The GGA Project -- Day #74 "Dessert Consolation"

My job is just about as boring as jobs come.  Ok, toll booth operator may be a smidge bit more boring--it's almost better because at least the steady stream of traffic would keep a person more alert than the trickle of customers where I work keeps me, but ultimately my job wins simply because at least I have time to actually talk to customers, and my coworkers also manage to make it interesting now and then.


Geisell is by far the most likely person to brighten my day and keep me entertained.  When she's working I really don't care at all what else happens.  There will always be something to talk about and laugh about, and she is never moody or withdrawn.  It's especially great that her work station happens to be right next to mine, and on the days when she's off and I'm working, her absence is strongly felt.  I about went crazy when she was on maternity leave and that bright spot of sunshine was so thoroughly removed.


Since Geisell is from Nicaragua, I thought she could offer some great GGA cooking opportunities, and the other day I told her about the project, asking if I could come over to her house and learn a thing or two about traditional Nicaraguan recipes.


This was her response:  "I would love to except that I don't know how to make any."  This was surprising since she's always talking about cooking for her kids, but I guess she doesn't make them any dishes from back home.  As an afterthought makeup offer, however, she busted out with this: "I could give you the recipe for Mexican flan though."


Your reaction to that sentence (although I'm sure a lot is lost given that you can't hear her cute accent as she said it) will tell you a lot about how similar or dissimilar our respective writer/reader senses of humor are.  Because that offer made me laugh so hard I had to sit down.  She was laughing too, and when we get going together it's kinda like a moving freight train...difficult to slow.


This struck me as funny on two levels.  First, the idea that she doesn't have any traditional recipes from her own country but has one from another is kinda goofy.  But even better is the fact that the recipe is for flan (of all things) which, to me, has got to be one of the least tasty and even boring recipes Mexico has to offer.


But I decided to take her up on the offer, even though I don't really care for flan, pretty much because I'm positive the monkey will love it.


Today's New Activity: Making the World's Second-Jiggliest Dessert


I hesitate to share the recipe here, since the flan is still chillin' in the fridge until tomorrow and I'm not sure how it'll turn out (there was some confusion on my part as to whether the "spoons" Geisell described for ingredient measurements were teaspoons or tablespoons, so it's best I do a taste test before I potentially kill anybody with vanilla extract poisoning).


The recipe was pretty simple and easy enough to execute.  I had some doubt about her description on how to make the sweet topping you always get on a serving of flan.  Apparently all you do to make it is heat straight sugar in a pan until it melts.  It melts!  Did you know that?  Cuz I didn't until today.


Anyway, I was lacking some finesse in the step that followed, which Geisell had warned me to be careful about.  It gets tricky when the cool flan mixture meets the very warm melted topping on the bottom of the pan used to house the whole operation during the cooling process.  I failed and it bubbled strangely.  I'll have to see how it tastes tomorrow and then ask her again how to do it right.


This is how it looks for now.