Lemon Posset

I saw this pretty photo somewhere and thought this dessert looked good.  The appearance reminded me a bit of creme brulee which is my all time favourite super rich dessert, not to be eaten more than once a year.

I found out it was called, Lemon Posset...bonus. I love lemon. Curious to find out what "posset" meant and assuming it was some kind of french culinary term, I searched google translate.

Wow...who knew? Posset, means...posset. That got me nowhere.

So I tried another tact, looked up "posset" and "detect language". Google detected Latin. Seriously? So posset is Latin for the word "could".

Posset this possibly be correct? I doubted it.

Further research was required because I hate not knowing stuff, and now I needed a derivation and definition.

I looked up "posset" in dictionary.com. Thankfully, I didn't do this first because I would have given up my quest. I found this meaning, "a drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like, often sweetened and spiced." Sounded very unappealing.

Alas, wikipedia came to my rescue...or did it? Once again, I found the British hot drink with milk and ale description. 

So after looking at the recipe, I decided to create my own definitions.

Posset - n.  A fancy french pudding with lots of sugar. A diabetic nightmare.

                  Alternate  meaning - A decadent  dessert, insanely expensive at a restaurant.

                                      

I actually found the recipe for this dessert to be very simple and very high in calories. It's just one step away from eating from the sugar bowl.  Dare I try it? Tempting.  I'll report back if I do.

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar   
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
lemon zest from 2 lemons

Directions

Bring whipping cream to a gradual boil for 3 minutes. Combine and boil sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Whisk lemon mixture into cream. Remove from heat and strain out zest before pouring into individual dessert bowls. Let cool then put in fridge to chill until firm. Decorate with fruit or flowers

UPDATE

I made it. It's not so simple. I combined a couple of recipes as I always do and noted changes in "ingredients" and "directions" above. If you don't warm the cream slowly, it gets a strange consistency. Also, I heated the sugar and lemon juice to dissolve sugar. Used only 2/3 cups sugar. Then I whisked the sugar, lemon mixture into the cream. Strained the whole thing to remove zest. Poured into dishes and cooled.  Once cooled, I put it in the fridge to solidify. Decorated.

It tasted pretty good but I likely won't make it again.

That's What A Friend Is...Part 1

I looked up the word "friend" on www.dictionary.com and came up with these top 3 definitions.

 1. a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

 

2. a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter: friends of the Boston Symphony.

  

3. a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile: Who goes there? Friend or foe?

 

Interesting isn't it? I would never, ever have offered any of those choices of words to describe my friends. They seem inadequate at best. To me, a friend is so much more.

 

I think it may even possible to have friends who serve different functions in our lives. There are those we can rely on in times of crisis, who put our perceived catastrophes into perspective;  those whose experiences, philosophies and tastes we can discuss, share or disagree about;  those who are honest with us no matter what and "lay the cards on the table" as the saying goes;  those who forgive our mistakes and stand by us; those we trust - the confidantes;  those who empathize, feel our pain;  those who celebrate our accomplishments without envy and without having to "one up" us;  those who remain steadfast throughout some or all of our lives;  those with whom we laugh and those with whom we cry. If we are very fortunate, we have might have a friend who encompasses all those qualities. For many of us, it's our spouse. For some of us, we may be lucky enough to have another friend who's that much of a "good buddy" as it were.

 

There are temporary friends which we outgrow for some reason or another. There are friends who move far away with whom we lose touch. In that case, the friendship was likely not important enough for either party to maintain. Sometimes, friendships are toxic and we move on.

 

I had an instructor once who asked, "Do we really have a lot of close friends, or are they just acquaintances?"

 

That was a thought provoking question. I gave it some consideration and assessed my situation. How many people did I feel were true friends? The list became quite small. Fingers on one hand small....quality won out over quantity.

There's a children's book by P.K. Hallinan which I always enjoyed.

Very simply, it says it all, "A friend, is a friend. That's what a friend is."