giving thanks

I have many reasons to be thankful. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, a terrific family, and great friends. And even though I'm technically spending my Thanksgiving alone (with a furry companion), I have no reason to be lonely. And that makes me feel like a very lucky lady. 

In honor of giving thanks, which I believe you can never do too much of, here are some of the recent moments that gave me happiness and cause for thanks.

I am thankful for surviving two years of weekend pastry school and graduating with highest honors earlier this month. You could also say that I thrived at it a bit since I was awarded the extra honor of being valedictorian.

I am thankful that upon finishing my classes, Greg and I escaped to Europe to experience the sights and tastes of London and Paris for ten amazing days. I know I still owe you a Europe slide show, but here are a few of my favorite moments (all food related of course).

Holding macarons from Laduree. These were savored quickly after I was scolded for taking photos inside the store.

 
Ice cream tastes better when you can check out the Eiffel Tower mid-lick. It's back there I promise.

 

And I'm ever so thankful for a husband who shares his coffee ice cream cone with me, just like my grandpa used to do.

Greg drinking the remains of a baba au rhum. It's basically a pastry soaked with rum. In Paris, the pastry to rum ratio is pretty much 50-50.

Rolling out dough for dessert during our cooking class in Paris. My moment as a French chef was short lived but so fun! And well documented. Stay tuned for a blog post on this soon.

And most recently (last night), I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner with Greg. The spread included a turkey breast with cranberry apple stuffing, sweet potato casserole, succatosh, and parker house rolls.

I am looking forward to making many more meals like this one in the future and sharing them with many of you.  Last but not least, thanks for sharing your excitement and interest in my tastes of happiness. And eating everything I make.

sweet somethings

This blog cannot whisper sweet nothings in your ear, but it can flash sweet somethings before your eyes. Here's a taste of my summer sweets.


A first anniversary celebration

This will never get old.

Summer blackberry clafoutis 

Cinnamon and sugar palmiers

Sea salt caramel brownies

Smores bars

The measuring cup on vacation

Hot mess cake balls with WAY too much sugar involved

Key lime pie for Grandma Fry's 80 big ones

Caramel cheesecake bars

Banana cream pie for Uncle Jim's undisclosed big ones

When chocolate met pistachios...

They made dark chocolate and pistachio cookies topped with sea salt. YUM.

Pistachios are highly underrated in cookies. They're my new favorite baking nut.

Apple pie a la mode

 

Herb, garlic, and parmesan focaccia

 Apple walnut bread

 

 
And last, but not least, a few culinary moments.

 

Rosemary porterhouse steak grilled by Greg (being sniffed by my Dad)

 

 
Most of which was quickly devoured with bread from the bakery (being sniffed by Greg)

  
And finally, with extra tomatoes from the garden, I ventured into ketchup making.

 

Curry ketchup to be exact. The results were quite pleasing (and spicy).

 

This concludes my American flip book. Stay tuned for a European flip book containing all of the calories I plan on consuming in the next two weeks. All of the bread in Paris shall be mine! Okay, maybe not all of it. But as much as I can eat while still buttoning my pants.

 

Oh, I forgot my favorite photo...Greg's early birthday treat. A personal banana cream pie.

would you like bread with that?

If your answer is anything but yes then we may not be friends anymore. Because my answer to that question is always "YES." Which is why I take home leftover bread from the bakery whenever I have the chance. The majority of our bread is meant to be eaten on the same day it's baked and it doesn't keep for too long (I usually have to throw it away when Greg's not looking because he'll happily eat it stale). Greg and I have added bread to our meals in many delicious ways this summer. We just can't say no.

Here are a few slices of City loaf hanging out with a dish of lemon and creme fraiche pasta.

A hot grilled piece of Francese laying seductively next to grilled corn and a pork chop.

Grilled slices of sourdough Pullman complimenting pork loin, potatoes and fresh green beans with tomatoes. (The sourdough Pullman bread was actually a mistake, but it turned out to be the best kind of mistake - a blessing in disguise).

And last but not least - the Brioche burger buns. Sure, we've brought these home a few times to make burgers with and they've been totally delicious. But here's a new twist for you: Brioche french toast.

