A Factual Bread Pudding Q&A Session

Many of you may not know this, but when you become a famous blogger (like me) people start to send you fan letters.  Since my activity on this blog has increased over the past year, I have received 24 requests for an autograph, 7 selfies from strangers, and 2 marriage proposals.  As you may have guessed, I also get an s-ton of bread pudding pics... like a real s-ton. 

So I would like to present to you today a series of BP Q&A's to expand your bread pudding prowess.  This BP spans the nation from Mississippi to Alaska. If you ever plan to drive from Mississippi to Fairbanks and eat a ton of bread pudding along the way, then good news! This entry is for you!  Here is a map of all the BP destinations featured in this entry:

Let the journey begin!

Big Mike's Speak Easy, Gulfport, MS. 
Eaten by: All these Alaskan dudes totally out of place in Mississippi 

Q: Have you ever seen so many large men eat such a little plate of bread pudding?
A: No.

Mon Ami, Pismo Beach, CA
Eaten by: Chris Thomas
Q: Where the eff is the picture of the bread pudding Chris ate?
A: I lost it.  Poop on me. This is totes ridonc. 

Here's his kewl description. It is so descriptive, it's practically like seeing a pic of the BP:

" It was buttery and light served warm with a cloud of fresh whipped cream.  It had the perfect crust to pillow ratio and the pecan brandy caramel drizzle had just the right amount and sweet and crunch to balance the buttery smoothness of the pudding."

Derek's house, Portland, OR

Eaten by: Suck-a-Butt Derek Ranta 

Q: Was there a special occasion that called for this homemade BP? 
A: Doi!  Derek Ranta turned 43 on Sept 3!

Chris' house, Scappoose, OR

Eaten by: Chris Thomas

  Q: Was Chris Thomas wearing a visor when he made this pumpkin bread pudding?
  A: Unfortunately, yes. 

McMenamin's, Vancouver, WA
Eaten by: Matt O'Connell 

Q: Does Matt O'Connell love to order bread pudding and coax other people into eating it with him?
A: Gauging by the 3 spoons in this picture, yes.



Simon & Seaforts, Anchorage, AK
Eaten by: Matt O'Connell and Brent Ditton

Q: What is this strange pose that Matthew is doing?
A: The Bread Pudding Heisman.

LaVelle's Bistro, Fairbanks, AK
Eaten by: Rob Gill and Matt O'Connell

Q: Are those Matt's arms in the background of the picture?
A: No, they are Rob's.


Thanks for playing along and continue to send your fan mail to me at:

Pudding it Out There HQ
Attn: Laura Hoel
Vancouver, WA 98661

Send your hate mail to:

Suck-a-Butt International
Attn: Derek Ranta
Portland, OR 97205

BP in Southern California? As if!

Duuuude!  Sup. So, like, I totally am spending, like, a whole week in California.  I got picked up from the airport and took The 5 to The 22, then we took The 101.

After 3 days I finally ended up somewhere in Southern California near Disneyland.   Nobody knows how it happened, but I arrived.

If I was better at talking like a Southern Californian, I would try to do it through this whole blog post.  However, I am not. Instead, we will play a game of 'Find That So-Cal Word!'  where I intersperse some kewl Southern California lingo into this entry.  Good luck! I hope you do well!

I would now like to tell you about the BP I have had in the last 3 days.  This has been a 72 hours of new experiences.   What kind of new experiences, you ask?  Well, let's do a totes rad countdown:

10.  Smash Ball.

See how I am kicking up my left foot? That is the universal sign of happiness. This game is da bomb.

9. Bonzai Bowls.  Holy S.  I want to eat one of these every day for the rest of my life.They're totally rad.

8. Butter Beer.

Yes, as in "We still love Cedric Diggory" Butter Beer

7. Dodger Game.

No, I did not go to the No-Hitter.  Yes, I did get a tubular Orel Hershiser pin.

6. The Beach. <>

5.  4. 3. I am running out of new experiences and pictures to represent them.  Let's just skip down to the BP.

