“…it is the nature of the poet to become tender and imaginative in the loneliness of confinement.” - Washington Irving Confinement I know that we are luckier than most. We are confined to a large hotel with a terrace and courtyard, a laundry room, and the hotel stock of supplies, if need be. March 16, we sent our ...
The Perfect Summer Jellyroll
Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability. - Sam Keen Sunday, August 2011. Summer has finally swept over us like a warm blanket. Waking earlier than usual, our sleep disturbed by a tumult of angst, a jumble of confusion, we felt the sun squeeze through the slats of the shutters and reach towards the bed, chasing ...
Nutella, Jam, or Frangipane Brioche Flower Bread
“Why do you keep eating bread and jam,” asked Father, “when you have a lovely egg?” “I like bread and jam,” said France, “because it does not slide off your spoon in a funny way.” - Russell Hoban, Bread and Jam for Frances Sometimes I feel a bit like Frances, eating bread and jam as much and as often as I do. ...
Golden Grand Marnier Bundt
Did you ever sleep in a field of orange-trees in bloom? The air which one inhales deliciously is a quintessence of perfumes. This powerful and sweet smell, as savoury as a sweetmeat, seems to penetrate one, to impregnate, to intoxicate, to induce languor, to bring about a dreamy and somnolent torpor. It is like opium ...
The Anatomy of a Cookbook I & Orange Cointreau Chiffon Cake
An orange on the table, your dress on the rug, and you in my bed, sweet present of the present, cool of night, warmth of my life. – Jacques Prévert As summer winds down and fades into autumn, as the stone fruits and berries turn mealy and flavorless and then disappear into memory, I begin to crave oranges. It is ...
French Apple Cake
Let them eat cake. – Marie Antoinette While my own parents were making pies with frozen shells and canned filling or cakes from boxed mixes, my future mother-in-law was feeding her family on homemade treats. Apricot or plum halves pressed into sugary, crumbly pâte sablée or rich quatres-quart made with butter, milk, sugar and flour. Simple ...
Chocolate Espresso Pecan Torte for Passover (Gluten-Free Version)
It is with our passions as it is with fire and water; they are good servants, but bad masters. - Roger L'Estrange, Aesop's Fables, 1692 I recently had a discussion with a young man whose family produces truffles, who spoke to me passionately about his métier, his work, and his passion for the black diamond of Chinon. ...
Individual Berry Mascarpone Cheesecakes for Passover (Gluten-free)
Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. - M.F.K. Fisher Celebrating any religious holiday in a mixed-religion home is often a delicate matter depending on how devout and observant each partner is or the decisions made on which religion the children shall be raised in. Notwithstanding ...
Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake and Mme. Lainel’s Visit
A light wind swept over the corn, and all nature laughed in the sunshine. - Anne Bronte Sometimes one must just force summer’s hand a little bit. Mme. Lainel showed up in reception Tuesday evening, later than was her habit of dropping in, making her way carefully across the courtyard, clutching her cane in one hand, crunching ...
Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake for a Birthday
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.- Chili Davis I don’t know which astonishes me the most: that I have reached this age and am still standing or that I am standing on the threshold of our second year at the Hôtel Diderot … and I am still standing. “Oh, grow up!” he often says to me ...