Yes, I realize these are burger buns. But nobody is thinking of burgers when these buns are covered in powdered sugar and syrup. Trust me.

All photos are provided free of carbs. And a reminder: your answer to the post title question should always be yes. If the bread smells good, eat it.

bringing home the dough

Where did the summer go? The past few months have been fun-filled, busy and included a few major milestones and much baking. Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean that I haven't been baking and capturing the results with my camera. I have many pictures for you to drool over, but let's start with an update on how I bring home the dough these days. Actually, I leave most of the dough at work, but I usually end up with some of it stuck in my arm hair and on my shorts. And I'm really talking about my new full-time gig.

I have officially said farewell to my office cubicle, desk and computer, and hello to a bakery, mixer and dough. The name of the bakery is Amelia's and we specialize in bread - mostly Italian styles. I also help out as the unofficial assistant pastry chef in the adjoining restaurant, Bluebeard, making pie and cake. It's a lot of hard work (my 31-year-old body would love to tell you about its new aches and pains), but I love going to work everyday and wouldn't change a thing. I feel very lucky to be doing something I love to do and even luckier to have a husband who supports my career. Many thanks to Greg for being the bread winner while I am the bread maker. 

Okay, that's enough sweetness. Let's get to the bread. 

Here's our version of the baguette - it's called Francese.

Our City loaf is mostly white flour with a hint of wheat.

Sometimes we jazz it up with olives and rosemary.

The Semolina loaf is made with durum flour and a seed mixture of fennel, sesame and poppy.

Our Country loaf has whole wheat and rye flour plus an inclusion of whole grains. (Don't mind the Semolina in back - those seeds are quite eye catching.)

The basic white Pullman loaf is used for my favorite sandwich at the restaurant...a BLT.

And our Brioche burger buns smell absolutely mouth-watering when they come out of the oven. Butter bread anyone?

My favorite part of the day.

Oh, and that's our giant oven from overseas. It's quirky sometimes but makes delicious bread!

One of the perks of working at a bakery is taking home leftover bread. Stay tuned to see how we put leftover loaves to work at home. You "dough" not want to miss this.

(Sorry, it's been way too long since I made a corny joke. Thanks for indulging me.)

feelin' hot, hot, hot

You may choose to keep your oven off when it's hot outside. While this is a completely sensible idea, this has not been my action of choice recently. Was it merely a competition to see if I could get the house hot enough to match the 100 degree temps outside? No. Although that did almost happen a few weeks ago. I cranked the oven up several times in preparation for a visit from my BFF, Kristy. While Greg was certainly not complaining about the excessive amount of treats, he did question why I was making four desserts for one person spending a day and a half at our house. Especially since it seemed like I was willingly turning our house into a desert. And after spending the weekend sweating while being on a sugar high, I was questioning the decision myself...but wait until you see what was on the menu.

Sugar cookies (featuring orange sugar crystals)

Chocolate macarons (with a purplish hue)

White chocolate ice cream with fudge ripple (and a side of fresh raspberries)

There were also chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, but somehow these escaped the camera lens. Instead, here is the sweet guest of honor and one crazy baker.

The weekend ended with a breakfast that may very well have topped all of my desserts on the taste scale. Greg made us stuffed french toast using brioche bread and a cream cheese/raspberry filling. Kristy and I both requested seconds.

As a thank you for a such a delicious breakfast (and not to be outdone), I made Greg buttermilk biscuits for our 4th of July picnic. The picnic ended up being in our living room since it was so hot outside, but the food was just as tasty.

Nothing says I love you more than heart-shaped biscuits...

except perhaps my new favorite muffins. We bought a giant tub of blueberries during our visit to Costco with Kristy, so I just had to make a batch of blueberry muffins last week. To be specific, I made blueberry lemon poppyseed muffins with crumb topping.

They tasted just as heavenly as they look. And they finally satisfied my need for the oven to be on for awhile. I'm officially taking a birthday baking hiatus. (Except for the baking I get paid to do of course...more on that coming soon.)