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Recipes

paris

It’s been over three months since we’ve returned from our honeymoon, and here I am, dutifully plugging away at these ‘travel guides’. I hope you don’t mind.

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Paris. I love Paris. I love Paris for all of the reasons every artist loves Paris. It is exquisite. No matter where you point your camera or your brush, you can capture something objectively beautiful without even the faintest of struggles. It’s nearly impossible to not feel inspired walking around Paris. Your artist soul feels lucky to be alive. It’s an aesthetic wonderland.

I also love Paris for all of the reasons Julia Child and anyone else who loves to eat loves Paris. You can eat absolutely wonderful food without trying. There is a bakery on every corner with window displays that will make your heart flutter. Baguettes and croissants for one euro that are so good they deserve a line down the block. There is so much care put into the food, regardless of price point. It’s thrilling. A delicious and inevitable feast.

Like anyone who appreciates a good thing, I’d go back to Paris in a minute. Six days in Paris simply isn’t enough. And I’d bring a few extra rolls of black and white film. Is there anything more romantic than Paris in black and white? Hardly.

There’s truth at the root of every cliché.

To Do

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Louis Vuitton Foundation. A newly-opened modern and contemporary art museum housed in an incredible building designed by Frank Gehry. The collection is tightly curated and super interesting, and the architecture is unexpected and a pleasure to explore. If you only go to one museum in Paris, make it this one. Their approach is quite different from most other Parisian museums, it’s a refreshing experience.

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Le Marche d’Aligre Beauvau Market Tour. We got a tour of this outdoor/indoor market from a local woman, which we booked through AirBnB experiences. She was wonderful, and we learned a lot more about the history of the neighborhood than we would have otherwise, but it would be fun to visit even without a guide. The produce is beautiful and so affordable; the indoor market has a great selection of cheese, meat, and charcuterie.

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E. Dehillerin Cooking Store. Another Julia Child moment. My time in France was full of Julia Child moments, which couldn’t make me happier. E. Dehillerin is perfect if you want to pick up a duck press, fancy copper cookware or a whisk the size of a toddler.

Cooking Classes at Le Foodist. We took a croissant class. I got to hold pounds of french butter in my hands. It was delightful! I hope to put the skills I learned to use one of these days. They offer lots of other classes as well, from macron cookies to French wine pairings.

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Pompidou and d’Orsay. So much art! For modern art, go to the Pompidou. There are rooms for each major movement, and it’s chock full of the greatest hits. Art nerd paradise. For romanticism, art nouveau and classical sculpture, hit up the d’Orsay. They also have pretty stunning spread of Monet and Renoir. It’s almost ridiculous how much incredible artwork is crammed into these two buildings. Book your tickets in advance if you can, the lines are quite long.

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Notre Dame and Sacre Cour. Despite the fact that the Sagrada Familia has ruined me for all other churches, Notre Dame and the Sacre Cour are both beautiful and absolutely worth a peak inside.

To Eatparis-4

First, I highly recommend you download the Paris Pastry app by cookbook author and blogger David Lebovitz. It details all of his favorite bakeries, pasty shops, chocolate shops and ice cream spots in Paris. We’d navigate to a neighborhood to visit something else, then open the app and find ourselves the perfect breakfast, lunch or snack.

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Eric Kayser Boulangerie. A small chain that has stores scattered throughout the city, Eric Kayser was our go-to for breakfast and picnic lunches. Their croissants are delicious, and their baguettes might be even better. Don’t neglect the tarts either—the passionfruit one was my favorite, but you knew that already.

La Patisserie Cyril Lignac. Each pastry is a work of art. I chose a lemon tart, which was up there in terms of the cutest things I’ve ever eaten. And delicious too! It’s heaven to wait in line in these places admiring the artistry of their pastry.

Blé Sucre. Home of the best croissant in Paris, at least by Jordan’s assessment. How they were able to make a single pastry with that many layers is beyond my comprehension.

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Berthillon Ice Cream. Famous for a reason. Small scoops of perfect ice cream. I got the wild strawberry, which had tiny wild strawberries studded throughout. I was tickled.

Lenotre. Insanely good chocolate and another beautiful store. Every food display is stunning, I loved this about France. Their dark chocolate truffle assortment is great for bringing back as souvenirs—earl grey, caramel, orange, passionfruit, and all so subtlety flavored.

