Dungeness Crab Fest

I love crab. Growing up in California, whenever we had crab, it was usually the Dungeness variety. Though I won't turn down their blue, king, and soft-shell cousins, I'm generally used to these guys, which are bountiful on the West coast of North America.

Holidays in California

I've been on quite the blogging hiatus. To be honest, I've had good reasons with the crazy holidays, chaotic family emergencies, and dealing with the French Consulate and Campus France (which is the bane of my existence so don't get me started). Originally I intended to be back in California for 3 weeks, and now have postponed my return to Paris by another 3 weeks. My baking has slowed down quite a bit too. In fact I made a fraisier I didn't get to try, and meringues that were forgotten in the oven as I ran off to tend to a family member.

What dreams are made of

It's been snowing in Paris a lot lately. It hasn't snowed this much in Paris since the 80's and airports are canceling flights left and right. Luckily for me, I'm already tucked away in California reaping temperatures that are at least 10-15 degrees Celsius higher than I'm used to. However, a couple weeks ago one of my former classmates and I decided to trek around in the Parisian blizzard to do a mini pastry crawl. The shop that impressed me the most was Philippe Conticini's Patisserie des Reves.

Missing molasses

'Tis the season to be baking holiday treats and I couldn't think of anything more festive to bake than gingerbread cookies. I just love soft and chewy gingerbread cookies! True those flat crispy disks you can get year around at Ikea aren't bad, but they're nothing compared to the soft gingerbread I had in Alsace, or the iced oval shaped cookies in Finland. So on my quest to make gingerbread, I had to find myself some molasses.

Nutella Whoopie Pies

I've never really put much thought into whoopie pies, why they're popular, or where they get their name. My trusty source Wikipedia states that these desserts come from New England and are a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. According to food historians, Amish women baked these desserts and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find the treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!" Makes sense. Who wouldn't shout for joy stumbling on one of these cake sandwiches.

Marbré chocolat

The other day I had to make a cake that would travel well. Interestingly enough, there's a category of French desserts that are called 'gâteaux de voyage', or rather traveling cakes. These are generally drier, less complicated cakes that can withstand transport. Some examples of gâteaux de voyage include madeleines, lemon cake, pound cake, fruit cake, almond cakes, and pastries made with puff pastry dough and almond cream such as pithiviers or pain complet.

Maoz

Could Maoz possibly trump the Ace of Falafels? I think so. To be honest, I didn't have high expectations of this chain that has locations all over the world. We ordered our falafels that took less than ten minutes to make. True they're not as fast as the places on Rue des Rosiers, but we could see that our falafel balls were crisping away in the fryer.

High Tea at the Rotunda

I think all girls have a soft spot for high tea. Maybe it's the childhood tea sets that ingrained this age-old tradition, or the fact that everyone just loves tiny petite-fours and tea cakes. In any case, there's just something regal about having your own brew in a pot with a tiered tray of delectable bites.