Wordless Wednesday

Source

Ten on Tuesday - Perfection

1. What’s the perfect meal ?Let's talk about my last birthday dinner in Switz. It was pretty near perfect.
First, apero (aperitif) in the garden : cut veggies and homemade dip, tiny tomatoes and mozzarella balls on a stick dipped in a lovely basil olive oil and a little glass of vin blanc. Second, dinner in the house: mixed greens with homemade dressing, prosciutto and melon, and brochettes (kebabs) on the grill.
Third, terribly lovely chocolate cake, made from scratch and topped with little candies that spelled out my name.
Most excellent, merci again Audrey!

2. What are the perfect pair of shoes?
Something that is comfortable, classy, and pairs well with multiple outfits. Haven't yet found such a combination under $100. Oh wait, yes I have, just can't justify buying them. Come to me, my pretties:

TOMS red wrap boots

also these:

J.Jill grey wingtip flats

3. What is the perfect afternoon?
iced tea, the latest New Yorker, poolside, with a good friend

4. What's the perfect house?
Somewhere there are lots of trees and an ocean/lake view. Big windows with working shutters. Wooden shingle siding, wraparound porch, mansard roof. A wood-burning fireplace. Massive kitchen, heated floors. Enough room to put up friends and visitors. But the thing that makes a house perfect is who is inside. awww.


5. What's the perfect outfit?
skirt, ruffled blouse, jeweled flats
add tights and peacoat for winter.
you're welcome.

6. What's the perfect wedding song?
"Love You Madly" by Cake
I don't know, do I look like I'd have music at my wedding?

7. What's the perfect job?
Something that makes you say "I can't believe I get paid to do this." It doesn't feel like work because you love it so much.

8. What's the perfect hairstyle?
I'm a long hair fain: a low side bun. or a fishtail braid. executed perfectly, of course.

turquoise highlights optional

9. What's the perfect music festival?
I hate being anywhere there are massive crowds of people so a music festival where I was the only attendee? Hey, no one said these answers had to be realistic

10. What's the perfect day to yourself?
Picnic basket, notebook, camera, tunes, sunnies, lake.

As always, Ten on Tuesday credit goes to:

Baking EXTRAVAGANZA with special guest star Adam

 What do these three recipes have in common (besides being utterly delicious)?


Country Blueberry Coffee Cake


















Chocolate Babka

Cocoa Frosted Coconut Cake
















Answer: all three of them were made in the last 24 hours by Adam and I.
Yes, that's right. Three marvelous confections in a day!

But let me explain.  You see, Adam is a good friend of mine.  Some of you readers already know him. And I think you'd agree with me when I say he doesn't do anything halfway. When we want to be responsible citizens, most of us just vote and pay our taxes. But not Adam. He joins the Army and goes to the United States Military Academy for four years.  When he feels the need to exercise, he does a half marathon. So when he wants to bake, he won't stop until every last egg is gone and the whole house is under a fine dust of flour and sugar.

Whew. It is exhausting just being his friend.

I was not the least bit surprised when I showed up at his house yesterday with my mom's KitchenAid mixer and he already had a big stock of ingredients, a stack of recipes, and a fresh blueberry coffee cake waiting on the table.  Because that's just Adam.

But oh lands, what a coffee cake it was. Definitely the kind of pastry to get you in the mood for baking.

I took a photo of the coffee cake recipe. It's a Paula Deen creation, hence the quantity of butter. This is as American as recipes get, so my international friends will frown at the requirement for canned biscuit dough. I know better, I do, but it's so delicious and easy!

The next creation, perhaps the most delicious, was the most time-consuming: Chocolate Babka. This is a Middle Eastern sweet yeast pastry. A basic bread dough filled with a chocolate/cinnamon/sugar/butter mixture, twisted and twirled within an inch of its life, and topped with a flour/powdered sugar/butter streusel. We got this recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (also found online here). It's great because even though it's involved, it yields three loaves and the dough can be frozen fully prepared for up to a month, should you want to bake at a later time.

I won't go through the whole process, as the recipe is quite thorough with directions. Including lunch (and dance breaks), it took us hours upon hours and I in no way stopped to photograph every stage. But here are a few shots anyway:

And the finished products (the third loaf went into the freezer) :

A cut inside:

Good grief. Who needs alcohol? I'm intoxicated from baked goods. This is literally the most otherworldly creation I have ever made/eaten. 

After that, we only put our feet up for a quick minute before moving on to tasty bit #3: cake.  Since today is Adam's mother's birthday, we took a favored family recipe and added a twist.  Three layer coconut cake but with a heavenly cocoa frosting instead of the traditional vanilla.

