, is not yet complete.

I would strongly recommend against star gazing with Girth during a nightly Creme Brulee moment! It could lead to a smelly, smeery, star watching event.

cheers and smeers; 4:28 PM
data-mite said...: Beware! Excessive mixing of desserts and life lessons can lead to a 400lb existence...; 8:39 AM
shrunken_frontal_lobe said...: Yo! 'Mite! How ya doin'?

Long time since I've heard from you. Glad to see you're still bobbing around in blogspace.

Have a good one!

PS - Is that the voice of experience speaking there??? ;-); 8:44 AM
data-mite said...: yes - the 'mite lives... desserts are not a problem - too much coffee, well that's another issue.; 1:35 PM
data-mite said...: We need an article here entitled something like "Faticus goes South" - a detailed update on the life of a more than "slightly obese black dog".; 7:41 AM
Jess said...: hey, so sorry, long time no talk, just had to interject -- are we talking about spot conlon here????? (heheheheh.) what is this spot? did you move to brooklyn and not tell me? ok yes, *holds up hands in surrender* I HAVE REDISCOVERED NEWSIES AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! be afraid, be very afraid, for from now on every post, every line of text, every breath that belongs to mary (me) will now contain some subtle or not-so-subtle allusion to NEWSIES...ok exaggeration yes but still. how can one not love NEWSIES???? will blog soon promise lots of love must go

"a porcelain tub wid boilin' wadda..." sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry..... but you did bring up spot...; 10:15 PM
Jess said...: p.s. i do know what your SPOT stands for...just had to say it. heheheheh.; 7:25 PM
Clair Bannerman (alias) said...: Rofl! Jess I hope you do!! Oh my gosh - I will LOVE it! I have been far to long with out some Newsies, I mean come on its a classic. By the way, I was always kinda a Spot fan ;-). Actually my current email was created during me and my sisters Newsie crazy, when we were writing fan fiction for it. Haha, so I still have some Newsie reminants.; 8:27 AM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.