Pudding is not something that is in my file under often-rotated recipes. I generally prefer something I can sink my fork into for dessert, and well, pudding is the stuff which won’t even hold your spoon straight. But when it is a snowy Sunday, with the wind whipping around so quickly the flakes do not fall softly to the ground but briskly fly at you, perpendicular to the sidewalk, in a pinch, pudding will have to do.

Making pudding from scratch is just about as simple as making it from the box. In fact, I made this dessert with ingredients I found in the fridge and pantry– you can’t beat that. For this particular batch, I substituted light brown sugar for white sugar. I suppose that makes this pudding butterscotch, but I found the dessert not so much butterscotch-y as just different from the usual.

Cool and creamy, with just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy my sweet tooth in even the nastiest of weather. I set the plastic wrap right on top of the surface of the pudding, so nary a skin was in sight as I set it to chill. Then spoonful after wobbly spoonful I ate the pudding up. If you would like the recipe, a similar one is found here.

To my young palate eating a piece of fruit for the first course was equivalent to the excitement that I felt when a small dish of sorbet was set down in front of me as a palate cleanser during my first dinner at French restaurant. Ice cream! In the middle of my meal? I could get used to this whole fine dining thing! Well, it’s been years since I ate a grapefruit as a first course, but come winter, I eat a grapefruit virtually everyday.

The Ruby Red is my favorite. That shock of pink flesh, the sweet-tart pungency, it gets me salivating every time. Usually I eat it simply, with just a touch of brown sugar crystals melting ever so slightly on the top. But when I have a moment to spare on a blustery weekend, it becomes all about the brulee.

So easy, it’s hardly a recipe; but I have to share anyway. Cut your grapefruit anyway you like, I use my handy-dandy, dual-sided grapefruit knife, with the curved blade (whew, how’s that for a mouthful). Then encrust the surface of the fruit with brown sugar, a bit more than a sprinkling. Pop the halves under the broiler for a few minutes, just until the grapefruit is beginning to brown. And there you have it.

The sugar seeps into the fruit, making a perfume-y, subtly sweet concoction. The grapefruit is warm and juicy, the perfect accent to a weekend breakfast, to be enjoyed while lazing around in you warmest pajamas. They may not be the grapefruits of yore, accented with bright maraschino cherries, and served chilled, in a cut-glass bowl, but somehow I think that this will still do the trick.