twd: tarte noire, my pick!!!

a happy dharmagirl with bags filled with pans and spatulas and whisks 

I don't remember when the first inklings of Francophilia struck me...but slowly, several years ago, I began to dream of all things French. The beautiful language, gorgeous landmarks, and, most significantly, the delicious pastry, appealed to my poetic and aesthetic sensibilities. 

As a recently minted humanities Ph D making her way through academic hierarchies—four years teaching as a "visiting" assistant professor, a rather lowly spot on the ladder—I had time to fantasize about Paris, but no funds (and plenty of student loan debt) to make my dreams reality. I researched Fulbright exchanges, but discovered that France required actual speaking, reading, and writing knowledge of the language. 

And so I waited. I found Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, drawn by the delicious cover cake. I then purchased Paris Sweets and my fancies increased. 

About the time I joined TWD, I submitted a proposal to co-lead a nine day Study Abroad class to Paris at the university where I am now halfway through the grueling tenure process. I waited. And baked my way through the book with a community of bloggers who were funny, kind, and altogether charming. Their baking dedication trumped mine, and every week I was stunned by their photographs and innovations, their kitchen skills and creativity. 

When word arrived that our class was approved, I danced around my living room. Finally, I was going to Paris...

in a year and a half. 

I baked. I ordered more Paris books, most notably a little volume of Pastry shops, The Patisseries of Paris: Chocolatiers, Tea Salons, Ice Cream Parlors, and More, by Jamie Cahill. And, the invaluable Clotilde's Edible Guide to Paris, by Chocolate and Zucchini blogger Clothilde Dusoulier. I applied for—and received—a grant to buy the Rosetta Stone French language program.

As we planned the trip—monuments, gardens, cemeteries, cathedrals, palaces—and I selected the literary works we'd read—Wharton, James, Hemingway, Kerouac—I consulted Dorie and David Lebovitz for Paris musts, and added them to my personal excursion list. 

This past May, I frantically packed for my first European trip. I worried that the Paris of my imagination would outshine the Paris of reality. 

And then we stepped off the plane, boarded the bus, and headed to the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. My heart soared.

And, because you've been such a patient reader, I will bring you around to this week's selection, the Tarte Noire. I knew my turn was swiftly approaching as I stood in the Paris cookware shops Mora and E. Dehillerin. I coveted the copper bowls, but realized I would use bakeware more frequently and so I spent my euros on an array of tart pans and other kitchen goodies. 

When I returned from Paris, my TWD email was waiting. It was time to select a recipe. 

What better recipe to select than the Tarte Noire, an utterly simple, elegant, Parisian tart. I stashed a few chocolate bars and wrapped up my one block of Parisian butter and waited for this week. 

Today I buttered my mini tart pans, steeped myself in fond French memories, and started baking. 

I made a half recipe of the sweet tart dough and the chocolate tart dough. I made two versions of ganache, one featuring a bar of Lindt Excellence Fin Coeur Chocolat, a 70% chocolate featuring a thin mousse like center (purchased from the Carrefour store close to our hotel), and the other with Christian Constant's St. Domingue bar, a 64% single estate bar. 

Due to a kitchen mishap, I had to toss out one of the sweet tart dough shells, and so I mixed together the remaining doughs and made one shell a sort of marbled innovation. 

I hope you enjoyed baking this tart as much as I did. While the ingredients are not inexpensive, the preparation is simple, the flavors pure, and the result sensual and satisfying. (and no one will judge if you dip your spoon into the ganache bowl and enjoy it sans tart shell). 

G and I sampled two of the mini tarts this evening, the chocolate crust with Christian Constant ganache, and the sweet tart crust with Lindt ganache. G prefers the latter, and I love both. The chocolate-chocolate combination could be too much chocolate for some—you know people like this, don't you?—but not for a hardcore chocophile like yours truly. And yet, the contrast of the rich ganache and crisp sweet tart crust satisfies just as well. 

Tonight, I wanted—and needed—the chocolate-chocolate. A little intense, a little overwhelming. A lot delicious and worth everything (euros, calories, etc.).

Thank you for baking with me this week, friends, and may your week be filled with dreams and magic and deliciousness. A special thank you to Laurie for creating this awesome group, and, of course, the incomparable Dorie Greenspan for fueling my imagination and bringing Paris to my kitchen in Wisconsin.

Tarte Noire

from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, page 351

While this is one of the most sophisticated tarts in a Parisian pastry chef's repertoire, it is also the simplest—and the darkest, sleekest, and chicest too. It has only two components—a sweet shortbread crust and a slender layer of bittersweet chocolate ganache. Made with fine chocolate (the only kind you should use for a ganache) and served at room temperature, when the texture of the filling resembles the center of a fine bonbon ad the contrast between the soft ganache and the butter-rich crust is marked, the tart becomes an exemplar of understated elegance. It is infallibly pâtisserie perfect. 

