January 2007 archives

Living abroad, naturally, one of the great joys in life is getting a care package from ‘home’.

A box arrives unannounced from a friend, and it’s a wonderful surprise. You rip it open and find it’s packed with all sorts of things that you miss about your country.

For an American, especially one who bakes, contents might include, say…corn syrup, peanut butter, a mini-Sharpie keychain (yes!), and a homemade potholder.

I’ve also gotten local newspapers, chapstick, and dried apricots and sour cherries.

But…?

I hope the next one reunites him with Marie…

The Time Out Paris: Eating and Drinking is one of the most up-to-date dining guides to Paris, and the reviews and information are snappy, solid, well-researched, and remarkably up-to-date.

The newest guide, Edition 8, has essential information on over 850 restaurants, and included are chapters on Bistros, Brasseries, Classics, Haut Cuisine, Trendy, and Regional cuisines, as well as a good section for les Vegetarians. But my favorite is the section on Budget restaurants, which are fun to explore…especially if you’re interested in veering slightly off-the-beaten path.

There’s also chapters packed with addresses directing you to gourmet stores, tea salons, and an enormous amount of information on ethnic dining. Plus sidebars directing you to gastronomic specialties around town; where to find cheese, ice cream, or where to take a wine tasting.

The index is particularly excellent, as it allows you to search for restaurants alphabetically or by arrondisement, where the restaurants are also broken down by cuisine. There’s city maps and a lexicon of French-English culinary translations too.

Although I have little space on my book shelf for lots of guidebooks, I always buy the new Time Out Paris Dining guide as it gets updated. It’s easy to carry, compact, and truly the most useful culinary guide to Paris in English that I know of.

Very highly-recommended if you live here or are planning a visit!

I met Gale Gand a few years back at a culinary conference. I love meeting other bakers since we all share an unspoken bond, and we’re generally the nicest people you’re likely to meet (if I do say so myself). And I was happy to discover that Gale was no exception.

Gale’s the author of four highly-regarded books on baking, Just A Bite, Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, Short & Sweet: Quick Desserts with Eight Ingredients or Less, and her latest, Chocolate & Vanilla, aside from all the other hats she wears.

Gale is also the host of one of the few baking programs on television, Sweet Dreams, and is the Executive Pastry Chef and co-owner of TRU restaurant in Chicago. Gale also (whew!)) won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef of the Year in 2001 and she owns a coffee shop…and a soda company!

We’ve kept in touch over the years, and I was really happy when my copy of Chocolate & Vanilla arrived so I could tackle some of Gale’s recipes. (And for regular readers who’ve followed my problems with getting deliveries, you can imagine I was really, really happy just that it arrived at all!)

But it also gave me an excuse to take a moment to chat with Gale about her career in baking, and everything else that she’s involved with…

David: How did you get your own program, Sweet Dreams on Food Network?

Gale: They called ME!

I used to call them when I was going to be in New York to be on Sarah Moulton’s show and they’d give me a show date. Then one time I called to get a date and they said they didn’t have any for me. I was shocked (and pouting)! Then there was a pause on the phone and then they said, “Because we’d like to offer you your own show!”

So I got super lucky. No try outs.

D: It sounds like your appearances on Sara’s show were your try outs. So you probably weren’t a jangle of nerves.

Speaking of nerves, what’s the hardest thing about doing a television program?

G: Leaving my husband and kids for 2 weeks to stay in New York while I film…and leaving my restaurant staff too.

D: Is there anyone on Food Network that you really liked cooking with, and anyone you didn’t?

Continue Reading Interview with Gale Gand…

As you can imagine, after living in San Francisco for almost twenty years, I have some pretty wacky friends. While I don’t want to recount everything that happened back in the days of free-love, many of us have grown up and gone on to tastier things.

One friend has a wildly successful cheese shop. Another opened a bakery , a chocolate factory, or became wine importers…and more folks I knew opened bakeries, and ice cream shops, and chocolate shops, and bread bakeries, and…(hey…someone remind me why I moved…)

But who was lovin’ the apricot jam?

As it turns out, my friend Eric was, using the organic Blenheim apricots from one very old tree in his backyard.

A recent issue of Food+Wine called it “…simply the best jam we’ve ever tasted.” And one of their editors liked it so much that he’s now the first person on their waiting list for it. Sounds like it’s (almost) jam worth moving back for.

So if you’re interested, visit We Love Jam and get yourself on that waiting list!

For your convenience, here’s links to the four posts for Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand:

Here it is!

The final round-up for Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand.

These are the last entries for the event and thanks to everyone for their participation.

I was overwhelmed by the number of entries (to say the least…) but was happy there was so much interest in chocolate and was amazed at all the beautiful and well-crated dessert folks are making out there. It was also a pleasure to learn about a few new chocolates and I plan to do a post in the near future to write more about them.

Due to the very high number of entries, over 100, a few photos in this post aren’t included. If you’re one of those who did send a properly-sized photo (100×100) and it’s not here, please re-send it to me and I’ll insert it. Desolé.

