Last week, out of the blue, my brother sent me an email ... a short, simple note saying that he really liked where this blog was going. A few days later, Ingrid from Let's Talk Evergreen started a conversation about originality, inspiration and honesty. Her post was mainly about blogging inspirations and giving credit where credit is due, but it was something she said in the comments that really resonated with me [...]
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almond chocolate chip cookies
I took the train down to Amsterdam last weekend. It felt strange.
Amsterdam and I haven't always gotten along. I lived there for a year, studied there for two and worked there for four. During that time, I managed to build up a fair amount of resentment towards the city. I was 23 when I moved to Amsterdam and already, I felt too old for a city that seemed to live in a fast pace and in technicolor [...]
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creamy chocolate cake
I've been struggling to find the words with which to start this post. I wanted to say something about Valentine's Day, but everything I wrote ended up sounding cynical. It's just ... I've been watching this parade of heart-shaped cookies, rose petals and pink frosting on the Internet and all I could think was: "Is this the best we can do?" [...]
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crème au chocolat
I've been thinking about this blog a lot these past few months.
I've been thinking about how it wasn't really what I envisioned. About how, in my first 6 months of blogging, I tried to be too much like other bloggers, all funny and nonchalant. About how the recipes I've shared weren't really my style, nor my own. About how I'd promised to share some of my family recipes, but never seemed to get around to it. About how I wanted to change all that.
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brown butter coffee hazelnut cake
It was my mother's birthday last week. The woman who gave me wide hips and an imperfect nose, but also, and much more importantly, a curiosity about life and an eagerness to learn. The woman who endured my teenage years and expressed her frustrations mostly in French curses. The woman who taught me how to make pancakes and meringues, who showed me how to separate eggs and carefully fold in egg whites, who introduced me to beurre noisette and other wonderful flavors. The woman who's baked me at least 30 birthday cakes and even more for my brothers [...]
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almond génoise
in baking class, all-year, cake, nuts
This week, baking class was all about tiny cakes with tasty extras. How do you feel about apples? We can soak them in a little bit of dark rum first, if you want to. Or do I need to bring out the chocolate to seduce you? Easy. Concerned about your health/diet? We can always go the wholewheat route... You'll just have to ignore the huge amount of butter involved in making these wholewheat cakes.
You know what? Let's just go with my personal favorite of the pack: the fluffy, nutty almond Génoise mini-cake.
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