Because the ganache is made with just chocolate, cream, and butter, the flavor of whatever chocolate you choose will be the same from the time you chop it into bits to the time you taste it in the tart. For this reason, you should use only chocolate you enjoy eating out of hand. I like to make the tart with Valrhona Manjari or Guittard Sur del Lago, both bittersweet chocolates. 

Filling:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature

Crust:

1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough (page 444) or Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough (page 446), fully baked and cooked

Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and have a whisk or a rubber spatula at hand. 

Bring the cream to a boil, then pour half of it over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Working with the whisk or spatula, very gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate, using the same circular motion. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don't stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients—the less you work it, the darker, smoother, and shinier it will be. (The ganache can be used now, refrigerated, or even frozen for later.)

Pour the ganache into the crust and, holding the pan with both hands, gently turn the pan from side to side to even the ganache. Refrigerate the tart for 30 minutes to set the ganache, then remove the tart from the fridge and keep it at room temperature until serving time. 

Makes 8 servings. 

Serving: Purists will want to enjoy the tart at room temperature and au naturel. Having gone to pains to use great chocolate for the tart, you might want to show it off solo. Hoever, like all good things chocolate, the tart is lovely with just a little lightly whipped, very sparingly sweetened, cream. I wouldn't serve this with ice cream—the contrast between the thich room-temperature filling and the frozen ice cream would be too jarring. 

Storing: The tart should be served the day it is made. However, the ganache can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. When you are ready to use it, allow it to come to room temperature, then heat it gently in a microwave oven, using 5-second spurts of heat and checking on its progress vigilantly, until it is pourable. O you can put the bowl of ganache in a larger bowl of hot water and stir every 10 seconds until it can be poured. You can even freeze the ganache, tightly covered, for up to 2 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, bring it to room temperature, and then warm it in a microwave oven or bowl of hot water until it is pourable. 

Sweet Tart Dough
Makes enough for one 9-inch crust

In French, this dough is called pâte sablée because it is buttery, tender and sandy (that's what sablée means). It's much like shortbread, and it's ideal for filling with fruit, custard or chocolate.

The simplest way to make a tart shell with this dough is to press it into the pan. You can roll out the dough, but the high proportion of butter to flour and the inclusion of confectioners' sugar makes it finicky to roll. I always press it into the pan, but if you want to roll it, I suggest you do so between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper or inside a rolling slipcover (see page 491 of the book).

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons)
very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in—you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change—heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don't be too heavy-handed—press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.
To partially or fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).
To fully bake the crust: Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. (I dislike lightly baked crusts, so I often keep the crust in the oven just a little longer. If you do that, just make sure to keep a close eye on the crust's progress—it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash.) Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.
To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough

Good enough to eat on its own, this crust is delicious filled with pastry cream and fruit, ganache, or pudding. Choose it whenever you want the full deep taste of chocolate. 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 1 tablesppon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, cocoa, confectioner's sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in—you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change—heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. 

Press the dough into the pan. To bake it, follow the directions for Sweet Tart Dough. 

Makes enough for one 9-inch crust.

Storing: Well wrapped, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, I prefer to freeze the unbaked crust in the pan and bake it directly from the freezer—it has a fresher flavor. Just add about 5 minutes to the baking time. 

twd: bourbon soaked vanilla babycake

Oh, how I adore poundcake.

Oh, how I adore bourbon.

Oh, how I adore babycakes.

Add a scattering of macerated strawberries, freshly picked (by me) from a (mosquito infested) field, and you have a simple yet unbelievable flavorful and cravable dessert.

(I may have just stated that I want to eat the rest of the mini-loaf. G can testify that I have not actually done so.)

Thank you, Wendy, of Pink Stripes, for selecting this recipe. Check out her blog—she is an inspiration, and I always love reading about her adventures in food and life. We joined TWD about the same time, and she has been a blogger friend ever since.

And...cue the giddy excitement...I am the TWD host next week! Hooray! Look for a longish rambling post on Paris and chocolate and tarts and and and...

twd: cinnamon swirl bread

Recipe for a decadent breakfast on yet another grey June morning (summer, please return soon!): rich, orange scented bread spiraled with cinnamon and sugar, toasted and spread with French butter, paired with a bowl of Kashi heart-to-heart cereal topped with luscious berries and organic milk. A small glass of Florida's Natural pulp-free orange juice, and a mug of cafe au lait wash it all down.

Thank you, Susan, of Food.Baby, for selecting this week's recipe, a simple, delightful yeast bread that comes together quickly, with no hand kneading (if you use a stand mixer), and which tastes complete even without raisins (sorry, Mom, I know you'd love it with those flame raisins:))

twd: tender shortcakes

This past Sunday, I made a commitment. A big commitment. A life-changing commitment.

No, I did not jet off to Las Vegas.

I bought a freezer. A 14.1 cubic foot upright Frigidaire freezer to be delivered by Lowes once they have it in stock.

As long as I have it by strawberry season, I'll be happy.

