From left to right, the bread pudding offerings on the table: Garlic, Chocolate, Old-Fashioned, Capirotada Mexican, Cinnamon Roll, and Ms. Edna Lewis’ Famous

The Bread Pudding Spectacular of 2007 wasn’t much of an event, really. A few lonely slivers of quivery pudding made their way to the table as my friend and I looked around the store. After making my purchases, we dove right in, taking our judging responsibility with all the seriousness it deserved. We sampled, compared impressions, encouraged a couple to join us, and cleaned the store out in the process. But really — don’t you HAVE to sample each flavor before making a sound judgement? Yeah, I thought you’d agree.

I was surprised by how well the garlic bread pudding worked. It had a hint of sweetness without being overly garlicky, so I’d bet roasting (or maybe simmering?) was involved in some way. As far as savory bread puddings go, it was nice, but very one-note. Everyone else thought the chocolate was the best, and it was very, very good, but no Café Matisse. (I’m a spoiled little brat, I know, I know.) The old-fashioned took first place on my ballot, mostly because it tasted the most traditional and basic, even though it was MUCH more custardy than I’m used to. Didn’t mind that at all, though, and think I may have to try something similar myself, and soon. The Mexican was far too fruity for my taste (I think it had a layer of fig paste at the bottom), but everyone else liked it a lot. Ms. Edna Lewis’ was afflicted with overly plump raisins (does anyone else see those in baked goods and think BUGS?), but was otherwise as good as the old-fashioned. I suspect Ms. Edna could kick my butt if she put her mind to it, so I’ll leave it at that. The worst of the bunch BY FAR was the cinnamon roll bread pudding — it was dry, underflavored, and dull. I’ve had more voluptuous cinnamon toast than this stuff. Maybe it would’ve fared better with a spritz of one of the icings, but I’m a purist. It’s hard work being this right.

Today’s excursion was a creative department field trip to AIGA for their Package Design from Japan exhibit. As you’d expect, there were lots of wacky designs for even wackier products — maybe the collection wasn’t exactly representative, but it gave the impression that the Japanese are overly concerned with controlling sweating and WAY into Pocky and Pocky-like products. Also, I am led to believe they like their drinks and desserts small, in direct defiance of our American super-size doctrine. Oh yes, and black packaging lends an air of sophistication to products as disparate as chocolate bars and Bioré pore strips.

On the way back to the office, we stopped in at New York Cake Supplies for a period of lusting after objects I not only don’t need, but don’t know how to begin using. It isn’t exactly a pretty store (in fact, it reminded me a lot of the warehouse-y shopping experience at RK Bridal), but they have ev-er-y-thing. Maybe one of my projects while Gil is away next week will be to learn extremely rudimentary cake decorating. If there’s a coconut-scented mushroom cloud in north Jersey, you’ll know who to blame.