Adam's mom is definitely a Paula Deen fan, so the cake is another one of her inventions. We used her cake and filling recipes and Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting recipe.

Again, not going to go through the whole process, since the cake recipe can be found here, but just a few photos:

It looks quite flat for a three-layer cake, but the lesson we learned here was this: self-rising flour. Which we definitely did not have. While a little disappointing in the presentation category, I have it on good authority that it is still quite delicious.

And so the day drew to a close. I am not a taste-while-cooking kind of person, but I still managed to be just a bit slap-happy from inhaling all the butter and sugar particles floating in the air. And I learned a few things about baking with another person. You have to keep a tight rein in the kitchen.

At the beginning of the day, Adam was behaving himself nicely.

But then he was getting a little handsy with the dough. Tsk tsk.

I wasn't afraid to keep him in line. That's right, Adam, you were streusel-slapped. Don't you touch that again.

As a less violent method of discipline, I made him wash the dishes. There's a good little helper. (Jillian, take note. He has kitchen potential as your future husband.)

 All in all, a very good day. But I need at least the weekend before I even look at the mixer again.
If you try any of these recipes, let me know how it turns out! Happy Baking!

Friday Five

This week's questions supplied to me by Alaina, my favorite Kiwi and fellow food lover. I only saw her about once a month while living in Switz, but the fact that she's back in NZ and I'm here in US makes it seem like we were next door neighbors! She's got excellent taste in music, the best laugh, and makes a mango tiramisu that is absolutely to die for. You would be the only one to give me questions, Langridge.  Tu dis si je pense fort à toi! :)


1. Are you a pc girl or a mac snob? 
Mac snob! I had a PC for about 5 years but it was problem city. And my Mac is just so pretty... 


2. If you could have one food supplied free to your doorstep every day for the rest of your life it would be.....?
Gruyere. I have a deep respect for this cheese and it is so very hard to find around here! Such a lovely melting cheese, so many ways to use it. 

3. What is the coolest/strangest/most random story you have to explain a scar you've got?
This is definitely a 'Laina question, I'm sure she's got loads! Oh dear, I'm afraid I don't lead an exciting enough life to have many scars to explain. I've got one on my ankle that came from stepping on the end of a piece of scrap metal. See, you're nodding off already! 

4. If you had to either take cold showers for the rest of your life or eat at a fast food restaurant once a day for the rest of your life, what would you chose?
I really pondered this one, because both are equally unpleasant, but settled on cold showers. A fast food habit like that would most certainly shorten my life span. 

5. When was the last time you played air guitar? 
Today. I have a terrible habit of not being able to keep still when I hear music.  I usually go for the air drums but ever since I lost my favorite air drum sticks, I've switched to the guitar. 


That's it! Thanks again for the questions, Alaina. 
As for the rest of you, I see you forgot to do your homework. Tsk tsk. Come on, make me proud! And feel free to answer these questions in the comments, or on your own blog!  

My Swiss Family

In French there is a saying:

Loin des yeux, loin du coeur

(Translation: far from the eyes, far from the heart)

You know, "out of sight, out of mind", but more elegantly.

However, it is completely and utterly wrong.

I miss sitting between my two petits escargots d'amour at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I miss reading stories at bath time.
I miss long chats late at night over cups of tea and apple pie.
I miss the mixture of two languages in every conversation.
I miss "et moi aussi!" and "on fait quoi maintenant?"
I miss the crazy stories of past travels and jobs and people.
I miss long afternoons drawing things and painting pictures.
I miss two blonde heads giggling in the balançoire.
I miss picnics in the garden.
I miss always needing three pairs of gloves to clean the bathroom, because of four extra hands that love to use the cleaning spray.
I miss taking silly Photobooth pictures in our pajamas.
I miss the nightly hunts for Dino the stuffed toy with his chewed off tail.


I even miss the cat.

And I miss this lovely, lovely house.

But most of all, I miss these cheeky grins.

I miss them so much my heart hurts.

I still dream in French.

I still wake up, and in that moment before opening my eyes, hear a noise that makes me think of a little boy clomping up the steps, in soccer cleats too big.  Or a muffled laugh, that makes me think of a little girl who's just climbed into bed with her maman and papa.

Eyes still closed, I turn my head but don't feel the morning sun on my face. Something's off.

And then I remember: these windows face west.  I'm not there anymore.  

Thank you.

Thank you for opening your home and your heart and giving some strange American girl a taste of life in another part of the world. 

Thank you for the laughs, the memories, the recipes, the language, and the life experience. 

Thank you for being willing to let me in and being willing to let me go. 

I miss you.

I love you.

And I hope with every fiber of my being to see you again one day soon.

For all the days until then, toute-bonne!

Bisous xx