We made a cake!!!

This past weekend my sister and I baked a cake for my father's birthday. Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party cake filled with lemon curd and decorated with 7-minute frosting and fresh raspberries. It makes me think that spring is almost here!

I am alive...

I am alive, for the few of you who are wondering ;) It is the middle of November and that means that I am in the midst of National Novel Writing Month! My novel is... interesting. I am hoping that this is one of those things that will look a lot better a few months from now! Most of the time when I am not sleeping or working is spent writing, or sitting at my computer staring at the screen! I have recently discovered Frank Turner and have spent many hours listening to every song of his that I can find. If Ever I Stray and Saint Christopher is Coming Home are my current favourites! Hope that all of you are well =D

French Fridays with Dorie - Top 5 of 50

Well folks, as of this week, we have made 52 recipes from Dorie Greenspan's book, Around My French Table. 52! (Unless my math is off...totally possible) And tomorrow, October first, is one year since we have posted the first results of the first recipe: Gougeres! I have not been faithful in making every recipe, but I have made most of them! This group has forced/led me to expand both in cooking and in eating, which is a great thing. Here are my five favourite recipes from our journey thus far!!

Warm Weather Pot de Feu This utterly simple soup is one I have made at least two times more since we made it as a group. It is warm, Delicious and satisfying but packs a ton of veggies in a bowl! Chicken B'stilla What can I say... the flavours and textures in this dish were amazing. So unlike anything I have made before! Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger I loved the Red Onion Marmalade and the sun-dried tomatoes in the burgers, delicious and different. Vanilla eclairs To be honest, it was the Chocolate Pastry cream of Dorie's that made me fall in love with these eclairs. I ate... many. Salted Butter Break-ups A sweet and salty humongous cookie to break up with friends, what can go wrong?

FFWD Week #51: Honey-Spiced Madeleines

These Madeleines called out to me a few months ago, and after trying them I was determined to make them again this fall, when there flavours would be perfect. I was so glad to see these on the schedule! I made the mistake of quickly glancing through the ingredients, quickly deciding I had them all and then not looking at the recipe again until I was ready to bake. As a result, I skipped the orange zest :( and added a few squirts of lemon juice instead.

I don't own a Madeleine pan, but a dear friend of mine does. Thanks friend!

I am so excited that fall is here! I can not wait to start baking with pumpkin again!

FFWD Week #49: Creamy, Cheesey, Garlicky Rice with Spinach

I did actually make this a few weeks ago when it was on the schedule, but my computer was having... issues. I enjoyed this dish, but I was skeptical up until I added the cheese. Cheese always fixes things!

FFWD Week #48: Corn Soup

Soup. Yum! I really need to make more soup.

This corn soup of Dorie's is delicious. I loved the garnish of bacon, corn kernels and scallions - I think that they added a lot to this dish. More bacon would have been even better! I used 1% instead of whole milk and threw in some fresh basil and sage instead of the rosemary and thyme. Have a fabulous weekend =D

FFWD Week #47: Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger

This was a delicious, delicous hamburger, but I had trouble taking a good photo of it. I also made quite a mess eating this hamburger, but it was SO good! I must admit, this is the first time EVER that I have made hamburgers! I've eaten plenty of homemade burgers, but they have always been made by lovely and talented friends and family. I think this was a good start to my hamburger making career =) The Red onion marmalade was really good, and the sundried tomatoes in the burger worked very well, as did the parmasean. I skipped the capers and cornichons. This recipe is definitely one of my favourites that we've made so far! By the way... the photo above is an Arbutus tree, I love them!