Lee's Apple Pie

"This must be where pies go when they die." ~ Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks

I was too young to appreciate the series Twin Peaks during it's prime, but one of my college roommates had every episode recorded on VHS tapes (including the Log Lady's dialogue!).

I quickly developed a crush on Agent Dale Cooper- and, if I'm being completely honest, Audrey Horne too. Agent Cooper's love for coffee and pie was charmingly contagious. To this day, I can't bake a pie without feeling nostalgic for afternoons and weekends spent curled up on a pea-green futon, watching a 12-inch TV propped up on plastic crates, and sipping coffee (or inexpensive white wine) *shh* from my favourite Pier 1 ceramic cup. (Yes, I drank Everything from that beloved cup.)

Oh late 90's, you were so innocent and unassuming. ♥

Spicy Brownies {and a Baked cookbook giveaway!}

"...you're east of East St. Louis
and the wind is making speeches
and the rain sounds like a round of applause." ~ Tom Waits "Time"

Today is splendid. The weather's soundtrack has been a fine performance of late autumn in blustery-grey minor. Mine is Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. (I just watched Melancholia for the 5th time last night.)

I hope that everyone had a peachy Thanksgiving! As of now, I'm just starting to be able to move around again without the safety net of stretchy pants. Pilates, however, is still out of the question. Sorry, Mari Winsor.

If you're out shopping today, I hope you make it back home without too many bruises or Scrooge-ish thoughts playing around in your head. I have never ventured outside on the day after Thanksgiving...I prefer to stay huddled within the safe confines of my cosy kitchen and remain anti-social until the chaos settles down.

Sweet Thanksgiving Recipe Round-Up

Can you believe we're just two days away from Thanksgiving? Time is such a slippery, shapeless entity. If it were palpable, I'd try to chase it down - although I'm sure it would elude my seeking eyes in some bustling airport near the equator. (I tend to lose important things in airports.)

If you're still scrabbling for dessert ideas, and you don't want to resort to anything store-bought, here are a few yummy suggestions to top off the gastronomic feast! Most are lavishly nontraditional -but I doubt anyone will complain about enjoying pumpkin cinnamon rolls for dessert, or a slice caramel layer cake instead of pumpkin pie. ;)

To all who celebrate, Have a scrumptiously Happy Thanksgiving! xo

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Ginger + Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Oh, mid-November with your cadet blue skies, indecisive sun and smouldering nostalgia.

The Buttered Pine Cone, Lemonatry, The Kitchen Cardigan, Ah Choux, Northern Noshings...these were just a few blog names that I tossed around in my head before landing on une gamine dans la cuisine (waaay back in the spring of '09!).

Sometimes I wish I'd gone with something more simple (and perhaps less coy?).

But I'm not always simple and I can be, at times, coy. So I'm content with the name. It's become an extension of me, an homage to a mischievous childhood nickname that was pliable enough to extend its flour coated + brownie-stained fingers into adulthood. I hope that everyone who follows along with me, new and old, feels a certain sense of familiarity when they visit. The visage may have gone through several changes but at its caramelized heart, une gamine has always maintained an unadulterated love for sugar, carbs, butter, lemons and copious amounts of chocolate chip cookies.

There shall be more. Many, many, more.

Cranberry Buttermilk Cake

When I read a book, I like to be swallowed up by the story. I allow my mind to become lost inside the words, the feel...the atmosphere. So when I put finally put the book down, I see the world through the eyes of the character(s). The lighting cast from my lamps is no longer my own, instead it belongs on a foggy London street and the familiar creaky wood floor is the breath and life of a drafty old castle. Oh, how I love to read!

The same applies to working in the kitchen. When I bake and take photos, I like to set the mood by playing whatever music strikes my fancy at the time. Weather usually dictates the ambiance, but so does my idiosyncratic taste in music. I enjoy almost all genres of music, except country (I'll keep trying though!). Yesterday was one of those wonderfully strange weather days. It was cloudy and sunny, and drizzly, and indecisive. The clouds cast massive angry shadows as they rolled across the treeline, only to reveal the sunlight between each act. It was the perfect mix of Charlotte Gainsbourg, Leonard Cohen and Vivaldi.

Each recipe has its own soundtrack. This simple cranberry buttermilk cake mirrored the temperamental brooding sweetness of yesterday's weather, perfectly.

Lemon Muffins

A tiny post for a sweet & easy recipe.

Tweets aside, *ahem* I usually try to retain a journalistic-like neutrality when it comes to certain issues. So please, just this once allow me to speak freely by saying how incredibly proud I am of our President! The election was long and brutal (on both sides). It's over. I'm over the moon, I'm walking on air, I'm just...I can breathe again.

Maybe now we can all just take a breath, dunk a few cookies into a shared glass of cold milk, and bring our level of arguing back down to casual library mode. ♥

Swedish Visiting Cake

Isn't she a scrumptious blue skillet! I still can't quite believe it's mine. Upon arrival I carried it around the house for about an hour, just so I could get a feel for its wonderfully substantial weight. I also placed it in different locations, surrounded by various linens (even though I almost always end up using the same set). We food bloggers are an odd bunch. ;)

A Le Creuset skillet has been on my radar (and wish-list) for years. So long, in fact, that I never thought I would actually own one.

Kismet must have been on my side because I won this regal blue deity in a giveaway hosted by  Averie, of  Averie Cooks! (I highly recommend a visit to Averie's blog. One look at her photos will have your stomach pleading to make one of her delectable recipes.) Thank you so much, Averie!