(Durham) Carolina in My Mind

Have you ever had a yearning for something you didn’t know you had a yearning for? I think that best summarizes this week’s Cook Nerd post. The current environment has us reflecting on this time of year and what typically comes with it: graduations, LDOC’s (if you know, you know), and college lacrosse post-seasons. For us these are all captured fondly by our time in Durham, NC at Duke. In our theme of recreating dishes from our favorite eateries, we took a (remote) culinary trip to an all-time favorite/brunch staple - Nosh.

Very Merry Christmas Crème Brulee

★★★★ (4/5)

Merry Christmas everyone! So Book Nerd has been on me about my overdue blog posts… and she’s right, it’s been far too long since we’ve had some OC from the Cook Nerd. I have to preface this post by saying that this is another bake, and that everything that I bake does not always begin as a yellow soup (see: Lemon Curd Tart). This recipe was born from some last minute Christmas shopping and an opportunistic find in TJMaxx. While walking through the aisles I noticed a set of four ramekin & a blow torch and said to myself “Hey, that’s a good price on something that I don’t have, will only use once, and probably don’t need” (I think that should be the TJMaxx slogan). So, as one does, I added the ramekins to our cart, checked out of TJMaxx, and went home to embark on making my first crème brulee (Christmas style, of course).

When Life Gives You Lemons...

★★★★★ Lemon Curd Tart

Alright, this one’s short going to be but sweet (literally!). We somehow managed to get a late start to the new season of Great British Bake Off this year (one of our all time favorite shows). If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching this show, please do yourself a favor and get on board; it’s seriously the most feel-good show of all time. True amateur bakers competing in a contest for nothing more than their own pride in their passion is really wholesome TV. While I’m sure they get Instagram followers and some endorsements if they make it far enough in the competition, the camaraderie between the contestants and their honest, simple love for baking feels genuine and is truly a pleasure to watch.

Last year while watching the show I had a real “Hey, I can do that!” moment and decided I would put the seemingly decorative Kitchen Aid mixer from our wedding registry to work. Dozens of meringues and cookies later, and with the new season of GBBO on air, it was time to step up my game and take on something a bit more complicated. While this is by no means my own recipe (credit: @FoodNetwork & @InaGarten) here’s my attempt at a simple Lemon Curd Tart. Spoiler alert: it’s delicious.