Shell:

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring until butter melts completely. Reduce heat to low, and add flour and salt. Stir vigorously until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and begins to form a stiff ball. Remove from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to incorporate completely after each addition. With a 2 tsp size cookie scooper spoon dough onto cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake 15 minutes more, until hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling:


Combine pudding mix and milk in medium bowl according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Fold whipped cream into pudding.Using a pastry bay pipe filling into shell.

Icing:

4 Tbsp cocoa
6 Tbsp butter
3 Cups powdered sugar
2 Tsp vanilla
6 Tbsp water

Cream butter, vanilla and water. Mix dry ingredients. Add to Creamed ingredients. Spread on top of eclair.

Pat-in-the-Pan Butter Crust:

1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Tsp Salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened, cut into 8 pieces
2 to 3 Tbsp heavy cream

Position a rack in the center of the oven.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together in a bowl or process for 10 seconds in a food processor: Flour and 1/2 tsp of salt. Add: butter. Mash with the back of a fork or process in a food processor until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle over the top heavy cream. Stir or process until the crumbs look damp and hold together when pinched. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie pan or 91/2 or 10 inch two-piece tart pan. Pat evenly over the bottom and sides with your fingertips. If making a pie, form a crust edge and crimp or flute. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Bake until the crust is golden brown, 18 to  22minutes, pricking the bottom once or twice if it bubbles. If you are filling the crust with an uncooked mixture that requires further baking, whisk together: 1 large egg yolk and a pinch of salt.  Brush it he inside of the crust with the egg yolk glaze. Return to the oven and bake until the egg glaze sets, 1 to 2 minutes. Let crust cool completely. 

To moisture-proof the crust, brush over the bottom: 3 Tbsp currant, raspberry, or strawberry jelly, melted, or 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened. Refrigerate the shell for 10 minutes to set the glaze or butter.

Filling:

1.5 oz Vanilla Instant pudding 
2 cups fruit

Make pudding according to instructions on the box. Spread the pudding evenly over the crust and arrange in a single layer: whole small berries, sliced strawberries, or thinly sliced fruit. If you wish, brush the fruit lightly with: 2 to 3 Tbsp jelly, melted. If not serving immediately, store in the refrigerator for no longer then 6 hours.

Okay, so I miscounted the days. There were actually 44. This picture reminds me of you because it is pretty much the last view I will have of England before I fly out tomorrow morning. This is the view from my hotel window. You can see London Heathrow Airport on the right. I'm very excited to get on a plane tomorrow morning so I can see you tomorrow night!

This picture reminds me of you because, well, it is you. You made this for me the day before I left. It has been on my desk since I got here and it has gotten me through some hard and lonely times. It has been so wonderful to be able to see pictures of you and the kids every day, whenever I needed to. I am excited to pack it in the suitcase in a few minutes because that means I won't need it anymore. I'm on my way home.

This picture reminds me of you because you love to shop, especially for the kids. This is the Westfield London Mall, which was built just a couple of years before the Olympics. It is the largest shopping center in Europe. This picture captures only a small section of it, but you can see that it's three stories and very big. I must say I was glad you didn't see some of the things I saw because we might have spent more money than we have.

These pictures remind me of you because I was lost and confused the entire time we were on the subway. You have a much better sense of direction than me and you are a better multi-tasker.  This is the second largest metropolitian transportation system in the world (after Shanghai), and it was downright overwhelming! My day in London would have been a whole lot less stressful if you were here to help me stay oriented. Nevertheless, it was a very cool experience to travel this way.

This picture reminds me of you because you would have loved to see Buckingham Palace. The flag is raised all the way up meaning that the Queen was inside. The palace guards were dressed as I thought they would be but you couldn't get very close to them which was disappointing. The palace was beautiful and there were thousands of people there.

This picture reminds me of you because one of your dreams is to ride on the London Eye. This massive ferris wheel stands 443 feet high, or about 40 stories. I couldn't stop thinking about how bad I wanted you to be with me yesterday to see everything I saw in London. I promise to take you on the London Eye when we come back to England, even though it costs about $30 per person (ouch!).

This is Big Ben and part of the Palace of Westminster. I took this picture from Westminster bridge over the River Thames. The palace looks crooked, but it is just an illusion caused by its sheer size.

This picture reminds me of you because you love this movie. If you were here, I would definitely take you to the theatre to see this play. I know this seems like a lame picture from my trip to London, but I took this from the inside of a subway train that was seconds from leaving. I saw it, grabbed my camera, lunged to my knees, and snapped this shot for you. I promise that when I get home we can have a date together and watch this movie with your favorite treats.

I thought you would like this. This is my best impersonation of Winston Churchill, whose statue is behind me. You can also see part of Westminster Abbey behind me and to the left. I am facing Big Ben which is just right across the street.I loved London, and you will too, but I was missing you all day. I am so excited to bring you back so we can experience all of this together. Plus, there was a lot I didn't see, so it won't all be old to me.

This picture reminds me of you because few creatures are more beautiful and graceful than swans. It's hard to see, but there are two swans swimming together in this picture. They reminded me of you and Kate. I learned that it is illegal to own or harm a swan in the United Kingdom because every swan, no matter where it is, is owned by the Queen. The swan is one of her symbols, I suppose. It all makes sense now that you and baby Kate rule the bed, leaving me a peasant's portion at the edge, if I beg for it.

These pictures remind me of you because you love fantasy novels. This is Moseley Bog, the area that supposedly inspired Tolkien's Ancient Forest and Dead Marshes. It looks quite a lot like the books and films depict those places. You can almost picture Sam and Frodo hiding in the bushes from the encroaching orcs, or Merry and Pip sitting on that log eating 'second breakfast' or 'elevensies'.

This picture reminds me of you because you love the Lord of the Rings. One of my favorite things we have done is have a marathon with the extended versions of the films. I walked a total of about 15 miles today, during which I saw the home Tolkien grew up in and several other areas that inspired aspects of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. The home is now privately owned so I only saw it from the outside, but it was still neat to try and picture little Tolkien sleeping upstairs and dreaming about hobbits.

Just a side note: I walked the long way so I could stop by and see our bench. It was sunny and the clearing in the glen was beautiful. As promised, I didn't sit down, but I assure you that we will sit on this bench together one day.

This picture reminds me of you because you seemed so fascinated when I described this to you. This fancy contraption is a pulley-operated rack to hang and dry clothes on. I know what you're thinking, why did we pay 450 dollars for our dryer. The answer is because this is heavy, it stains my clothes yellow, my garments are hanging out in public like the American flag at the Capitol building, it takes 36 hours to get clothes dry, if the weather is reasonably warm, and it always feels like these are going to fall on my head when I get something out of the fridge. Other than that, I think we should look into switching over.

This picture reminds me of you because you love the rain. It poured all afternoon. Then right before I left for home (with no umbrella) it stopped and the sun came out. It was cool and you could smell rain in the light breeze. All of the flowers were covered in shimmering droplets and you could see the clouds in the puddles. I thought about you the whole time. As a matter of fact, I think about you whenever I see anything beautiful. You're gorgeous, I love you, and I can't wait to see you soon!