best brunch ever

cantaloupe with prosciutto
coffee, tea, mimosas, grapefruit juice
fruit with english custard (recipe below)
patti's weird & delicious scalloped egg dish
upside down french toast (recipe below)
wonderful company

Fruit With English Custard:

Any kind of fruit, really. We had several different combinations, provided both by us and by Shunji. A bowl of green grapes and honeydew melon. A bowl of peach & berry compote. And a bowl of something else that I can't remember - cantaloupe and pitted cherries, maybe, or blueberries. The custard went really well with everything.

2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten with fork
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat milk in heavy saucepan to simmer point. Remove from heat & add sugar. Stir. Pour a little over the egg yolks, combine, then return to saucepan. Add salt and cook over low heat, stirring. When slightly thick, remove from heat, add vanilla, and serve over fruit. Ours curdled just a little bit, as hot milk is prone to do, but it was still delicious.

Upside Down French Toast:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
12 slices firm white bread
1 1/2 cups half and half
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Combine butter, sugar, & corn syrup in a pan. Stir over medium heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Let sauce boil for 2 minutes without stirring.

2. Pour sauce into 9x13x2-inch baking dish, tilting to coat bottom. Set aside to cool.

3. Trim crusts off bread, discard. Arrange slices in two layers in baking dish, cutting the bread to fit as necessary.

4. Place half and half, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and whisk to combine; pour this custard over the bread. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

5. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Bake the French toast for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden brown and puffed.

6. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, cut into pieces, invert on plate so that sugar topping faces up. Serve warm with maple or fruit syrup.

We were cooking for 10, so kind of doubled the recipe, give or take a little. Also, we did not remove the crusts from the bread and it was still delicious. Also, we used fat free Half & Half (yes, there is such a thing...) and non-fat milk, about half of each. You don't really need syrup with this.