We have another week or two before the first local berries burst forth in ruby profusion. Until then, I'm using up the last few bags of last summer's berries that have been taking up precious space in my bottom freezer drawer. I was so careful, so judicious, so conservative with my berries that I have two and one half bags left!

I decided to cook one bag into a loose jam/compote for this week's recipe, tender shortcakes. Cathy, who lives in Alabama, where I lived for six very good years, chose this recipe. She made hers with local berries and—I'm insanely jealous—Chilton county peaches. Everyone in Alabama knows those peaches because they are delicious. Check our her blog, the Tortefeasor, for the recipe, and for her usual blend of wit, humor, and delight.

The shortcakes are indeed tender, and a little mishapen due to several small mishaps:

1. lack of baking powder. I substituted a mixture of baking soda and cream of tartar, at the suggestion of Regan Daley's In the Sweet Kitchen. They're a little flat, likely because my cream of tartar is...old.

2. freezer issues. I mixed the shortcakes late afternoon, and then decided I didn't want to bake them until after dinner, so I formed balls, placed them on a baking sheet, and wedged them into the bottom freezer drawer. I forget to flatten them. And, when G came home and opened the freezer to stow his lunchbox icepack, he hollered, in alarm, "I think I ruined your balls." One ball had fallen apart, but I wasn't worried.

3. slight underbaking. The flattish cakes were golden brown on top but a tiny bit doughy when I split them with a fork.

HOWEVER, these cakes—biscuits, really—are indeed tender, very slightly sweet, and a lovely foil for fresh (or slightly cooked) fruit. I topped them with whipped cream (or, as the French so lovingly say, Chantilly. So much chicer, don't you think?), and a splash of Grand Marnier. G and I are noshing them as we work on our blogs, and we're both happy.

With the new freezer, we'll be able to enjoy shortcakes all year long. I'll be able to stow summer's freshest and localest goods. My locavore commitment will be stronger than ever.

And that, my friends, is a sweet commitment.

daily bliss: paris romance, or how a commercial inspired an impulse buy

As we made our way through the check-in and security lines at Charles De Gaulle airport, a pantheon of high-end duty free shops beckoned. Grandma announced that she needed to spend some euros before boarding the plane, so we wandered into a fragrance shop. She was taken with the soft scent of Tresor In Love, a new fragrance.

I spotted Miss Dior Cherie and thought of the delightful commercial, filled with balloons, flowers, and Parisian romance and fun. I spritzed myself from the tester bottle, and was smitten. This could be my scentual memory of an amazing trip. I selected a small bottle of Eau de Toilette, and packed it into my bulging carry-on before saying my final au revoir to Paris. Je returnee!

daily bliss: glacé

moi et grandmere

Topping my list of Paris must-eats: Berthillon, the ice cream and sorbet shop of world renown, located on Île Saint-Louis. Monday's tour featured a visit to the neighboring Île de la Cité to visit Notre Dame. After the tour, guide Pierre-Jean announced that we had an hour and a half for lunch, and I asked for directions to Berthillon.

I lead a group of eager ladies to the smaller stand, where you can only order ice cream (another venue offers fuller cafe services), and we pondered the offerings. For four euro, I enjoyed two scoops—caramel beurre sel and cacao amer (buttered salted caramel and darkest chocolate)—in a patisserie cone. The pure, unadulterated flavors nicely melded together.

After an afternoon visiting my favorite cathedral, Saint-Chapelle, and the Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned), we were free to explore. Another cone was in order. This time: fraise des bois and citron vert (wild strawberry and lime). Refreshing, light, and pure summer.

We left old Paris happy, and ready for another day of adventures (culinary and otherwise).

daily bliss: musée national du moyen age

This museum is more informally known as the Cluny museum, and holds collections primarily of the middle ages, though some statues and the frigidarium—a former Roman bath—date back to earlier times. The play of light and dark in these ancient rooms, as well as a subtle chill, creep into the mind and body, and I was transported back in time.

The gem of the museum is the Lady and the Unicorn, a series of six Flemish tapestries from the late fifteenth century. With intricate detail—a backdrop of flowers and small animals—the tapestries represent the temptation of the senses and the importance of renouncing sensual pleasures for a more lasting reward.

I'm afraid I did not heed such advice, as I delighted in the sensual treats of Paris. Among the delights, tarts.

daily bliss: sparkle time

Je suis une francophile.

I suspected this to be the case as I read tales of Paris, surveyed Parisian pastries in cookbooks, paged through coffeetable books on the Paris apartment, and studied fashion.

I wondered how the Paris of my imagination—which tends towards the overactive—would compare to the real Paris. I dreaded the thought of disappointment.

Paris, like all places, is not perfect.

Homeless pull mattresses under bridges. Gangs of scammers throng popular tourist destinations. Cafe fare is not vegetarian friendly. Graffiti lines the subway rails and buildings in some parts of the city.

And yet.