2. BP!! OMG, 4 realz? Cray, right?  Like, totes cray. The bread pudding below is from a place called Ritters in Huntington Beach.  As you may have observed from my pictures in countdown #'s 10-3, I hung out with  AKBJ, famed celeb of shows like "Real Housewives of Orange County" and "Celebrity Family Feud".     So, AKBJ wanted to show me how Huntington Beach does BP. And here is how they do:

Ritters had a very traditional BP. French bread. a sweet sauce. Ice cream. Their no-frill approach was welcomed, especially when I've had weird things like raisins, apples, lemon, bananas and other stuff in my BP lately.  I appreciated the back-to-basics approach. It was bitchin, brah. Moded!

1. Just when you think you've seen it all, she throws a curve ball at you!  I, Laura Suzanne Hoel, had a second BP this week! I BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING. After I left the house of AKBJ, I peaced out and went to work stuff (and also went to Downtown Disney). Here, I discovered a secret lair of BP.  It was at another Southern restaurant called the Jazz Kitchen.

Here you can see the BP:

And here you can see my bulging biceps:

This BP was quite surprising.  It was marketed as a chocolate bread pudding souffle and that was pretty much exactly what it was.  It was souffle on top, BP on the bottom.  It was like a 2-for-1 dessert extravaganza.  I dug it.  If you ever get it, follow Tracy's recommendation and go heavy on the dark chocolate sauce and light on the white chocolate sauce.

So If I could sum up my trip to Southern California in one word, what would it be?

Fetch. It was totally fetch.

Sunriver: The land of whitewater rafting, golfing, and bread pudding

Sup?  NM? Kewl. Oh me? Yeah. I just got back from Sunriver last week.  Yeah, it was a pretty swell time.

Oh, hello there.  Thanks for checking in today!  Last week, I attended the Waste Connections annual Western Region Meeting, held in the lovely Sunriver Resort.  And this resort provided me with not one, but two(!) bread puddings to sample.

I think you will all be happy to hear that some old-time favorites will be featured in this blog post.  If you comb deep into the annals of Pudding it Out There, you may remember Super Kewl Former Office Coworker Patrick and Suck-A-Butt Derek Ranta.  Good news!  They will be featured again in this photo-filled entry.

However, even more importantly, we have another Pudding it Out There 'first'!

So, I was under the impression that everyone in the world ate bread pudding regularly or at least had consumed it some time in their lifetime.  Yet, much to my surprise, I learned the people who wear visors are the same people who don't eat bread pudding.  Clearly people as described in the previous sentence lack true kewl pointz.

So I know you're wondering two things here:
1. Who on God's Green Earth has never eaten bread pudding?
2. Who on God's Green Earth still wears visors?

I have the answer to both of those.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Jason Hudson:

I felt like a proud mom, who is like 15 years younger than my son, when I watched him eat bread pudding for the first time.

 So, I know Jason is not wearing a visor in the photos above, but would you wear a visor if your hair was looking that good on an average Wednesday?  That's what I thought.

Okay, okay.  Yes. I can hear you all yelling at your computer screens: "Laura! Laura! How was the BP?"

It was actually pretty good.  I mean, it's nothing to write home about, (sorry mom, I will not be writing a letter to you at home about this bread pudding,) but it was pretty good. It was butterscotch flavored (a first for me) and had a good caramel sauce and a nice whipped cream topping.  I personally enjoyed the crispy outer shell.

More importantly, what did the BP virgin, Jason Hudson think?  Well, he didn't really like it.  He said it was mushy.  But as mentioned above, people who wear visors clearly have poor judgement, so his opinion doesn't really count.

MOVING ON!

The other bread pudding we had tasted like a burnt turd. You do not ever want to eat it.  However, here are some pictures of my neat coworkers pretending to enjoy it anyway:

 
And here is the Celebrity Sighting of the Day! Super Kewl Former Coworker Patrick in his famous pose!

 For your reference, here he is in the previous Pudding it Out There entries.  You may or may not be able to see the similarities in the photos.

So anyway, boys and girls, let me leave you with this one lesson as you're out there in the world:

"You better enjoy bread pudding and eat it every chance you get.  If you don't, you'll be wearing a visor before you know it."  - Laura Hoel



Oh, and also, suck a butt, Derek Ranta.

BP During BP?!

That's right boys and girls: BP during BP with BH and a BH!

Interpretation:  Bread Pudding during Batting Practice with Ben Hoel and a Bobble Head.

