Where to start, where to start?

Around here, when life is flowing smoothly (re: its regular bumpy course) we pretty much live from holiday storage box to holiday storage box. We pack up one batch and bring another down. So, since yesterday was Epiphany, I am assuming (!) you decorated for Mardi Gras. (Like my friends, B&G, because this really IS their house. Banners complements of Katrina evacuees.)

So let's do a Mardi Gras recipe! This one came from SR, who died a couple of years ago. When her son married, in another state, B&G and I, along with Mary Virginia, packed up a van and drove to Jackson Tn, and fed the rehearsal dinner people. In a lovely old ROUND building that had once been a library. SR made...I think 14...of these, which reminds me they freeze beautifully. And the secret is just TOO TOO tacky, but I'm promising you, you're gonna love this bread pudding.

At some point in the wee hours of the night...like about three a.m...we were staggering through the hotel lobby. I was barefoot with a cigar in my cleavage, a bottle of champagne in one hand and three champagne glasses in the other. (I'm sure, at the moment, this made sense.) And Mary Virginia kept saying, "Let me put that bottle in my purse," and the rest of us kept insisting: "There might be someone here who needs a drink!" We meet a lot of interesting people that way.

Sharon's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding

2 cups scalded milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large eggs, beaten

1 package hamburger buns (really!)

Whiskey Sauce:

1 stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons bourbon

Lightly grease an 11x9 inch baking dish. Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until butter is melted. Let cool. Mix sugar, salt and cinnamon together. Pour milk/butter mixture into beaten eggs; add sugar mixture. With kitchen scissors, cut buns into cubes. Put bread cubes into a large bowl and pour liquid mixture over. Toss to moisten but don't overdo! or you'll get mush.

Pour into the baking dish, place that dish into another baking pan filled half full of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Remove from the hot water. Best when served warm with Whiskey Sauce.

Sauce: Melt one stick of butter, add two cups powdered sugar and bourbon. Mix until smooth and serve warm. (SR swore you'd go to hell if you didn't use Jack Daniels. I'm a bourbon person (Jack Daniels is NOT bourbon) so I prefer Makers Mark. You can just suit yourself, but it doesn't matter...this is wonderful.)

We'll do Red Beans & Rice, and Jambalaya, later.