Thanks to Jennifer, the Domestic Goddess who came up with Sugar High Friday, the event on which these posts are based.

Starting off is a gorgeous Schokoladen-Ingwer-Tropfen mit Zimtsauce und Mango Püree, a professional-looking, teardrop-shaped river of Chocolate Ginger Tears with Cinnamon Custard and Mango-Ginger Puree which are so pretty, you’ll shed a tear too!
Brigitte used Michel Cluizel couverture from France.

Two great tastes, one great dessert!
Peanut Butter Cup and Chocolate Chip Bars from Lisa Yockelson, using Callebaut chocolate.
Samantha’s raised the bar for bar cookies with these buttery beauties.

Karen at Familystyle Food whipped out a simple and sensation Chocolate Truffle Tart. using her ‘embarrassment of riches’ (check out her chocolate stash…it rivals mine!), she plucked one tablet of Nestlé Chocolatier 62% bittersweet chocolate.
And oh, how bittersweet it is…

Slipping in at the last-minute was Plum who instead of paying the $50 bribe…er…I mean late-fee, sent a photo proving she owns all three of my books. (Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get my attention…or $50 works too, fyi.)
So here’s her Chocolate-Raspberry Truffles. She wanted to use a local chocolate, but ending up using Callebaut 53.8% drops.
(Plum: Are you sure they weren’t 54.6%?)

Abby at Confabulation Cooks goes all-out with Warm Chocolate Pudding using the ever-popular Lindt brand bittersweet, in her adorable new ramekins she broke out (not literally!) just for Sugar High Friday.

Another adults-only recipe, although a quick visit to Cucina Bella’s site shows a younger-sort rifling through her chocolate stash! She used Trader Joe’s bittersweet chocolate for her Adults-Only Mudslide Mousse with a mature measure of Bailey’s Irish Cream.

Does size matter?
I think you’ll have to decide that for yourself, but Brigid at One More Bite answers the question Does Brand Matter?
In her classic S’mores, she finds that good-’ol Hershey’s hits the spot.
And not that spot…get your minds out of the gutter…

And from Trini Gourmet comes a fusion-filled recipe, Upside Down Chocolate Cake with a thin, biscuit-like crust and a cakey, creamy layer of fudge on the bottom. She broke out her Trinidadian chocolate for this special event: Blendo’s.

Continue Reading Chocolate Dessert Recipes, part 4…

The Round-Up Continues…

Ashley made Chocolate Truffles with Edible Gold with a basic ganache using Valrhona 70% Guanaja chocolate.

At Gastronomicon, she dipped her way to passionate delight with Passionfruit Truffles surrounded by El Rey chocolate, used for its robust flavor.

Baked Chocolate Fudge was a New Zealand treat from Arfi, who used Whittaker’s 72% dark to scratch that chocolate itch.

Over at Café Lynnylu, there’s a batch of Little Chocolate Cherry Cakes, heart-shaped, waiting for you. Using Ghiradelli 60% for these robust chocolate treats, she found these equally good for breakfast as they were for dessert!

Continue Reading Chocolate Dessert Recipes, part 3…

The avalanche of entries for Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand continues.

Thanks again to all participants, and be sure to visit their sites and click on the chocolate links to learn more about the different kinds of chocolate used from around the globe. This entry takes us all over the world, from Paris, to America, through South and Central America, as well as Istanbul and Holland.

A real Dutch-treat, Ashleigh at Stiched in Holland whipped up a Dark Chocolate and Cherry Steamed Pudding, which she claimed was hard to photograph (although I’m sure it was easy to eat.) A trip to the natuurwinkel yielded a tablet of Green & Black’s organic dark chocolate, which she put to delicious use.

You’ll be gnawing at your computer screen when you see Piperata’s Cranberry and Chocolate Cookies which she baked up in her kitchen in Milan. Zani chocolate, produced-nearby, was her choice for the dark chocolate, and a bar of Lindt white chocolate was sacrificed as well for this sweet event.
(Although I wonder where the heck she got dried cranberries in Italy?)

Suzy, who claims Suzy’s Not A Homemaker, process herself wrong by whipping up a picture-perfect batch of Chocolate Hazelnut Scones. Unwrapping a bar of snow-bound chocolate bar she had from Starbucks, Suzy proves she was up to this sweet challenge.

Alanna at A Veggie Adventure who fussed & fumed about what to make, before deciding on a silky, creamy, Light ‘n Easy Chocolate Pudding she made in minutes. Alanna likes Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder, because it gives chocolate desserts, like her low-fat chocolate pudding, a dark-black chocolate color.

Although she’s finds lots of chocolates to choose from in Metz, France, including Cémoi organic, Julie at Cookbook Addict chose to use Lindt 70% for her Individual Butterless Chocolate Cakes. Although it’s hard to imagine a cake in France sans beurre, she pulls it off…these chocolate cakes may look small but they’re big on addictive chocolate flavor.

Continue Reading Chocolate Dessert Recipes, part 2…