Le Mary Celeste. Started by Californians in Paris, Le Mary Celeste is undeniably an ex-pat hang, but that doesn’t make their cocktails and food any less delicious. Fresh, fun and relaxed, Le Mary Celeste is a good time, and a nice foil to the boeuf bourguignon and steak au poivre we had the night before. Thanks to our friends Josh and Erin for the recommendation.

Bistro du Henri. More traditional french cuisine, and the perfect stop after a stroll in Luxembourg gardens. We ate lunch here, which almost put us out of commission for the rest of the day. The braised lamb is heaven, the sea bass with sorrel is beautiful, and of course, there’s the chicken liver pate appetizer which could easily be a meal on its own. Add a pot of wine and you’ll wonder why you’d ever leave Paris. Thanks to Matt and Alexa for the recommendation.
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L’Ebauchoir. The perfect mix of modern and traditional french cuisine. The quality of the produce and the meat was exquisite. We had a choux pastry with whipped goat cheese and herbs to start, then pork with rhubarb, potatoes and snap peas, and duck breast with strawberries, mashed potatoes, turnips and zucchini. I have no idea what they did to those turnips, but my mind was blown. We asked for two glasses of rosé, but they brought the bottle saying, “drink as much as you want, and we’ll charge you for whatever you drink”. Oh, Paris.

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Picnic below the Eiffel Tower or on the Seine. We had two dinner picnics, one on the bank of the Seine and one below the Eiffel Tower. I loved them both. A bottle of wine, good cheese and charcuterie, a baguette, some peaches and strawberries from the market, just snacking and taking it all in. Paris is known for it’s Michelin-starred restaurants, but I must say, picnics in Paris is my idea of heaven.

To Drink
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Sherry Butt. Weird and fun cocktails. The perfect break after walking around in the heat all day. It was nearly empty when we were there around 7 pm.

Brewberry. A craft beer bar with 20 or so taps, plus a bottle selection. Sit outside and watch the city go by while sipping on your Cantillon.

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Beers on Jardin des Tuileries. If you happen to find yourself on an epic walk from the Arc du Triumph to the Louvre, you might want to grab a to-go beer from one of the snack kiosks and kick back in the garden.

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Le Baron Rouge. An old school wine bar near Marche d’Aligre. They have barrels of wine stacked along one wall of the bar, which they sell by the liter to-go. A mixture of old neighborhood folks and tourists from the market.

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Categories
Thoughts on Life

taipei

I’ve been back from Taipei for over a month, but I’m finally getting myself together to write and to share some of the photos I took. I decided to shoot film on this trip, and I’m so glad I did. The tones of the film captured the atmosphere of the city so perfectly. I’d forgotten how satisfying and surprising it is to get your film back from the shop and look through what you shot.

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Honestly, the trip was a blur. A stunning, delicious blur. Our schedule was packed from morning until night. We got by taking naps in the car most days. We packed so much into a short time, jet lag be damned. It was unlike any trip I’ve ever taken.

This was my first trip to Asia, and my first trip to a country where I couldn’t decipher any of the language, written or spoken. Hello and thank you are all I’ve got in Chinese. It’s such a different experience to visit a place where your brain doesn’t work in the usual ways. It was freeing to give up trying to figure anything out and just let the experience of the place wash over me. I felt like a kid, eyes wide, taking it all in, amazed because everything was so new and unfamiliar and beautiful. It is truly lovely to just follow along, knowing you’ll be taken care of and whatever comes next will likely top what was before it. I enjoyed every minute of it.

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Taipei is a beautiful city. And food city. I’ve never eaten so well in a single week. We had soup dumplings, traditional Taiwanese food, mind-blowing sushi, modern Cantonese food, Taiwanese noodles, Japanese barbecue, hot pot, Taiwanese street food, ramen, and so much tea. Chaz, our generous host, knows how to eat and he left no stone unturned. We’d sit down at a restaurant and food would appear at the table, more food than five people could possibly eat, and we’d dig in. I ate it all, and it was incredible.