Paris sparkles.

Paris shows off.

Paris celebrates.

Beauty and deliciousness and connection are revered. Old ways are observed, and one can easily find goods made in France with attention to purpose and appearance.

Paris knows that life is about more than clamoring for more.

Life is about savoring the moment, lingering for two hours at a cafe. Buying a baguette on the way home from work. Taking the elevator up to the roof to catch Paris' most famous icon sparkling in the distance, for five minutes, at the top of the hour.

So much beauty.

So much sparkle.

So much life.

daily bliss: love

at a minor league baseball game, May 2010

One year ago today, I walked down to the lake on a gorgeous, yet chilly, late Spring evening. I strolled down the hill, breathing in lilac fragrance. I breathed deeply, and propelled myself forward, nervous and hopeful. Possibility shimmered in the air.

On our first date, G and I shivered on a picnic table for three hours, talking. Meeting. Laughing. Wondering.

If you've stuck with this blog (which has been written in fits and starts this year), you've picked up on some threads of our story. Perhaps you've even sensed some of the magic.

Reader, I fell in love.

And I've never felt more myself.

I could write an extensive but not exhaustive list of everything I love about G, but since I haven't let him know I'm writing this post (and will be overseas, without him when it posts), instead I will say that our lives together have expanded. Love provides the foundation to be vulnerable, to be true, and to be authentic. Whether it's someone strumming an air mandolin to Train's "Hey Soul Sister" or someone calling the bed Cloud, we're not afraid to be our goofy selves.

And there are tears. Ask G about my stress response, which is to imagine extremes and dissolve into tears. This is the hard part to share. But it's still me.

We're now in the process of merging our daily lives, as G left his village behind and moved to the city, and to our home. Boxes, bags, and misplaced furniture surround us. Daily routines stutter and flow. We're learning to adapt. Together.

At the end of our first date, as I walked up the stairs, I sensed that life was about to change. I had no idea.

I've never been happier.

Happy first anniversary, Gregg. I love you.

daily bliss: paris

All my bags are packed.

I'm (mostly) ready to go.

I have a custom made google map of deliciousness. And a 14 page handout on Paris Eats and Treats culled from David Lebovitz and Dorie Greenspan pics.

I suspect it won't seem quite real until I, along with 22 others (including a co-leader, students, community members, and...my Grandma!) board the Air France flight this evening.

And then...the sights and sounds and tastes of Paris beckon.

Oh, the tastes...

Au revoir, mes amies.

daily bliss: fresh, local salad

Yesterday I paid a long overdue visit to the T's, my gardening, foodie, progressive friends. After a long chat while T worked on hand carving a decorative door panel, we walked to the garden. T snipped lettuce while I plucked spinach. J arrived home and we chatted some more. I promised to share some Poilane bread in return for this taste of summer.

I whisked together a simple cherry balsamic vinaigrette, toasted pecans, shaved Bellavitano cheese, and tossed in a handful of dried cherries. Bliss.

Welcome back, summer. I missed you so.

twd: quick classic berry tart

Today, the last day of English 101, I reminded my students that APPM (audience, purpose, persona, message) is their key to writing success.

"Remember, you need to think about your audience. Who is reading your writing? What is your purpose? You have to have a point! And don't forget to consider your persona. Your tone makes a big difference when delivering your message."

Somewhere in the back of my chaotic mind, I thought about this little blog. I need to conduct some serious APPM prep time when I sit down to craft these entries.

And yet, here I am tonight, fumbling for words and stories to make you want to read.

Gah.

My writing process needs serious attention, which it will receive, and you all will enjoy the fruits of, when I return from Paris in a few weeks. Until then, it will be a cobbled together dish, a last minute entry here and there.

Cue the segue...

And this is why I loved this simple berry tart. I almost didn't make it, as no berries are in season. (it actually snowed around these parts last weekend. berry bliss is some time coming). But, I doubt I'll be able to make the next two recipes, so I wanted to fulfill my monthly quota. I read through the variations of pastry cream, and I thought about a mish-mash solution.

My favorite berry jam. Cook frozen berries with sugar until thick. If industrious, add citrus zest and juice. I chose raspberries and meyer lemon.

I then made a meyer lemon pastry cream.

I assembled the tart speedily, and hoped for the best.

The tart is lightly sweet and plenty tangy. Delicious.

Thanks to Christine of Cooking with Christine for selecting this week's recipe.

twd: burnt sugar ice cream

[photo to be added tomorrow]

Caramel.

Custard.

The two dreaded C's.

The last time I attempted caramel, cussing ensued.

Custard, well, I've seemingly mastered the tempering technique and can produce a smooth product.

This week's recipe tested my resolve by requiring both dreaded C's.

