Strawberry Curd

May 30, 2013

Strawberry Curd / une gamine dans la cuisine


I'm not exactly an outdoorsy person, just ask the elephantine spider (sandwiched?) under a pile of ironic nature books on my living room floor for the past three weeks. (I'm convinced he's still alive, or, even worse, not there at all!) I wasn't a girl scout but I did go to the summer camp that was run by our local bird sanctuary. Even though it solidified my fear of anything that could creep onto me unnoticed, I relished the experience! I churned homemade vanilla ice cream, fed geese and ducks their morning corn, learned how to identify a few boreal star constellations, and plucked strawberries alongside my first official "crush."


His name was Sean - we only saw each other for a few weeks each summer. Very tragic. We would sneak out of our pseudo cabins at night to watch the stars and eat strawberries - which we dubbed "starberries."  On the last day of our last summer together, before Sean moved back to Maine, I gave him my fav. yellow stripped knee sock (just one, to be dramatic) and he gave me his fav. Atari tee-shirt. (It smelled like campfire ashes & bubble gum and was smeared with starberry juice.)

Strawberries will always make me think of young love and sticky, awkward, hand-holding.

Raspberry Oatmeal-Cinnamon Bars

May 24, 2013

Raspberry Oatmeal-Cinnamon Bars | une gamine dans la cuisine

Sometimes I crave several hefty spoonfuls of oats and brown sugar - with a smooch of something fruity. In my world, oatmeal isn't necessarily "healthy." It's wicked, and rebellious, and loves skipping gym class to hang out with sugar and butter.

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Candied Lemons

May 20, 2013

Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Candied Lemons | une gamine dans la cuisine


Currently: a slice of this darling cake (the very last!), lush trees,  lilac bushes blowing in a looming spring storm, and a thick-rimmed glass of iced coffee. I absolutely relish the month of May!

Rain makes its own night, long mornings with the lamp left
on.
Lean bean grass sticks to the floor near your shoes,
last summer’s pollen rises from damp metal screens.

This is order, this clutter that fills clearings between us,
clothes clinging to chairs, your shoes in a muddy grip.

The hard rain smells like it comes from the earth.
the human light in our windows, the orange stillness
of rooms seen from outside. The place we fall to alone,
falling to sleep. Surrounded by a forest’s green assurance,
the iron gauze of sky and sea,
while night, the rain, pulls itself down through the trees.


                            ~ Anne Michaels, in The Weight of Oranges

peanut butter + oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

May 13, 2013

peanut butter + oatmeal chocolate chip cookies | une gamine dans la cuisine

Every now and then we have our struggles with self-doubt and superfluous insecurities. Sometimes a sliver sized fragment of my own self-consciousness will splinter off and lodge itself into my blog. In dark times I'll compare my site with other food blogs and berate myself for not being as successful, especially when I discover a gorgeous newbie blog that already has a gazillion followers and resplendent acknowledgments in Saveur & Gourmet etc..

So when I was contacted by Martha's Circle last week, asking if I'd like to join, I was Beyond elated! Unfortunately, due a conflict with my current ad network (which I adore!), I had to turn down the offer. But it was just what my blog and I needed; irrefutable proof that one doesn't necessarily need an SLR camera, or the fancy bells and whistles of Photoshop, to get "noticed."

I hope you don't mind me sharing that bit of exciting news. I'm a chronic wallflower, but sometimes the warm glow of a spotlight feels soft and cosy. If une gamine dans la cuisine were a cat, she'd be purring like a lioness. :)

Now, lets talk cookies.

Mother's Day Dessert Ideas

May 10, 2013

Brown Sugar Buttermilk Pie | une gamine dans la cuisine



My days have been blowing around in a strange windstorm this entire week. I thought Monday was Wednesday and Wednesday was Thursday. Now that it's Friday, I feel inadequate - as though I haven't earned the right to thoroughly enjoy my beloved weekend bounce.

I almost forgot about Mother's Day too! *Eep!* So instead of sharing the cookie recipe I'd promised via Instagram and Facebook...and Twitter (Sheepish am I), I'm digging through the archive and sharing some of my favouite recipes that you, and your fabulous mom, might enjoy.

The peanut butter, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe will make its gracefully, clumsy appearance next week. Promise.

{Note: The link to each recipe is just below it's corresponding photo.}

P.S. Fellow food blogger, and talented photographer, Jehanne (The Cooking Doctor), has just released a wonderful Mother's Day newsletter - complete with beautiful step-by-step directions on how to make rose cake pops! More details Here.

Moonshine Banana Blondies

May 6, 2013

moonshine banana blondies | une gamine dans la cuisine


"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."

Kobayashi Issa, in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, translated by Robert Hass

I have a bad habit of mourning the ending of something I love before it's truly even started - an all-consuming book, an impromptu party, a much-anticipated film, lemon cake, a vacation, etc...

Currently I have a massive crush on spring and summer. Of course, in vintage form, all I can think of is their fleeting presence. If only it were possible to place a wedge under the door of time - just so we could linger a little bit longer in the warmth and lush beauty of May, June, July, and yes, even sultry August. (And if only I could figure out how to take my eyes off dark horizons and live in the moment.)

Luckily I can always rely on baking to help me stay focused on "the now." Whiskey helps with "the maybe!"

P.S. I used normal whiskey in this recipe. Moonshine just sounds mysteriously intriguing. 

Raspberry Cornmeal Thumbprint Cookies

May 2, 2013

raspberry cornmeal thumbprint cookies | une gamine dans la cuisine

When I was in grade school I remember a rather bully-ish boy who liked to stick his index finger into everyone's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. For this reason the phrase "thumbprint cookie" is slightly off putting. I'm all for diving into food with both hands, but the idea of deliberately poking something seems offensive and unsanitary. Luckily as a child I didn't know that the jam-filled confections were called thumbprint cookies. To me they were tasty, jewel-toned medallions, filled with magical powers that would help me save Fantasia from The Nothing (hide me from food ravaging bullies).

If you didn't grow up loving The NeverEnding Story, please give it another chance. Maybe we can be friends again. (If you are too young to have heard about the movie, I don't want to know!) ;)
 
Even though I'm slightly uncomfortable with the title, these thumbprint cookies were splendid, and simple...and a bit magical; they certainly disappeared in the blink of an eye.
 

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