I kid you not.  This game to find the best crème brulée in Ottawa is ON.   After having an amazing crème brulée at Domus, we decided to kick off this tasting challenge.

Below is the dessert that prompted this tasty duel, the crème brulée from Domus with a side of “cookies”.  The quotes are actually in the menu.  “I don’t know why.”

Made with real vanilla bean and organic milk and eggs - this little love pot set the bar pretty high.  It had a paper thin crust that didn’t get all stuck on your teeth and was topped with a little wafer and sprig of mint … and of course, a side of “cookies.”  The “cookies” were dusted in salt - a salty surprise!  I am now in love with salt on cookies.

Overall - a delightful and creamy texture - not too creamy, not too rich, not too eggy, not too burnt sugary.   Perfect.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

Next up…  the Social.

The first recipe of 2008 was a bit haphazard - my “better” half decided to ring in the new year by coming down with a nasty cold and saluting the new year with tissues and a lot of nose honking.

For dinner we (ahem I) decided to fling some things together and bippity boppity boo make a pizza.   After dragging myself away from the awesomeness of 30 Rock on DVD, I threw the ingredients to this pizza dough recipe in the breadmaker.  Seriously, what did we do before this?  Oh yeah, we bought package pizza dough mix.   Embarassing.

I made my favourite pesto recipe and smeared it all over the pizza.   Then I scattered a cup of halved cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, grated cheddar and parmesan and the final touch, a generous handful of toasted pine nuts.

The crust rose nice and thick, the cheese bubbled and best of all, it was ready in time for the BIG JURY VERDICT on Coronation Street.  OMG.  Tracey Tracey Tracey luv.  It was awesome… and so was the pizza.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5   “Just because I’m sick doesn’t mean I can’t eat… and taste stuff”

Lana’s pizza-perfect pesto

• 2 cloves of local garlic (three if it’s supermarket garlic)
• 1/4 cup + handful of toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup + generous handful of grated parmesan
• 1 tsp of coarse sea salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp (or more) of lemon juice
• 2 cups (2 supermarket packages) of basil

Blend in a food processor or with a hand blender. Sometimes I also throw in some sun dried tomatoes (after soaking them for a few minutes in hot water).