My first attempt with the caramel today was problematic. Lacking vanilla extract, I blended vanilla bean with my sugar, then added the water, and applied heat. A too big pan and too high heat resulted in a sugar that failed to dissolve and instead returned to a granular state. Mustering up my chemistry memory (I did start college as a pre-pharmacy major and took a year of Chemistry before seeing the light and leaving a life of jet-setting and drug company perks for the glamorous life of an English professor on furlough), I added more water and dissolved the sugar, this time slowly and carefully.

Conquering my fears and applying sugar savvy, I crafted an ice cream so delicious, it's dangerous. I subbed 1% milk for whole and half and half for cream. Mmmm.

Thank you, Becky, of Project Domestication, for selecting this wonderful, rich, and complexly flavored ice cream.

twd: chocoblock cookies

Kudos to Mary, of Popsicles and Sandy Feet, for selecting a delicious, over-the-top cookie just when I needed some tart nutty sweetness. Please visit her blog and read her baking manifesto. It rocks.

I would love to wax poetic on these cookies. I love them, and could descend into Ode territory declaring their goodness.

But. Moving day is four days away. My Mom and Grandma are coming to visit tomorrow. Strange dudes are coming to fix a leaky roof at 7:15 tomorrow morning. I'm leaving for Paris in three weeks and four days.

Life is full. And chaotic. And absolutely, life-changingly wonderful.

As are these cookies, which I filled with toasted coconut and walnuts, dried cherries and cranberries, and chocolate chips. Mmmm.

Happy.

Chockful.

daily bliss: making space, part two

This past week, I've been cataloguing single girl behaviors that will change when G moves in nine days from today:

* piling clothes on the bathroom chair or bedroom floor at the end of the day

* accumulating socks at the bottom of the bed, a different pair kicked off during sleep each night

* leaving the bathroom door open

* saving toilet flushes (to be green. i swear it's not gross.)

* eating ice cream directly out of the carton

* surrounding myself with pillows in bed each night

* sleeping with assorted writers. Michael Perry and the gang at the Oxford American are popular lately (clarification: i tend to slip whatever book or magazine i'm reading before i fall asleep over on the other side of the bed, under the pile of pillows).

***

We're making progress, slowly, though most rooms are in disarray. The CD's are expertly alphabetized and arranged. Closets are emptying and refilling in the best use of space. We've moved Cloud (the new mattress) from the green room to the other bedroom.

soon to be book-lined study

And how do you know someone really truly loves you?

When they put up with you naming inanimate objects (see, Blossom (mixer), GSexy (car), and Cloud (bed)). And, when they willingly sleep in . . . a pink room.

That, my friends, is love.

I painted the pink room last memorial day weekend, less than a week before our first date.

What a difference a year makes.

Cloud, in the pink room

twd: sweet cream biscuits

As I posted on facebook yesterday, some days, the desire to be a barista nearly overwhelms me.

I'm having a bit of a writerly crisis these days. The kind of writing I've been trained to do (scholarly, literary criticism) increasingly seems pointless to me. And, I feel like I'm not good at it. Or maybe I lack the desire to be good at it. Or maybe my position, primarily an introduction college writing professor at a nearly open access two year college, seems so far divorced from the theoretical suppositions this kind of writing demands that I just can't bridge the chasm.

Such days call for simple comforts.

A warm biscuit, spread with still-warm homemade jam. A mug of hot cafe au lait.

When I arrived home this afternoon, disgruntled and confused, I turned on the oven. I tossed frozen strawberries and sugar in a pan on the stovetop. I opened Baking: From My Home to Yours. I mixed together simple ingredients, cut out five biscuits (I made a half recipe), slipped them in the warm oven, all as the fruit bubbled into jam. I heated and frothed milk and brewed coffee. Within twenty-five minutes, I sat down with my new copy of Saveur (the mac and cheese on the cover is swoon-worthy, btw), and cleared my mind.

Melissa of Love at First Bite selected this recipe, which is simple and delicious. My biscuits didn't raise very high, but the flavor was delicious. I usually make Mark Bittman's yogurt biscuits--tangy and light and also much less fattening--but Dorie's biscuits are a wonderful addition to my quick bread list of favorites.

daily bliss: making space, part one

what happens when you blend 700+ CD's?

Since 1995, I have lived in eleven places. Garden level apartments, graduate student housing, my old bedroom at my parents (for six weeks. thanks again, mom and dad!), a hardwood lined 1920s duplex, and, now the upper apartment in a house with a lake view and a fantastic kitchen.

I'm used to the rituals of moving: gather boxes; sort belongings; pack boxes; give belongings away; stack boxes; reserve moving truck; recruit helpers; and start fresh in a new place. Blank walls, empty cupboards waiting to be decorated and filled and personalized.

This time, I'm not moving. Instead, I'm making space. I'm packing up belongings, donating clothes, storing furniture, and attempting to tame all this girly pinkness, because...

...to quote Monica from Friends, I'm going to live with a boy!

Yes, dear readers, G is moving in! He's packing boxes and we're loading trucks. We have a storage unit, which we visit several times a week. We're blending our belongings and re-imagining this space, and, more importantly, our lives...together.

