With friends and crême brulée.

Last night, Will and I had his friend Glotz (aka Chris Glotzbach) over for dinner. Glotz is an old friend of Will’s. They met at the University of Maryland. He’s been Will’s financial advisor since before I met him and our dogsitter every once in a while. Everybody calls him Glotz, not Chris. So even today, after 10 years of knowing him, when he is referred to as Chris on that rare occasion, I always say, “Chris? Chris who?”

I told him I’d make crême brulée for his birthday. I love crême brulée. It’s one of my favorite desserts. It’s one of those foods that you hesitate to eat because it’s so elegant. So beautiful. It’s a food of amazing tactile qualities, with references to design elements: unity and variety, contrast, texture, and rhythm. Unified in its aesthetics –burnt golden atop a butter yellow lustre; layered in variety and contrast – a dark for a light, a caramel acrid for a creamy sweet. And finally, what I like best of all, steeped in texture and rhythm: the tap of a spoon to break the ice, plunging deep into waters of eggs, cream, and sugar; the rhythm of your tongue as it finds its way back to the surface of your spoon.

Heaven.