Just Peachy!

Congratulations to my pal Susan Hoffman of Over the Top Farm in Newlin for winning a well-deserved first prize in the "Dessert and Sweets" category of the Hunt Breakfast recipe contest sponsored by "Foxhunting Life"! Susan's winner was "Andrews Bridge Peachy Bread Pudding," and she was kind enough to share it with all of us.

Ingredients:

2 large Challah bread loaves, cut into bite-sized pieces
6 large ripe yellow or white peaches, pitted and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup sugar, plus a few Tablespoons for topping
½ cup peach schnapps
8 large eggs, well beaten
4 cups milk
1 cup grade A maple syrup
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) cold salted butter, cut into pieces
Cooking spray or a few Tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread pieces on baking sheet and toast for about 10-15 minutes or until slightly browned.
2. Whisk all liquid ingredients together (schnapps, eggs, milk and maple syrup.)
3. Add sugar to liquid mixture and stir well.
4. In a large bowl, combine toasted bread pieces, liquid mixture and peaches. Fold gently until bread pieces are evenly coated with liquid and the peaches are well distributed. Let sit about 5 minutes for liquid to soak into bread.
5. Coat bottom and sides of a large baking dish with cooking spray or butter.
6. Turn bread mixture into the dish and gently spread evenly. Dot with cold butter pieces and dust with sugar.
7. Bake for about an hour or until pudding is set and top is golden brown.
8. Note: Depending on size of the bread loaves, you may need to add or cut back on liquid amounts. More maple syrup and/or schnapps can be added if mixture looks too dry.

Being green

I checked out one of my favorite way-off-the-beaten-track places on Monday and found both skunk cabbage and watercress already sprouting. Magical!
By the way, Claire Murray of Inverbrook Farm here in West Marlborough writes a wonderful, thoughtful blog about farming, nature and country life at http://inverbrook.blogspot.com/. She spotted skunk cabbage and heard peepers long before I did this spring.

Nice people

How nice to see that lovely photo of Peggy Newton on page 2 of last week's "Kennett Paper"! Each year at the Kennett YMCA's Good Kids fundraising dinner, Peggy presents an award in honor of her late husband, E. Marshall Newton III, which "recognizes a volunteer who exemplifies the YMCA values of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility." What an appropriate way to remember Marshall, a good man who gave so much back to the community. And Peggy is a classy, gracious woman and a delightful human being.

On the House

Probably like many of you, I received a postcard from our U.S. Congressman (and Unionville resident) Joe Pitts the other day: "If you would like to hear from me regularly, please visit www.house.gov/pitts and sign up for my weekly e-newsletter."
I did so.
Little-known fact: Joe was my ninth-grade science teacher.

After all is said and done

Yes, he has nasty habits (or at least he did), and he probably does take tea at 3, but I've been totally riveted to Keith Richards' autobiography "Life," which I borrowed in CD form from the Bayard Taylor Library. The Rolling Stones guitarist tells about his boyhood in post-war England, the fledgling days of the band and their many years of international success and wild excess. It's funny, endearing and profound, revolting and maddening, but always fascinating. The best parts are the ones that Keith himself narrates with that trademark raspy voice and throaty chuckle. But please don't listen if you mind lots of really bad language or really stupid behavior.

The Long Way Home

For some Pennsbury Township residents, getting out and about is back to normal. A Brintons Bridge Road bridge crossing a tiny tributary to the Brandywine reopened last week after being shut down for reconstruction for 18-1/2 weeks, forcing motorists to take lengthy detours.
As one of those affected, my mother has been tracking the bridge's progress closely. She said she came home to find that the detour signs blocking the road had been pushed out of the way. She'd been told that the final blacktop coat wouldn't be applied until warmer weather, but hoping against hope, she drove down to the bridge site and found, to her great delight, that it was completed.

With an extra shot

As a frequent Starbucks consumer (in the past few weeks I've been to the Longwood, Jennersville, downtown West Chester, and Lionville branches) I was interested to read that Howard Schultz, the CEO, received his largest-ever bonus in 2010: $3.5 million, up from a paltry $1 million the previous year.
Based on a story in the March 18 "Wall Street Journal," it was well deserved: "Starbucks recently turned around sales after the toughest stretch in its 40 years. The company's profit more than doubled to record levels...Starbucks investors also got richer, with gains in the stock plus dividends up 24.9% last year."