I've never been as happy to make space.

twd: swedish visiting cake

The only Swede who has visited my home since I made the Swedish Visiting Cake on Sunday is...me (and that's stretching it, as Swede competes with a handful of other European heritages)...and somehow, half of my eight inch cake is...gone.

It's that good. Dense yet moist. Buttery and fragrant with almonds. And, as Dorie promises, a sugared crust.

This cake's utter simplicity of preparation—one bowl, one pan—complements its pure deliciousness.

And, the best part of all is this week's host, Nancy, of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs (and Corner Loaf, a delightful and impressive bread blog). Nancy does math for the rest of us, scaling recipes down and up, providing weights instead of traditional measurements, and overall giving solid, kind, and generous advice to the baking blogoverse and twitterworld. I look forward to reading her blogs every week, and appreciate her warm comments. My mom is also a fan and reads Nancy's blog and appreciates her comment too.

Thanks, Nancy, for selecting this delicious recipe!

daily bliss: over-the-top cake

The first crocuses have pushed their way through the warming earth.

A late snow and several rain showers have greened the grass.

Trees are on the edge of bursting, spilling their sneeze-inducing pollen everywhere.

My soul stirs, my heart expands, my mind drifts.

Spring!

To celebrate Spring, I crafted an Easter cake that admittedly took the notion of cake above and beyond the usual boundaries.

I began with a coconut milk-laced layer cake, using the recipe I found at Tender Crumb's blog. I made two eight inch layers, which I split in two.

Then, I made homemade raspberry jam—cooking a bag of frozen organic berries from Oregon with sugar until thick.

I improvised a cream cheese frosting.

I colored coconut both pink and green.

I made a baby pink meringue frosting.

I bought speckled malt eggs and a chocolate bunny.

And then, I put it all together:

Layers spread with cream cheese buttercream and jam, cake covered with meringue icing, sprinkled with coconut, and topped with candies.

For once, the reality lived up to the vision in my head.

The cake was all whimsy and cuteness...and deliciousness.

As expected, G's niece clamored for the big bunny (I gave each of the kids a mini chocolate bunny). We enjoyed slices of cake with rich coffee and a lovely torte of chocolate and pudding, topping off a traditional, tasty Easter meal.

The bunny? He came home with me, and is still intact, though I think he might lose his ears this afternoon:)

Happy Spring, dear readers!

npm: william carlos williams

by the path between

two lakeshore towns, dead brown grass

begins to awake

William Carlos Williams, "Spring and All"

npm: george herbert

a wing shaped poem

of human sin and holy

resurrection joy.

George Herbert, "Easter Wings"

npm: geoffrey chaucer

april's sweet showers

wash away winter, lead us

giddy, on the path

Geoffrey Chaucer, Prologue to The Canterbury Tales

npm: emily dickinson

possibility

making a fair house a home

place of paradise

Emily Dickinson, #657

npm: wallace stevens

To celebrate National Poetry Month, I will write one haiku a day that references, echoes, or is inspired by an existing poem.

To begin, Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning."

prosaic pj's

coffee, grapefruit, early sun

my divinity

twd: coconut tea cake

I'm in a Southern frame of mind.

This time of year, as Spring comes so achingly slowly, I miss the Southland in the Springtime, to quote the Indigo Girls. Green and blossom and sunshine and warmth arrive earlier, unlike the Midwestern come hither, play hard to get dance.

I'm reading the Oxford American Food Issue and missing Southern foodways...(If you don't know this magazine, please check it out. Superb writing, engaging stories. It is my mother's goal that I will one day be published in its august pages.)

And, after an epic conversation with one of my dear, Southern grad school friends, I long to host a tea party on my screened in porch as I did many Springs in Auburn.

Alas.

This week's selection, a simple coconut tea cake would be the perfect sweet treat to end a tea party of cucumber sandwiches and champagne punch.

The cake, which I made a half recipe in a loaf pan, is moist, dense, and redolent of sweet coconut, in both shredded (sweetened, untoasted) and milk (lite) forms. I made Dorie's lemon variation, and the slight citrus tang contrasts with the sweetness of the cake.

As I nosh the coveted end piece and sip a mug of Chunmee green tea, I think of S, K, S, and J. I think of our wide ranging discussions of literature, life, and love. Mostly, I think of the distinctive sound of each woman's laughter.

And through my missing, I smile.

There's something about the Southland in the Springtime, and all year long.

Thank you, Carmen, of Carmen Cooks, for selecting this delicious, simple, and satisfying recipe.

twd: thumbprint cookies for big kids

I was convinced I didn't have time to bake these cookies.

Until I read a few blogs this morning, and salivated over the photos of buttery cookies welled with crimson jam.

I multitasked at work, stopped at the store for organic frozen raspberries, and headed home to make jam and a half batch of cookies in between class prep and a few important phone calls.

They're fast. Simple. Stunning.

