Birthday Pudding Pisang and Creole Udang

This weekend, honey pie and I are hosting a dinner party. It will be a party for twelve. At first I had planned to have it catered as it can be done very reasonably and really makes for easy entertaining and saves your sanity.

As I was telling my housekeeper my plans, I got the look. The one where she drops her chin, looks up at me and with hands akimbo I swear she is saying "What you talkin' about Willis?" That phrase may be a little out of date for some of you reading this. The show that quote came from, "The Facts of Life," was off the air before my son was born I am pretty sure. Anyway, the look is one that I don't get very often but it comes straight to the point in a New York minute. So between "the look" and my sweeties' encouragement, I am now cooking dinner for twelve.

My friends have been so sweet in loaning me wine glasses, ice buckets, and other party paraphernalia that I want to give a big shout out of thank you to them. However, the thing I want to thank them most for is the support and love that they share with me. My friends continue to be the thing that keeps me going many, many days here. Thanks guys!

Back to the party. Today, Thursday, I decided to make desserts. Both selections are things that improve when they sit and mingle a little bit. The first thing I made is a recipe my son gave to me for what he calls "surprise chocolate pie." The reason it has the word surprise in its title is because it contains silken tofu. Surprise! However, it gives it the most awesome texture and if you didn't know it had tofu, you would most likely not guess it. My version is called "surprise mousse" since I am unable to get the cookies necessary for the crust and must serve it in individual containers.

The other dessert I made is a variation on banana pudding. I guess I should really say a variation on a variation. When you are using a bule recipe, it is essential that you have the ability to improvise. Many times things are just not available here or it is an item you see for a while at the grocery then, poof, it disappears from the shelves to only reappear six months later or maybe never again. So, this afternoon I made a version of a Paula Deen banana pudding recipe that I found on the Internet. If you know Paula Deen, this is not the low calorie selection for the evening.

My housekeeper was totally on-board with the dessert fest. She helped me fill each small glass with my "surprise mousse" and then helped me with all the mixing and whipping of cream and combining of ingredients for the banana pudding. This recipe makes a lot more than I expected, so I had a goodly amount of custard left over. After filling 14 dessert dishes, I decided to get a larger dish out and fill it as well. We layered cookies, pisang (bananas), and the remaining custard. As she carefully covered each container with plastic wrap, I told her the big serving dish we had just filled was for her birthday which is tomorrow. She looked so surprised and started to giggle and repeat, "For me?". All I had to say was yes, and she quickly disappeared to the garage with the banana pudding. I am sure it went in the staff fridge out there. I hope no one touches it without her permission. It could get ugly otherwise.

What touched me was that she was so excited by a gift we had made together. As I had considered in a much earlier post, my staff is our family here. Not only do they help us get from here to there, take care of chores, keep our belongings safe while we are out of town, but I learn about what is going on in their lives, what is happening with their families both the suka and the duka. So with love and appreciation Manisem, Salamat ulang tahun!

The main course of the meal, shrimp creole, or as my housekeeper calls it creole udang, will be made tomorrow. I've made this dish many times before and the best part, besides eating it, is that most everything is readily available here. The only thing that gave me a scare today was not being able to find my can of Crisco shortening in the cupboard. One must have shortening to make the roux. As any self-respecting Louisianian would tell you, that is the absolute heart of the dish. I went to three different grocery stores and could only find one lonely little can of butter flavored Crisco. I somehow think that if I used it, I would be guilty of a crime against nature in Louisiana and would never be able to set foot there again. I certainly don't need any bad juju! Upon returning home and digging around in the pantry, I found my can of plain Crisco. At this point in the process if that had not happened, I would have had to resort to dinner for twelve from KFC delivered on a scooter.

At the moment, my fridge is jammed full of beer and wine, desserts and washed lettuce and salad stuff. After tomorrow, it will be full of savory shrimp getting to know its fellow creole mates while awaiting re-heating and being served.

I hope it will be good eats for all of our guests. Not that KFC is a bad choice, and I love when the delivery guy shows up on his scooter, but I think that might be better for another day.