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.

Voila...

I think I've found it. What you ask? Anyone who knows me, knows that I've been missing two things in particular from home: In-N-Out burgers and a good burrito. I know there's no way in hell I'll ever convince In-N-Out to open in a chain in Paris, since as it is they're sprinkled on the West coast of the US.

I've made it a personal mission to hunt down Mexican restaurants in Paris. I've traipsed through many arrondissements in search of the perfect burrito, but have generally been disappointed. They usually end up flat, flavorless, and often too simplistic, like a quesadilla with meat. If you're from California, you know what kind of burritos I'm talking about. The burritos I've had in the Bay Area are hearty. Composed of flour tortillas stuffed to the brim with veggies, beans, rice and meat of your choice, they're often wrapped in foil resembling a Mexican torpedo of sorts.

Well I've found a close runner-up to my pined over Californian burritos in the 2nd arrondissement at a small, new restaurant called Rice and Beans. Round? Check. Hearty? Check. Foil? Check. It was even served with tomatillo salsa, to boot. This is definitely a place I'm going to go to get my Mexican food fix.

Rice and Beans 
22 Rue Greneta
75002 PARIS
Tel: 01 73 70 46 09

Visiting Finland and Sweden

Nordic countries are beautiful, at least the two that I had the chance to visit in October. However, I highly suggest visiting in the Summer when it's warm. October? Not so warm. In any case I flew into Helsinki to visit some friends with no real idea what Finland was, aside from it being a large Northern European country. To be honest, I didn't visit Sweden much, just Stockholm, but similar to many of the cities I visited in Finland, its astonishingly clean (at least compared to Paris)!

Mmmeringues

With the holidays just around the corner, I've been thinking about shedding a few (or 10) pounds before piling on more when I come back to California. That kind of puts baking on the back-burner and bumps jogging up on the queue. I have a friend who is watching her calories, and was thinking of a nice treat I could make that wouldn't tip the scale.

Catering pastries

One of the things I regret about school, and in a sense my stage as well, is that we never really learn the business end behind pastries. Sure, we learn the art and craft of the business, but never how to price or market our goods, or purchasing and managing supply stock. Of course I did learn a little about stocking when studying for the CAP, but I guess profit margins and such just aren't my thing.