Thanks, Mike of Ugly Food Dude, for selecting this quick-to-make delicious treat.

daily bliss: artisan bread baking

Spending the day with my friend T is always an adventure. From learning gardening tips to how to make yogurt, to sampling homemade cured Italian meats, T always teaches me something. He invited me to join him on a massive bread baking adventure, and I happily accepted.

the wet mixture

Friday morning I arrived in time to mix together the sponge and the remaining ingredients for a pecan and raisin studded whole wheat loaf. Considering that there was enough dough to make 12+ two and a half pound loaves, this entailed heavy kneading, especially once the fruit and nuts were added to the dough.

a shaggy dough

adding fruit and nuts

We divided the dough in half and each set about working the dough, though T's long arms and superior strength made his kneading time about half of mine.

the lovely kneaded dough

After the doughs were ready, T loaded me up with various vegetables from last summer's garden—onions, garlic, carrots—and a bag of frozen san marzano tomatoes. My next task was to go home and make a simple red sauce, for we would have time to cook a few pizzas alongside the bread.

At home, I sauteed garlic in olive oil while I skinned the tomatoes by popping them under hot water until the skins, almost magically, peeled off. I added Italian herb mix and a pinch of salt, and reveled at how quickly my kitchen smelled of summer.

breads awaiting baking

After a quick lunch and my sauce making adventure, I followed T's map to his friend's farm, where they have a brick oven nestled in a building that used to be the summer kitchen. The oven is over 140 years old.

I drove through prime Wisconsin dairy land, watching cows slowly meander across semi-frozen fields, admiring the old farmsteads that are still operational.

When I stepped into the building, I was surprised by the simplicity of the room. T had rigged up a propane torch to add heat to the building and warm the loaves of rustic french sourdough that take a long, slow rise, as they lack added yeast.

breads baking in the brick oven

Our first task was to egg wash, score, and seed the large loaves of rye bread before adding them to the heated oven. T showed me the technique for transfering loaves on and off the long cherry wood peel he fashioned himself. I need practice at the clean jerk, which leaves the bread in one spot.

the bread baker's apprentice:)

As we waited for the breads to cook, we set about making pizzas, by shaping the dough, and placing it in the hot oven. We added simple toppings: the aforementioned sauce, roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, asparagus, fresh mozzarella, and basil. With a crisp, chewy, and slightly charred crust, the pizzas tasted almost as good as the pies from my favorite restaurant, Il Ritrovo.

rye breads

Once the rye breads were done, it was time to make another fire in the oven to add heat, which increased the smokiness in the little building and had us seeking refuge outside. After the fire died down, we added the raisin pecan breads to the oven. They baked in about 40 minutes, and then I showed off my newfound skills and removed three at a time on the long peel.

pecan raisin bread

When I left, the sourdough breads had another two hours or so of rising, but home was calling. I wanted to read, and to start a veggie stock for a winter vegetable pot pie for Friday night dinner. Today I'll stop over at T's house to pick up a loaf.

This day was just the kind of Friday I needed—a day to learn something new, to connect with a friend, and to create something beautiful, sustaining, and delicious.

daily bliss: natal day

in from the cold

Today I turn thirty-six.

Last year I made my peace with thirty-five.

My thirty-fifth year was just really very good and nice.

I expect year thirty-six to similarly blossom with new adventures (Paris, anyone?), new paths, and new possibilities yet unseen. I cannot wait.

I hope to meet each new opportunity with grace and compassion, and, above all, with gratitude. To be alive, to be surrounded by loving people, to feel the sunshine on my face and the earth under my feet, to share my passions with others everyday: what wonder.

What bliss.

Thank you, dear readers, for being part of my life.

twd: coconut custard tart

Mmm, coconut. Toasty, crispy, sweet, and tropical.

Beryl of Cinemon Girl selected this tart, a winning choice as winter weariness sets in. Something about coconut, particularly when nestled in a custard pie, screams of sunshine and flip-flops and floaty dresses. My favorite time of year.

I crafted this tart on Friday, stowed the components separately, and assembled Saturday morning. It was my offering to G's family, but especially his dad C, who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. A sizeable contingent of the family gathered on Saturday afternoon at their home to eat and make merry. A riotous game of Monopoly and many rounds of Connect Four challenged our good sportspersonship, and made us hungry for a full, delicious meal.

The tart was a sweet ending to a lovely day. I can't wait to make this one again, whilst wearing flip-flops and floaty dresses, bippy music spilling out the open windows, a fragrant breeze wafting in.

Soon.

daily bliss: melting hearts

a dozen red roses from G

On Valentine's Day in eighth grade, I dreamed of Michael J. Fox, and Kirk Cameron. More realistically, I fancied JP, my classmate and biology teacher's son. When I received a single pink carnation with a cryptic note from an anonymous admirer, my heart soared.

Maybe he did like me. Someone at my school did.

At the end of the day, my friends grinned as they told me they sent the flower.