Taiwanese food is a very fresh, clean cuisine. The seasoning is simple, a little ginger, soy, green onion, maybe a little chili if it’s a spicy dish. The focus seems to be on letting the ingredient—the meat, the seafood, the vegetable—really shine. Not to mention the quality and diversity of the seafood is unlike anything you can get in the United States. I had a clam soup made with only clams, water, ginger and green onion, and it was perfection. And the noodles. Oh the noodles. It was an education.

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We also visited museums, museums of historical Chinese artifacts and modern art museums. There were food markets, night markets, tea houses and temples. I rode a gondola plastered with Hello Kitty stickers into the mountains, and the fastest elevator in the world to the 88th floor of Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings ever built. I went to a five story electronics market and sang private room karaoke. Don’t Cry for Me Argentina might have been my best performance. I took baths and watched Project Runway at 3 in the morning when I couldn’t sleep from the jet lag.  Even looking at the photos, proof that it all happened, it still feels like a dream.

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I feel incredibly thankful to have had the chance to take such a phenomenal trip. Not everyone works with such good people every day, and even fewer are treated to trips around the world. Such friendship and generosity is not lost on me. I’m sure I’ll share more stories from the trip as they come back to me, and as they work their way into my cooking.

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And, before you go take a nap or a shot of whiskey to revitalize yourself after finishing this epic post, happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah! I hope your days are filled sharing food you love with the people you love. There isn’t anything better.

Xo, Emily

Categories
Recipes

almond cake and tea

I got back from my trip to Taiwan a week before Thanksgiving, and time has just been barreling forward since.  Work, work, work, Thanksgiving, weekend of wedding scheming with my mom, radio appearance, work, work, work, work, work, Christmas Cookie Day, try recipes from a friend’s new cookbook, back to work. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be moving at this clip through the end of the year.

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But, somewhere in there, I did have time to make this cake. This slow down and savor the moment with a cup of tea cake. Neither Jordan or I are big fans of almond flavored desserts typically, but this cake is really perfection. The crumb is tight, but not too dense, and not at all dry. The almond flavor is just right. Not enough to taste fake, just enough to say, ‘yes sir, I am an almond cake. Pleased to be your breakfast’.

I love a cake that transitions effortlessly from dessert to breakfast. Some days mustering up the strength to get out of the door is tough. Cake helps with that. This cake is my breakfast cake ideal, and I’ve been thinking about it every breakfast since I made it a few weeks ago. It feels almost premature to say this one is being promoted to one of my go-to recipes, but I’m going to put it out there. It really is that good.

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In Taiwan we drank a lot of tea. It was on of my favorite parts of the trip. We’d slow down from the marathon eating and sightseeing (which also was an absolute treat), to sit down in a quiet place and share some tea. There’s a whole ritual associated with having tea in Taiwan, which the server would walk us through every time before passing the responsibility of tea-brewer onto someone in our group. Quite possibly this whole routine was just putting on a show for tourists, but I loved it nonetheless. Sitting in a quiet tea shop in a jet-lagged haze, misty air blowing in through the open windows, the business of the city moving along outside, drinking delicately brewed tea, letting the experiences of the trip wash over me. It was good.

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I tried to recreate the experience at home with Jordan, but it really wasn’t the same. I’m not quite as experienced a tea preparer as those tea house employees. Though Jordan did say that the tea tasted better out of the little tea set I brought back from Taiwan than out of our regular mugs. So that’s something. Plus, there was almond cake. Where there is tea, there should also be almond cake.

Almond Cake, from Orangette and adapted from Amanda Hesser’s Cooking for Mr. Latte
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 (7-ounce) tube almond paste, cut into small pieces
4 egg yolks, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract

Preheat your oven to 350° F. Butter and then line a 9″ springform pan with parchment paper, and then butter the paper. In a small bowl, mix together sour cream and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the almond paste a few pieces at a time, and beat on medium speed for 8 minutes. Yes this is a long time, but want the almond paste to be nicely incorporated—no chunks.

Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, and mix until incorporated. Beat in the almond extract and the sour cream mixture. Reduce mixer speed to low, and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter a couple of times to make sure that all of your flour has been mixed in.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and spread it evenly. Bake for about 1 hour – the cake will be a medium brown color and pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack, and cool the cake in its pan. Slice and serve with a dollop of whipped cream for dessert, or a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast.

-Emily