A few links:
Rosie Thomas covers December Child. Beautiful.
Also, Stevie Wonder on Sesame Street. He’s amazing.
And! Star Wars Holiday Christmas special. Or Amy Grant Christmas special. You choose.
I have Braided Chocolate and Cacao Nib bread over at Bread in Five, and Pumpkin Bars at Handmade Charlotte.
Happy Holidays, dear Reader! xo
I remember the first time I heard about two people meeting up after finding each other on the internet. A girl from my highschool had met ‘the one’ in a chat room, and her and the stranger were going to go ahead and get married. It was 1999, and I was totally freaked out. There were so many ways the story could end, but it seemed obvious he was a pyscho path and she would probably wind up in a Misery -type situation. At least, that’s what my sister and I concluded. But, years passed and they were still together, and unharmed. Soon, meeting people online started becoming a more common occurrence; friends started using online dating services, people were falling in love, and no one was getting murdered. I stopped assuming the worst.
Now, of course, it’s 2013, and discovering friends (or lovers) online is normal; everybody’s doing it. I would have been terribly surprised, way back then, to find out future Sarah had discovered all these lovely, beautiful people in over food blogger land. There are the kind readers who leave comments and cheer me on, who send me wishes of health when I am sick. There are the fellow bloggers I’ve met and sipped coffee with, who have eaten in my home, sent me encouraging emails and sweet little packages, and treasured books and notes. I’ve found some beauty in places where I was certain nothing good could grow.
So here’s a little thank you. It’s not much; I wish I could sent you all a little package filled with some of my favorite things. But one reader has a chance to find this in their mailbox one day soon: some items that make time in my home a little more lovely. There are my favorite baking staples: cacao nibs, vanilla beans, fleur de sel, and decorative chocolate sprinkles. Beeswax candles and natural parchment paper are always in good use. Good coffee to sip and chocolate to nibble on are a must, as well as a good book to read. Toaster tongs and tiny measuring spoons aren’t a necessity, but they make daily tasks much more enjoyable.
Most everything I purchased myself, but I was given two lovely items to include. The toaster tongs are made by Buckaloo View. I met Liesl (who helps her dad with the shop) years ago through our blogs, and was so happy when she sent me a pair (also, check out her blog and shop, they’re lovely).
Theo provided the cocoa nibs, and I appreciate their fair trade and organic products, and their commitment to sustainability. You can read more about their mission and story here. Also, they sell lots of tasty chocolate.
The other items are just favorites from my local co-op; Dogwood Coffee is delicious, and Salty Dog Bars are my weakness. And the book is a fun read; some classic food writing.
To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment with your email! You can leave me your favorite Holiday album, but you don’t have to. Good luck, and thanks so much. I’m thankful for you. (Giveaway is open to everyone!) Winner is Amanda from Cookies & Corgis!
(And, also for you! A Holiday Mix! And one more from last year!)
Do you mean to tell me you will see no fissure?
Do you prefer to look on the plain side?
For all that, the setting suns are open.
The end cracks open with the beginning:
Rosy, tender, glittering within the fissure.
Do you mean to tell me there should be no fissure?
No glittering, compact drops of dawn?
Do you mean it is wrong, the gold-filmed skin, integument,
shown ruptured?
For my part, I prefer my heart to be broken.
It is so lovely, dawn-kaleidoscopic within the crack.
-D.H. Lawerence, Pomegranate
{I have a Holiday mix for you! And one from last year, too!}
I was feeling very un-traditional for Thanksgiving this year, and so when my extended family celebrated our holiday dinner a bit early, I decided cheesecake was in order (sad note: I was too sick to attend said dinner, and sent the cake with my family while I stayed in bed). I made this cheesecake many times while working at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, but it had been ten years since I had last made it and I was feeling a bit nervous about it (plus I was totally sick). But incredibly it was one of the prettiest cheesecakes I had ever made. Phew.
We made a simpler version of this cake at the coffeehouse; no frangelico or cacao nibs, just straight up cheesecake with a glossy chocolate glaze. It was much sought after; in fact, there was a group of international college students from China that came in daily just for this cheesecake. One woman would order two pieces cut into one big triangle, and a giant iced mocha to wash it all down. She told me she had never had cheesecake before she moved to America, and her eyes would light up every time she ordered her daily double slice. I was always rather awestruck at her afternoon indulgence, and could never decide if eating cheesecake all spring long was the best idea or the worst. Probably the best.
When Frangelico asked me if I’d like to do another post with them, my mind immediately flew to this cheesecake. I jazzed it up just a bit; adding frangelico (of course) and some cacao nibs to the crust. I like it just as much as the original, and my family agreed it was a perfect Thanksgiving dessert.
I’ve been sick for quite some time – going on 6 weeks, in fact, with this on again off again cold and cough nonsense. I’ve spent the last 3 days under my covers, rereading comforting books and pinning my little heart out. I have lots of things racing through my mind (it always seems to happen when I’m sick), but I just don’t quite have the energy to articulate them. Somehow I did find the strength to sneak out of bed and bake a cake, but, well, I just couldn’t help myself.