Because baseball is a game of numbers, let me share some with you:

21: Years I have been a Mariners fan.
7:  Games the Mariners are out of first place at the All-Star Break
1: Times I have now eaten bread pudding at the Hit it Here Cafe

You heard it here first: On Saturday, I combined my two greatest loves (excluding Ben) into one glorious evening at Safeco.  So here's the story:  My pops has season tickets, so Ben and I go to Mariners games as often as we can find an excuse to drive the 3 hours north to Safeco.  We had this Nelson Cruz Bobble Head night on the books for practically ever.



THEN...someone owed Ben a favor, that favor-ower could get us a free meal at the Hit it Here Cafe, blah blah blah, BREAD PUDDING! That's really the story in a nutshell.  So now I would like to describe to you my feelings about the bread pudding through a series of Mariners GIFs: 

The flavor:

A nutty, cinnamon-y taste. The flavor was so comforting, it put me in a zen-like state.  You can relate, right Joe?


The texture:
WHY ARE THERE NO GIFS OF LOMO?!  I suppose I will just have to use a series of pictures that demonstrates that the happiness that LoMo brings me is the same as the happiness I felt about the BP texture. Here you go:

I feel the same way about soggy, mushy bread pudding as I do about watching Rodney waddle in from the bullpen in a bottom of the ninth save situation (e.g. not a fan at all).  The good news is that this bread pudding is not a Rodney save situation.  The Hit it Here Cafe did the texture right.  The BP had a nice hardened outer layer and a warm, mushier inner layer. It was the perfect texture contrast.  I wish all bread pudding was created this way.  I also wish I never have to see Rodney in the ninth again.




The cream:

Cream instead of ice cream was a poor choice with this one. Who made the call to use cream, here? Tony Randazzo?


Conclusion:

Okay, okay. So this Gif is from last year. But let's be honest, it's hard to find a gif of my favorite player (I'm looking at you, Farky) when he's been hanging out in Tacoma more than Seattle this year. 

So all in all, the bread pudding was solid, the game was even more solid (5-0 victory behind Iwakuma) and  to  the Japanese reporter who asked in the post-game press conference, "So is it safe to say that The Bear is back?", I say, "Hellz yeah he is, especially with Bread Pudding like that cheering him on from right field."

Bring on the second half of the 2015 season...

The Gloves are off! A Head-to-Head Competition

Oh, hello there.  Thanks for visiting. The fact that you're here means you are probably one of the following:
1. One of my Waste Connections coworkers (aka da kewlest peeps eva)
2. My sister (Sup Steph)
3. My Husband (that's you, Ben)

 Today, I am blogging from the lovely state of Alaska.  Yes, yes - I have internet access. I mean, it wasn't easy.  I had to fight off a grizzly bear to crawl into this igloo to set up my router, but I did it.  It's a tough life up here.

So blog followers of mine, do you know what happened this week?  I was the esteemed judge of the first ever head-to-head Bread Pudding Competition! Not only that, but one of the bread puddings was homemade by Matt O'Connell, the authentic Alaskan mentioned in my previous post!

So let's break down the competition. The boxing gloves are on!

In Ring #1: Brewhouse BP

Coming in at a bold 18 oz, Brewhouse is a traditionally prepared bread pudding, peppered with raisins and baked apples and topped with pecans.  It is accompanied with a buttery caramel sauce lacks a strong upper cut since it doesn't have ice cream or whipped cream.  Check out the muscles on this puppy:

What's that, BP followers? You are wondering what I thought of this Brewhouse BP?  Well, gee, why don't you ask the practically 100 people I was there with?  That's right, this is another first for the blog: a group review.  Here's my posse:

 And here are their VIC (Very Important Comments):

"The bread is typically flavorful. This bread is bland." - Mira

"I like an ice cream or a whipped cream." - Matt (Note: his opinion doesn't really count, because clearly he will think his is the best)

Well, there you have it.  After those profound, deep, and well thought-out comments, need I say more?

Moving on.... In ring #2: The O'Connell Family's homemade BP

Matt's Chocolate Bourbon BP weighed in at a dense 22 oz.  It packed a mean punch with the bourbon and like its chef, is big, bold, and loves saved by the bell. Yes, Bread Pudding can love SBTB too.  Don't ask any more questions. The O'Connell BP was topped with homemade salted caramel sauce and freshly made whipped cream.  Take a look at this Mike Tyson of the BP world:

And here is its equally as ear-biting of a chef:

So, naturally, I utilized some peers to assist me in reviewing this one as well.

