Refined hand soap from C.O. Bigelow

I received this really nice present the other day. The box looked so pretty that I grabbed my camera so I could share the nice experience of opening such an exquisite gift. Then I spent a lot of time making arty pictures. Because these surely qualify as small, good things. Thank you so much!

Je n'avais jamais entendu parler de Bigelow avant, mais j'adooore !

(Turns out, C.O. Bigelow is a historical pharmacy in the Village that has a whole line of cosmetics. Wikipedia says the pharmacy opened in 1838 and is the second oldest continually operating pharmacy in America. Famous patrons include Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mark Twain.)

J'ai un faible pour Coconut et Wild Berry. Ils sont tellement beaux que j'ose à peine les utiliser.

Some catching up to do

At the end of March, I made these cupcakes. So much has happened since then that I cannot tell it all. So I'll just post a few words and pictures from these past few months, until hopefully I catch up with the now.

They were vanilla cupcakes with Nutella frosting. Pretty and delicious, that much I remember.

More cupcakes

Is this turning into a food blog? Isn't a cupcake the quintessential small, good thing that finally makes sense out of my blogging venture? Am I too obsessed with cupcakes? Is this baking phase part of the whole adjustment-to-a-new-country thing? I don't know, maybe, yes and most likely.

The St Patrick's batch looked okay but was hardly edible. But two days ago, I made small, good cakes that looked pretty enough too.

I made Martha Stewart's brownie cupcakes, with a few variations: I cut the sugar down to 3/4 of a cup, I forgot about the unsweetened cocoa altogether and used Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate (the "Pound Plus" one from Belgium). I replaced the 3 ounces of chopped chocolate that you add in the end by bits of Reese's miniature peanut butter cups and some raisin-pecan chocolate from Trader Joe's as well. I opted for a plain vanilla cream cheese frosting, and it proved to be the right choice, since the cake itself was already almost too chocolaty (if you believe in such a strange notion--I don't). I used this recipe for the frosting, using light Philadelphia cream cheese and taking out 1/4 of the sugar again (it was already really sweet with just 3/4 of a cup). The best thing is to taste it while adding the sugar to make sure.

They were so delicious that they have already disappeared (I made 9 big ones and 12 minis and gave a few to our neighbors). I just wish that I could make frosting that's thick and fluffy and does not call for that much butter and sugar. I guess I would like to make so sort of low-calorie "frosting mousse" that would stay firm in the fridge. I haven't found any recipe for that, so if anyone has ideas, I'd be grateful. This is my new culinary research project.

Thank you Audrie for the ice-cream scoop tip, it does help a lot! And thank you Martha Stewart for posting so many recipes on line! I wonder if I should buy her cupcake recipe book or if it would just nip any attempt at a social life right in the bud.

Anyway, I should mention that I was introduced to this cupcake frenzy by the Food Librarian, who is also part of the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club.

Small, green things

I finally have more time to cook and bake, which feels homey and comforting after moving half-way across the world. For Saint Patrick's day, I made green food: a "tarte aux poireaux" (leeks pie) and some chocolate cupcakes that also happened to be MY FIRST CUPCAKES EVER! I need to be positive here, so all I'll say is that there's room for improvement, taste-wise. The leeks pie turned out great though and was just as yummy as the ones I made back in France. All this was a great occasion to use my shiny new and cherished mixing bowls (I have way too much affection for all brightly-colored plastic things, especially when they are orange or green). Oh, and I had to try the blender I got on sale at Macy's today, so I fixed some pina-coladas which are maybe the less green and Irish drink I could have thought of if I tried. I probably should not be blogging right now. I also love any large piece of white plastic, actually.

Quiche aux brocolis et asperges

It's been two months since we moved from France to California. I have so many small, good things to show and store here that I don't know where to start, and that's the reason why I waited so long before updating this blog. I was really busy with work, true, but most of all, I felt overwhelmed. California has lots of treasures to offer, big and small, and arriving here stirred wonderful feelings in me, as well as an unexpected, joyous brand of childhood nostalgia. It feels like I am where I belong. Until age seven, I grew up in a semi-rural residential area near Nantes, France, where the tranquil "lotissements" of single family homes were surrounded by nature. That's probably why all the grassy areas here, and the birds, and the big oaks, and the quiet streets, and the smell of freshly cut grass, and the little yellow flowers that can tell you whether you like butter or not, and the sound of lawnmowers, and the sight of children on bicycles, all connect me so vividly to the little girl that still lives in me. The palm trees connect me to something else entirely, something that makes me want to drink pina-coladas with no shoes on. Well, being an adult has its upsides too.

Anyway, I thought I'll start this new page in the life of this blog (and mine) with quiche (always a good choice). A few days ago, I made my first quiche since moving into our new American home, and it felt wonderful. It was a broccoli and asparagus quiche, which I made almost from scratch (I have to admit that the crust was from Trader Joe's. But since then, I've bought flour and I intend to do some more serious cooking and baking, including learning how to make cupcakes). This is what it looked like on our messy dinner table:

And this what it looked like from up close:

It doesn't look quite as good as it tasted.

The greatest reward was that my duckie loved it. He said he'd eat broccoli and asparagus (which he used to find gross) any day as long as they are hidden in that precise fashion, under a thick layer of cheese. Et bah ça, c'est pas tombé dans l'oreille d'une sourde! I want to put as much veggies as possible in that duck of mine. And now he's eating lettuce too, and with dressing on it. I am so ecstatic and grateful. So please, almighty Spaghetti Monster, let me stay here. I'll honor you weekly with inventive pasta recipes, I promise.

A few small, good French things to bring with me

I'm not sure whether I'll be able to find T. LeClerc make-up in L.A., so today I went a little wild at the pharmacy next to our home. I had always admired the packaging style of that brand, but I never bought any before (except for the transparent mascara, which is not as spectacular). And believe it or not, the fact that the word "Paris" appears on all products was greatly responsible for the impulse to buy. Now that I'm leaving, Paris and France in general suddenly become more glamorous and precious to me. Now that I won't have to deal with the inconveniences of living here, I am beginning to grasp what all these tourists see in Paris.

Also, I really love these silver-colored treasures, and I'm glad of the way these pictures turned out!

I'm also very glad that the pharmacist gave me a very pretty and silvery make-up case for free with my purchase.

2010