December 9, 2012 Post a Comment

Afternoon Tea: Blue Bottle Coffee at SF MoMA

Time for a new blog series on afternoon tea, my new favorite activity. Not everywhere I go is has a traditional tea service but there is still a sit-down experience to enjoy a hot beverage and treat. It feels good to do that sometimes, especially when I normally eat standing in the kitchen while cooking. I’ll start my series with my visit to Blue Bottle Coffee Bar at the Museum of Modern Art.

In October I went to the MoMA on a free day. What would have been cost for admission now went towards dessert! Next to the rooftop garden, Blue Bottle Coffee has a little shop where you can get coffee, tea, hot cocoa as you would at any other location. What makes this particular spot special is the dessert menu inspired by paintings in the museum. Pastry Chef Caitlin Freeman’s creations are quirky and playful. Her most famous piece is the Mondrian Cake so I went with that.

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December 5, 2012 Post a Comment

Bouchon Bakery Book Project

I am excited to share with you this new project that I am a part of. A group of us at Williams-Sonoma Union Square have joined together to bake our way through Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery cookbook.

bouchonproject_logosquarebk

Every week we will test a new recipe and post a blog recap on Friday. Because we have a group of people baking we will cover as many variations as possible such as convection/standard bake, varying equipment (there are some specialty tools used), metric vs standard measurements.

When I first skimmed through the book I noticed all the measurements were given in both metric and standard which is great as I prefer to weigh my ingredients. Also, everything is so precise. Vanilla paste: 7.7 grams. Eggs? Thomas Keller’s method is to weigh them after straining out the chalaze, the part that connects the egg white and yolk. To stay true to the book, I will do the same as tedious as it sounds.

Check back here each Friday as I will be posting my own entry on each recipe we do.

If you would like to participate, see here for details. It is incredibly easy. We want this to be something everyone can be involved in!

November 26, 2012 2 Comments

Joséphine Chez Dumonet

This post is one of many documenting my week in Paris, a present to myself for graduating pastry school in the fall of 2012. Every moment was spent eating and one post wasn’t enough. It’s now a short novel. Kidding. I hope.

On this trip, I was looking for an authentic French dining experience, some real protein to offset my subsistence on baguette and beurre. I consistently read that Chez Dumonet in the 6th arrondisement was the place to go. So I decided to start my trip right and made a reservation for my first full day in the city.

Grand Marnier Soufflé

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November 8, 2012 4 Comments

Paris Croissants Revisited and Ranked

This post is one of many documenting my week in Paris, a present to myself for graduating pastry school in the fall of 2012. Every moment was spent eating and one post wasn’t enough. It’s now a short novel. Kidding. I hope.

On the flight to Paris, while taking a nap I woke to the smell of butter. My nose said… croissants! I immediately scanned the plane for a coming flight attendant. Sadly, this is what landed in front of me. Never have I seen such a sad, limp piece of pastry. I ate it anyway because well, I was bored and anxious with 2 hours to go till landing. Not a very good reason but I vowed when I got into the city I’d eat enough good ones to make up for this.


Left: Plane croissant, Right: Pierre Hermé croissant

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