WAIT WAIT WAIT! TIME OUT! I almost forgot.  I am struggling to even write this right now because it is so disgraceful.  Get this: Matt's wife Karin DOES NOT LIKE BREAD PUDDING.  Shame! Shame on her!  And worse yet, I was in her house.  I was torn between running away in disapproval and staying because I wanted to eat the BP on her counter.  (I stayed and ate the BP).  Now that I got that out of my system, please see the comments below. You will notice that Karin did provide a review of her husband's bread pudding:

"I enjoyed it. Even though I'm not a fan, I enjoyed it." - Karin (ugh)

"This is very rich. I like the caramel. I can't taste the bourbon." - Mira

"I'm glad there's not fruit." - Mira

So, there you have it!  TTY Next time!

JK, JK. I know what you all want to know: As the most prominent bread pudding reviewer west of the Mississippi, what did I think? Which one was better? Before I answer that question, I will make you scroll through this long bunch of pictures of everyone enjoying BP with me this week...

This is me anticipating my first bite of BP:

 Matt eating the opposing BP:

 OhNoHeDidnt! Do you recognize this guy?  (Please see the Hood River entry from August 2014). It is my former coworker Patrick, who is eating BP with me again! Kewl pic Patrick!

 Matthew and She-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named, hater of Bread Pudding

 Mike Tyson with Bourbon.

Okay: so here's my final review: The winner of the first ever head-to-head BP competition is...

The O'Connell Family's Homemade Chocolate Bourbon BP!  Hooray! Rock on, Matthew. You make a damn good Bread Pudding!  Now go party it up with your friends at Bayside!

Oh, and Derek Ranta, I hope you have nice things to say about this. If you don't, then go suck a butt again. 

What the What?! She's back?

Guys, guys, guys.  Guess what? I am back! And I am overdue. I have like 4.5 Bread Puddings to catch up on. (The .5 is a a future BP that you all can look forward to in another month or so.)  I mean, the pressure to blog about my bread pudding experiences was so intense, it was infiltrating my everyday life.  I was on vacation and a coworker sent me an email with a pic and was like "Yo yo. Check it. BP sista."

And then to another coworker, I was like, "Werd. I am coming to Alaska," And he's all like, "I'm gonna make you Bread Pudding, foo."

So clearly, moral of this story is that I have fans all over the place and they all want to hear what I have to say about the best dessert ever.

Okay, so here we go:

Ben and I went to Ox, a delicious Argentinian Steak House in Portland on Feb 12 for a pre-Valentine's Day dinner.  So here's the break down:

- Cocktails - excellent
- Brussel sprouts - excellent
- Fried potatoes - excellent
- steak - excellent
- bread pudding - Not great, Bob.

What a disappointment.  Ox kicks ass.  However, the bread pudding was not so amazing.  It was a lemon flavored bread pudding served with pistachio gelato.  The gelato was great, but I didn't particularly like the flavor mix of pistachio and lemon, and frankly, the lemon BP just wasn't so great. It was dry and tasted like too-thick lemon meringue.  Here's a pic:

And here's a weird pic of Ben with a super long face and squinty eyes:

 And here is a pic of me giving an enthusiastic thumbs up to the Ox parking lot sign.

I will say that the service at Ox was awesome. They forgot one of my drink orders, so when I reminded them, they gave it to me for free.  The manager also bought us dessert on the house, because he is a Timbers fan.  RCTID!

Now, here is an homage, to all the neglected Bread Puddings I have eaten or yearned for from afar, but failed to blog about during the last 6 months:

This one was from Charlie's Bistro! What's good, JP?!

 This one is from somewhere I don't remember.  I ate it with Kelly Kincella. She's pretty kewl.

And this one was sent to me from Stone Henge (my fave!) from Derek Ranta, who you might remember from Suck-a-butt fame!

Stay tuned next month for a new entry featuring a homemade BP by an authentic Alaskan!  THE Matt O'Connell has committed to making his special chocolate bourbon bread pudding for me next month!  Equally as exciting as the fact that I will be eating a new BP is that I will probably be doing it while watching Saved by the Bell reruns.  Shout out to MPG!  #ZackAttack

Peace out until next month homeslices!