Warning! Watch out for yet another scam...

On Saturday I received a letter purporting to be from United British Lotto announcing that I'd won US$95,000 and including a check for $2,998.50 drawn on a US bank that I was supposed to deposit in my bank to cover fees & taxes and then send THAT amount to their *designated agent* in Alberta.

The check looked legit, but it was drawn on a Texas bank for the account of DE Harvey Builders. Nothing seemed to add up, the procedure seemed overly complicated and I smelled a rat. In addition, I never entered a lottery program, so WTF. I went online and ran a Google search on United British Lotto. Oh, yes, it IS a scam. Any number of people have been bruned...and they're running it by both email and snail mail.

Just to be thorough, I checked the bank and the account. There IS a Compass Bank with branches in TX, and there is a DE Harvey Builders at the address posted on the check. Both seem to be legit businesses insofar as I can tell. I plan to notify both and let them know that their names are being used in this scam.

BASTARDS!

And now for a schizoid post...

First, I managed to throw my back and shoulder out this weekend. And even better, I did it just by sleeping. I don't know quite how I managed this posture, but my shoulders and torso were stomach sleeping while my hips were back sleeping. Who knew that I was that flexible. Oh, wait...I'm not! OUCH!

So I spent most of yesterday consuming ibuprofen and whimpering. I feel better today, but I'm still going to try to get in to the chiropractor if possible. Although it's a Monday, and I may end up working this afternoon. We're really quite short of people.

Second, I made a Chai Creme Caramel on Saturday in my crockpot. Oh my, it was yummy and I made it particularly easy too. :) First I used jarred Dulce de Leche that I'd picked up at Cost Plus World Market (no, NOT Costco), which I melted in a pan and poured into a buttered casserole dish.

Next, instead of individual spices, I used four Chocolate Caramel Chai tea bags from Celestial Seasonings.

So, recipe as follows makes about 1 quart.

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups half & half
4 Celestial Seasonings Chai tea bags
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks

Bring milk and cream to a boil in a heavy saucepan over med-high heat with the tea bags. Turn off heat, cover and let steep until cream is lukewarm. Remove tea bags and stir in brown sugar and vanilla.

Beat together eggs and egg yolks, pour in a little of the cream mixture and stir to mix. Pour egg mixture into cream mixture and stir to mix.

Pour the custard into greased casserole (I'd spread around the dulce de leche already), and cover securely -- my casserole had a cover, but you can use a pudding mold or two layers of foil or a layer of greased parchment paper and a layer of foil. The point is to keep out the condensation from the crockpot.

Put a trivet or collapsible steamer into a 5-6 quart crockpot. Place the casserole dish on top of the trivet, and pour in hot water, about 2-3 inches up the sides of the casserole. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 2 hours. The custard is done when a knife comes out clean.

This is pretty damn tasty for something very easy. I like how the crockpot works with custard. The texture didn't go all grainy/crumbly like it sometimes does in the oven. Plus, since you generally start out with lukewarm or cold milk/cream, the eggs won't do that cooking thing they often do when you cook custard the *traditional* way.

Mmmmmm, I love custard.