So, here is a cake, and here is a recipe. My thoughts I’ll keep for now.
I had another fun session last week; couples in love are a beautiful thing.
A few things:
*I’ve discovered some gorgeous food blogs the last few weeks: Princess Tofu, Hortus Natural Cooking, A Brown Table, Hummingbird High, and Dolly and Oatmeal, just to name a few.
*I am terribly smitten with everything in Suite One Studio’s store. But I especially love this and this.
*I was excited to be on Food 52 last week – check out my halfway to dinner article, featuring one batch of caramelized onions.
A year and a half ago I started working for Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François, the authors of the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day Cookbooks. While I write some blog posts for them and spend a good deal of time pinning to their Pinterest boards, one of the highlights of my job is helping them work on cookbooks. A little over a year ago we spent a whole week together, along with photographer Stephen Scott Gross, mixing buckets of dough and baking piles of bread for their book, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.
I was a fan of the Bread in Five series before I met Jeff and Zoë, and now after spending time with the two of them, I can’t rave about them, and their books, enough. I’ve made boules, baguettes, bagels, doughnuts, beignets, coffee cake, sandwich bread, dinner rolls, bostok, and cinnamon rolls with their dough. It’s all been amazing. And so to celebrate, I am giving away 5 copies of the new book! Leave a comment here (with your email, please) and I will pick a winner next week (the giveaway is only open to US residents, sorry!). Winners have been picked and contacted!
Oh, and these cinnamon rolls. Made with brioche dough and smothered in cinnamon and cream cheese icing, they were a perfect start to our weekend.
I forgot they were in my freezer. Door County cherries, tucked underneath bags and bags of raspberries the kids and I had gathered every summer afternoon from our backyard bushes. I had to dig through those berries and move them around and curse slightly to get to the bottom of that freezer drawer. But there they were, still glittering and ruby red and perfect.
It seemed the cherries were calling me. They were a memory, a lovely one, and it had been a week filled with bad news from the outside; articles and TV anchors whispering deadly affairs again and again: 92 people who died of thirst and Man kills family and then himself and Funeral workers steals gold teeth from bodies and 5 stabbed to death by relative and You are not safe. You are not safe. You are not safe.
I tend to turn to puff pastry when I’m anxious. The rolling, the turns, the soft dough on my hands helps me focus for a moment. And this batch would be filled with those memorable cherries. They were picked this summer, one short weekend when [A] and I got to steal away by ourselves. We made an impromptu stop at a cherry orchard, grabbed an old tin bucket and filled it high. And now they are here, still, in my hands. Their juices stain my fingertips and my white sweater I shouldn’t be wearing in the kitchen. My thoughts turn to blood: dark red blood running over the earth right now, and all the broken people weeping over that river. But I spent a summer day picking cherries; laughing and stealing kisses under tree branches.
Maybe taking up a whole morning to make puff pastry is a waste of time. But when my daughter walks through our backdoor, her hands clapping at the smell of turnovers, I don’t regret the minutes spent. When she bites into the flaky layers and sour cherries, letting the red juice freely trickle down the side of her mouth, I am thankful for the quiet minutes spent turning and rolling. And when I tell her about the afternoon Daddy and I picked cherries together in Door County, her eyes bright as she connects our memory with the treat in her hand, I somehow feel secure, if only for a moment.
********************************
‘I’m all over the place, up and down, scattered, withdrawing, trying to find some elusive sense of serenity.’
‘The world can’t give that serenity. The world can’t give us peace. We can only find it in our hearts.’
‘I hate that.’
‘I know. But the good news is that by the same token, the world can’t take it away.’
-Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
I photographed another family session with good friends recently, on the last warm day of the season. There was mostly laughing, which is always a good sign. I have such beautiful people in my life.
A few things:
*This doughnut book is all the rage, with giveaways here and here and here.
*An open letter to Miley Cyrus from Sufjan Stevens. Classic.
*This post by Tara is gorgeous.
I have a giveaway for you! And one I’m terribly excited about. It’s for a copy of the new Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book. I was given a copy of their first baking book, Baking Illustrated, eight years ago, and it is currently resting on my shelf of favorite cookbooks, covered in flour, and chocolate, and handwritten notes. After spending the last few weeks reading through this latest book, I am confident that it will be just as well-used. There are new recipes, and improved recipes. And there are beautiful black and white photographs. I’m sold.
I had already made several things from the book (they had been featured in Cooks Illustrated Magazine), and I spent some time this month making a few more: blueberry scones, cream cheese coffee cake, no-knead brioche, cinnamon swirl bread, multigrain bread, focaccia, ultimate chocolate cupcakes, almond ring coffee cake, and triple chocolate cake, just to name a few. Oh, and these brownies. (My husband threw the word sexy around when he took his first bite; they are really good.)
All you have to do to enter the giveaway is leave a comment on this post! I’ll be picking a winner November 1st. Good luck! The winner is Kelly from kellybaked! (FYI: Sometimes it takes comments awhile to show up!)
(And, Cook’s Illustrated generously gave me a review copy of this cookbook, but all opinions are my own!)
