The Christmas Eve Bread Pudding Challenge

...Continued from yesterday:
    In truth, there's not a whole lot in the way of entertainment in the small town of Seaford, Delaware. Even the closest movie theater is half an hour away in Salisbury, Maryland.
       But what the town lacks in other diversions it makes up for in eating establishments, which one can find aplenty in Seaford, especially those of the cozy comfort food diner variety,

...the kind with the refrigerated cases at the entrance filled with mesmerizing
desserts.

     It was at a couple of these diners that we took most of our nourishment over our Christmas vacation,  as my  mother at 98 years old is still a big fan of eating out,

...her favorite eatery being the Stargate Diner,

...a homey place with a friendly ambience owned and run by the nicest family.

    On Saturday night we had dinner at the Stargate, where we were welcomed by the staff, who know my mother well, she being a frequent customer.

     The food was, as always, good and plentiful,

...one of my favorites being the Maryland Cream of Crab Soup.

  I also had my other favorite, the Eggplant Parmesan over angel hair pasta with the best  garlic toast.

    The others had among them,

...Chicken Scampi,

...Chicken Parmesan,

...several ordered the Broiled Tilapia,

...and the girls had their favorite, plates of buttered spaghetti.

  As it turns out, the Stargate now includes a free dessert with dinner, among the free options being:

...ice cream,

...rice pudding,

...and my favorite, bread pudding.

     However my daughter went outside the free box by ordering the pecan pie,

..as did I by ordering ice cream with my bread pudding.

    After dinner we came home and had a piano lesson before bed.

  The following morning, Sunday morning,  we were back at the Stargate for breakfast,

...where I discovered to my wonder and delight that one could get two eggs, pancakes, and a pile of home fries for $2.99,

...which was to become my go-to Stargate breakfast from then on.

  The others ordered various combinations of standard breakfast fare,

..except for Tom, who opted for the slightly more exotic creamed chip beef over a biscuit with sides of sausage and scrapple, a traditionally Philadelphia breakfast meat-esque product, though exactly what it's made of nobody is quite sure. However Tom thought it was good.

    After breakfast my mom and I ventured to Walmart for a shopping trip,

...and so, it appeared, did everyone else in Seaford.

    We spent the rest of the day at various occupations,

... Justin, for example, taught my mom, a Bridge enthusiast, how to play 21,

...until dinner time rolled around, at which time my mom proposed that we try the Golden Eagle Diner,

...which had been recently rebuilt,

renovated,

...and re-menued,

...so that in both ambience and food offerings the Golden Eagle now so closely resembles the Stargate,

...directly across the street from which it is located,

...that I thought the two restaurants must be owned by the same family.
     But no, it turns out that the Golden Eagle is owned by a different family, a Turkish family, also very nice, one of whose members likewise came over and greeted my mother, as my mother often patronizes this place as well.

   So here we are at the Golden Eagle Diner,

...where we met up with my daughter Claire and her hubby Miguel after they drove in from their disappointing day in Washington D.C. where they'd hoped to visit the national monuments and get their National Parks and Monuments Passport books stamped,

...but which were closed because of  Donald Trump's shut down (see post from 12/26/2018).

     The food at the the Golden Eagle, much like the food at the Stargate,  was good,

...I went with the salad bar,

...and the Chicken Alfredo, which  came with some great garlic toast.

    Like ts counterpart across the street, the Golden Eagle also offered a free dessert with dinner, the choices being rice pudding, bread pudding, chocolate pudding or ice cream.

   Once again I went with my favorite, bread pudding, with a scoop of ice cream. It was très yummy.

   Now, it so happened that there were among us several bread pudding aficionados, and we got to discussing the merits of this bread pudding versus the other great bread puddings we'd had in the past.
    I then put myself on the line by claiming that I made the best pudding of them all, and was immediately given the challenge of putting my money where my mouth was, so to speak.  I took up the challenge and promised to prove myself by making a Christmas Eve bread pudding the following night, wondering even as I spoke if I should have just swallowed all my big bread pudding talk.
    We started off Christmas Eve morning back at the Stargate,

...after which I was obligated to make a quick trip to the grocery store to buy my bread pudding ingredients,

...and also for the ingredients for the apple crisp that Tom and I decided to make for dessert along with the bread pudding for Christmas Eve dinner,

...we all having decided that it would be nice to have a big Christmas Eve dinner at home.

   Meanwhile we spent the day  working,

...playing,

...wrapping last-minute Christmas gifts,

...relaxing,

...and getting started on dinner,

...until it was time for all hands to report to the kitchen galley for dinner duty.

 Me working on my bread pudding challenge.

    A couple of the kitchen workers pilfered some of my bread pudding whipped cream to fix fancy apéritifs,

..but I won't say who.

     Then the food was ready, the table spread, grace said, and the Christmas Eve feasting began.

Oven-fried chicken,

...green beans almondine, shrimp, tortillas,

  Mexican vegetables,

...avocado.

     Then it was time to serve dessert,

...apple crisp,

 ...and my bread pudding, which I feared that I had perhaps injudiciously bragged about.

    I held my breath (figuratively) while waiting for  the verdict on my bread pudding.

    Everyone said it was the best bread pudding ever. Miguel said it was a magnificent bread pudding that could only be improved by a topping of praline pecan sauce.
     Alas, the only toppings I had to offer were ice cream and whipped cream.

     But I plan on learning to make praline pecan sauce for my next batch of bread pudding.
     Mayhaps everyone was just being polite about my bread pudding being the best.
     In any case, here's the recipe for my bread pudding (this amount is good for an 8"x8" pan. Double the recipe if using a 9"x13" pan):
     Patti's Bread Pudding
     2 eggs   
     2 cups milk
     2/3 cup sugar
     A shake of cinnamon
     4 cups bread, cubed
     1/4 cup raisins
     1/2 an apple, peeled and cut into small, thin slices
     1/4 cup almonds (or more if you like almonds)
      Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
      Grease an 8"x8" pan. Put the bread cubes into the pan.
      Beat the eggs, mix in the milk, sugar and cinnamon. Pour liquid over the bread, let stand until soaked. Stir in the raisins and apple. Top with almonds. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the bread pudding is firm. Serve hot or cold.    
        After dinner everyone sat around for a bit,

...then we sang Christmas Carols.

  On Christmas morning, while some of the grown-ups went to Mass, the children played patiently while waiting to open their presents,

...borrowing a pair of nurse Auntie Claire's plastic gloves to play Princess Doll Hospital.

     After the others arrived back from Mass we fixed our traditional Christmas morning breakfast feast,

...after which it was finally time for the children to open their presents,

...which included, of course, LOL Dolls (see post from 4/26/2018).

   In the afternoon the kids got a game of poker going,

...followed by a board game called "Don't Wake Daddy," which, judging from the squeals of delight and dismay of the players, seemed to be quite exciting.

    That evening we had Christmas dinner, our final dinner together,

...at the Golden Eagle.

    This time I opted for the rice pudding for dessert.

   And, while it was quite good, I would match my own rice pudding against this and any other rice pudding. This time I didn't say anything about it, though.
     After dinner we said our good-byes to my daughter, son-in-law, and the children, as they were leaving for Baltimore that night since they had an early flight back to Los Angeles in the morning.

  And the following morning, December 26, the rest of us said our good-byes.
    However, after my mother left for her daily Mass,

...the rest of us headed over to the Stargate for a final farewell breakfast before we went our separate ways, my daughter and son-in-law heading to D.C. to catch their flight to Chicago,

...and the rest of us heading back to Columbus.

   Ten hours later we were  home.