Maca-what?

My next project...

Macarons are a hot little topic on the food blogs these days and I am sad to say I have not been able to produce a true macaron.  I've followed the recipe.  I've let them sit.  I've baked them off.  Only to be treated to foot-less, puffy, shine-less cookies.  While still delicious, I cannot properly call them macarons.

So I've been studying, buying books and eating lots of macarons!  While in Europe recently I purchased a few books about macarons.  I even got to meet chef and author, Gerard Mulot, while in Paris.  Hopefully all of this information and inspiration will soon result in shiny and delicious macarons.  Here is my first attempt, I don't feel confident enough to write out a recipe yet, so just enjoy my sad looking chocolate and peanut butter macarons...

Mint Brownies

Is it Christmas yet? I’m pretty sure that it was July about a week ago and all of a sudden Halloween has gone by! And what did I do on Halloween? Perhaps I went to some crazy costume party. Or maybe I enjoyed an evening of pumpkin carving with friends. No, that’s all lies. I spent my Halloween on a train. A five hour train ride getting home from Washington, D.C. The only Halloween festivities that I saw Sunday night were the crazy people in Newark train station. I must mention that I was not out amongst the lunatics, I watched from my little train window as they reveled.

This time of year is rife with holidays, which means that the time seems to pass all that much quicker. No sooner is one holiday upon us that we are looking forward to the next. I like to go buy Halloween candy (for me to eat, not give out to cute kids), but I am confronted with chocolate Santa’s and peppermint nougats. We spend thanksgiving reading the ads for the next day’s black Friday sales. Christmas is spent deciding what you are taking back tomorrow (those pants are totally going back).

So in the spirit of enjoying every moment, I am going to spend the next several days celebrating me! Did you know that it’s my birthday next week? I will be entering into my final year as a twenty-something. So let’s spend the week celebrating with sweets! I’ll throw in something healthy every few days, but I want to celebrate with sugar! And today we start with mint and chocolate, mmm. Happy Birthday me.

BBAC - Anadama Bread

A pretty simple post today, to go along with a simple bread. A bread that I would have never baked if not for the Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge. You’ve never heard of the BBAC? It’s lots of fun. You go out and get yourself a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. You join the BBAC group on facebook. Then you bake your way through the book, from A to Z. Simple, fun, challenging! I have always wanted to be able to bake bread. To make my 350 square feet of living space smell like the inside of a bakery.

Bread is one of those food items that it seems silly to make, right? I mean bread is two dollars at the store, maybe three at the bakery. Why make your own? Because a sandwich tastes better when made on home baked bread. Toast is so much more crunchy and flavorful. French toast comes out richer. Everything just tastes better. So challenge yourself, get a biceps workout and enjoy bread, warm from the oven.