My heart dropped, my dreams dashed.

I longed for a real Valentine.

For the next twenty-plus years, I alternately celebrated the day, wearing pink and hearts, sending cards and cookies to family and friends, or despaired, wearing black as I chomped the chocolates my mom never failed to give me.

A few years ago, I decided to declare the day one of self-love, and I would buy myself a nice gift: a massage, or new MAC lipstick. I would bake special treats and package them up for loved ones. I would snap up grocery store roses after the big day, when they were no longer wanted, and cost only five dollars a slightly wilted bouquet. They were still beautiful to me, brightening the February gloom in my single-girl apartment.

Every year, my best friend S and I would send each other cards, writing "maybe this time next year we'll have boyfriends!" Some years, I would think that I wanted a boyfriend more than anything else. I would make lists of traits said boyfriend should have. I would daydream perfect dates and perfect days.

And though I thought I wanted a relationship more than anything, I didn't. Not really. I approached dating cautiously, trusting my intuition after one or two dates most of the time. I kept my heart protected, and lived in the world of ideals and future perfection.

Several weeks ago G and I were talking about Valentine's Day, and I started to say, "Oh, I don't expect anything for the holiday. It's a commercial holiday, anyway." I stopped before the insincere words spilled out of my mouth. While I didn't expect any particular gift, I did want to acknowledge this day of love, somehow. My first Valentine's Day with a real boyfriend. A simple card, a shared meal, really, I had no expectations for how to celebrate this day with my Valentine, but I knew I wanted to mark the occasion.

I made my plans: I would offer to make anything G wanted for Vday dinner, bake an angel food cake with deep chocolate ganache, buy a bouquet of 14 purple tulips, and make a certificate for a lunch at Cafe Spiaggia when we're in Chicago next month.

purple tulips I gave G

We celebrated the holiday all weekend, swapping flowers on Friday, watching a matinee of Valentine's Day and dining out at Trattoria Stefano on Saturday, and exchanging cards and gifts on Sunday. As we cooked dinner together Sunday evening, we chatted and laughed, settling into the rhythm that suits us best.

My heart melting. My ideal realized. My funny, perfect Valentine.

angel food cake with ganache and hot pink sanding sugar

twd: rick katz's brownies for julia child

Readers, I just feverishly cut up the remaining brownies and stuffed them in the freezer.

They are too good.

Toothsome.

Fudgy.

Decadent.

Chocolatey bliss.

Irresistible.

Every time I strolled past my 8 inch square pyrex dish in the kitchen, I cut off a slim rectangle and sampled.

Winter wears our patience thin. My overwhelming desire is to take refuge in carbs and pure sweetness.

These brownies deliver just that, a little too well.

Get thee to a freezer, tempter!

(and, despite a novel technique for beating the eggs and whisking them into the batter, these are a snap to prepare, say in the last 10 minutes before the super bowl begins and the stars are singing patriotic songs to the whirl of blossom, my trusty kitchen aid mixer).

Thanks to the chocolate obsessed Tanya of the delightful blog Chocolatechic for selecting this winner.

**no photo *again* this week because of my banishment of the brownies to an arctic home, and the dearth of natural light that isn't grey and snow filled**

twd: mini (not milk) chocolate (not bundt) cake

I have bundt pan envy.

The temptation to buy a mini bundt pan to bake these cakes was strong, but the nearest baking supply store is far-ish. Now that Spring semester has started, my regional sojourns are definitely limited.

And so, without the darling pans, I decided to make one six inch cake. I have a thing for babycakes;)

I read tweets and P & Qs and decided to use my standard 70% chocolate for the cakes to increase the chocolateyness, as many respondents reported mild chocolate flavor.

I also read tweets and P & Qs and decided not to make the glaze as it a) sounded like many people disliked it and had difficulties making it and b) I dislike corn syrup (yes, commercials, i know it's made from corn. but i watched king corn. i read a lot of writing about the food industry. i know how processed you are. i know how much oil you're consuming).

(have i mentioned how useful the tweets and P & Qs are? invaluable!)

(can you tell i don't have much to say about this cake?!?)

I made the cake quickly Sunday evening, in an attempt to catch most of Jane Austen's Emma currently showing on PBS, and also to be done, cooled, and ready to eat before G left. The speediness detracted from the quality of the finished product, I'm afraid. The texture was...interesting. Not exactly bundt like or regular cake like.

And, despite using darker chocolate, I was disappointed in the level of chocolateyness. I love overwhelming chocolate. I used some of the infamous chocolate malt frosting from a few weeks ago, stashed in my freezer, to top the cake, which in no way resembled its original bundt form.

G and I split a wedge as we watched the Grammys once Emma ended. G quite liked the cake, and I sent the rest home with him...without snapping a photo. (poor planning on the part of not one but two participants in project 365! yeesh!)

Thank you, Kirsten, for choosing this recipe! Check out her blog, I'm Right About Everything, for more mini bundt fun.