Fall has finally arrived. The foliage on the deciduous plants in our backyard have turned a deep crimson, the blazing hot and unusual summery weather we got to experience a couple weeks ago is now replaced by brisk, cooler temperatures and al fresco dining gives way to cozy meals in the warmer indoors.
The first time I had hachis parmentier was in Paris but the irony was, it was served during a Brazilian party thrown by a Brazilian friend whom I met in pastry school. It was quite an eclectic meal with dishes from various countries and cultures: a part-American-part-French appetizer of endives with ratatouille and cubes of cheddar.
I'm totally mad at myself for being a day late on this week's TWD post and even more frustrated, to the point of infuriation, at having to fix the messed up codes on my previous blog template. What began as a task to fix page break code errors late Monday evening snow-balled to an entire Tuesday of switching templates multiple times, trouble-shooting, reformatting and changing layouts along the way. By the time I was ready to throw in the towel, it was already time to prepare dinner. So it was a night without any desserts at our home, which is, honestly, quite rare these days. They say that you get what you paid for and in my case, since I have been using free blog templates, I guess I shouldn't complain.
Eager for the opportunity to head back to the kitchen this morning - I don't think I can look at another html code ever again - I was looking forward to making the pumpkin caramel pie, this week's recipe picked by Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs, from pages 322-323 of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours
"Old Time, that greatest and longest established spinner of all! His factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his hands are mutes" ~ Charles Dickens
Contrary to my leisure days at home, the summer months in Paris were a constant drill of activities, swaying to the momentum of demo classes, practical sessions, practice bakes, catching up on class notes, mentally preparing for the next day's classes (and facing the capricious chef), hanging out at neighborhood cafés in the evenings, tête-a-tête-ing with either Regina or Gabi, my two new but dear friends. While there seemed to have a lot of time in my hands when I was home, there weren't many moments in Paris that I wasn't heading off to meet someone, do something, or be somewhere. Once the excitement of being in a new city waned, there were occasions when the rhythm of the city was simply, well, just overwhelming. I yearned for time to slow down, time to be alone - it seemed that I was often surrounded by people, those I knew and didn't (think Metro, Paris' famed public subway) - and enjoy the unadulterated bliss of soaking in the pleasures of Paris alone, for the sake of pleasure itself.>/span>
A mustard tart? I must admit I wasn't too excited about it initially but after reading everyone else's rave reviews about this week's FFwD pick, I knew I had no excuse to not try the recipe. I'm truly glad that I jumped the "mustard" bandwagon because it's really quite a genius of a recipe, with that touch of je ne sais quoi that has become so familiarly, so rightfully, French. I made the carrot-leek version in a square tart instead of round, scaled up the custard portion but I'm afraid, not enough to fill the tart to its brim - note to self: increase by one and a half times recipe portion in future. Although this post is a day late, I'm a mustard tart convert now and this is definitely one that I will keep making again and again, I'm sure.
Please head over here to see the wonderful works of other FFwD members.
Je suis vraiment, vraiment, vraiment heureux aujourd'hui parce que c'est vendredi - pas un vendredi ordinaire. C'est vendredi français avec Dorie!! Donc voila, voici mon gougères!
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