I recently polled a few of my girlfriends as to what their definition of "sexy" is when it comes to the ideal mate. Most of their answers focused on physical attributes:
I love a tall man with wide shoulders.
I think a foreign accent is totally sexy.
Blue eyes and blond hair make me melt.
As it usually is with me, the cheese stands alone when it comes to being in agreement with what everyone else thinks. Of course there are certain physical attributes that will turn my head, but what I find truly sexy has not so much to do with hair or eye color, dialect or stature.
The Boy Toy has the extremely lethal combination of all things that I find sexy in a man. It's a given that I find him physically attractive - we won't even go there. But what makes me weak in the knees about him is that he is a great cook. And he does dishes (which scored him MAJOR points with my family during this trip.) And if those things alone don't make you **swoon** I'll throw in the fact that he......
Wait for it........
Wait......
He also shops for his own groceries.
Be still my beating heart, but those are all the things that trip my sexy trigger. Now, if you'll give me just a moment to catch my breath and get myself back together, I'll finish my story...
Since I am the "foodie" in our relationship, I naturally assumed that I would do most of the cooking when we became a couple and it wasn't until after the Boy Toy and I started dating that I discovered his culinary talents. As it turns out, I've eaten more meals at his house prepared by his own hands than he has at mine. So last week, when he emailed me this picture of a fruit trifle and said he thought it looked yummy, I knew it was my chance to impress him with my kitchen skills.
Trifles are very easy to make and can be done with any combination of items that you have on hand. When I catered, we sometimes used brownies and layered them with chocolate syrup, fresh whipped cream and either strawberries or raspberries. Most other times it was yellow cake with vanilla infused whipped cream and any combination of fresh fruits. You can be really creative when making these (just as someone was with this one probably made to celebrate The Queen's Diamond Jubilee.)
This time I wanted my trifle to be over-the-top rich and delicious so I turned to my recipe for homemade Bavarian Cream. I used a combination of sliced fresh strawberries and blueberries and I also used two diced fresh peaches for the fruit layers. I purchased a Sara Lee family-sized pound cake (they're in the frozen section of my grocery store) and cut it into cubes for the cake layer. The Bavarian Cream is GUARANTEED to bring the sexy back, so use it with caution :)
I showed up for Sunday lunch with the Boy Toy and his family bearing my huge trifle, which initially frightened his children as something they may not enjoy and he later told me that when I first showed up, he wondered how in the world we were going to eat all of it. After everyone (including the skeptics) had at least three huge helpings, he knew.
Who's sexy now?!?
Bavarian Cream
Yields 3 quarts
1 cup flour
1/2 cup corn starch
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 gallon milk
1 pint heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
3-4 drops yellow food coloring
3 egg yolks
In a large, heavy sauce pan mix first 4 ingredients. Add next 4 wet ingredients to the dry. Stir over medium heat constantly. After about 10-15 minutes, it will begin to thicken. Beat egg yolks with 1-2 cups of the cream mixture in a separate bowl to temper the eggs; stir back into cream mixture. Cook for 5-10 minutes more for desired thickness. Cool completely.
*Tip: when cooling or storing cream, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream and press out the air bubbles. The wrap needs to touch the cream so it won't form a "skin."
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