Two months before my favorite curmudgeon went home to see his lovely Joanna, by the banks of a serene lake, somewhere in eternity, he gave a demonstration at Brighton Gardens of his famous flan.  This flan sealed my fate as my favorite curmudgeon’s daughter-in-law. He served this at the first meal which I ate at his table, and I found myself hooked.

At Brighton Gardens, he gave instructions as a friend’s husband did the cooking.  That evening, he had me take charge of the recipe and type it, for distributing to some of the residents and employees who had requested the recipe.  I did that, and left copies for him.  I don’t know if anyone ever got them.

This evening when I logged into my email, I had an email from myself.  Gmail advised me that my “email was ready to send”, and attached to that email was the DOC file with Jay’s flan recipe.  I have no idea why my email decided to send the recipe to me today.  I have not looked at, or thought about that recipe since Jay died.

Now I’m thinking about flan.  I have a women’s dinner scheduled for January 24th, and I am wondering if  Jay wants me to try my hand at his signature dessert.  Or, perhaps, he has something else he wants me to do; some other forward-thinking movement he hopes to inspire me to envision and pursue.

I’m listening, Jay.  Keep talking.

In the meantime:  Anyone who knew Jay and would like a copy of his flan recipe, let me know.  Apparently, it’s ready to be e-mailed.

The flan pictured here closely resembles Jay MacLaughlin’s finished dessert. No guarantee that yours will look like this, but if you successfully follow his recipe, yours will be delicious.