Lime Vanilla Bean Pudding

I made a marvelous find today: the last of the kitchen boxes from the move, hidden under other boxes in the cold of the garage. Among other things for which I have been pining away, the liquid measuring cups and strainer. Huzzah! To celebrate, I made a version of Smitten's egg and cornstarch pudding, brightening it with the zest and juice of a lime. I also added 2/3 cup more milk (measured to glorious exactness in my measuring cups!) to make a looser pudding.



The lime zest I put in the hot milk with the vanilla bean pod. The vanilla beans I rubbed into the sugar between my fingers, which I like to do because it breaks them up so you get even flecks instead of gobs of beans in your final product. I added the lime juice at the end after taking the pudding off the heat, purposely squeezing in a few lime seeds with my juice because I knew they would come out later, when I gleefully strained the mixture to a silky smoothness.