There is something about me and pastry chefs.

For some reason in my career, I find myself drawn to recipe writers who are ex-pastry chefs, their food and culinary vision making me jump up and down, giddy and light headed, as I lick my lips and salivate at the thought of how fabulous their latest creation will look with various stylish accoutrements I have in my props cupboard.

Right now, in the (blog)house kitchen I have exactly someone who fits the above description - whose creations make my mouth-water just to read the title of her latest materpiece, let alone her photographs and stories about how she came up with the recipe. And who secretly, I hope to work with one day to publish a book of her sweet work.

Please welcome to the (blog)house, recipe writer extraordinaire and author of the scrumptious blog called Cannelle Et Vanille, Aran Goyoaga…

To get you familiar with Aran’s recipes, here is one of my favourites, her champagne and pink grapefruit sorbet…

with lemon emulsion, lemon streusel and red currant jelly…

Here in the (blog)house kitchen, Aran has shared four of her favourite recipes with us, so get on in there now to take a look, but be prepared as you will want to grab your spatulas and bowls the moment you lay eyes on her photographs.

Thank you Aran, I am so pleased you are here, I do hope you enjoy your stay in the kitchen, and please don’t worry about cleaning up - Alfred will be happy to tidy any mess (because I know he likes to lick the bowls!).

Enjoy.

xx

Rachel’s chilled pandan soufflé, recipe in the kitchen right now…

It’s been a quick shuffle in the kitchen as the two cooks exchange the (blog)house apron and hand over the inaugural wooden spoon. As we say our goodbyes and thank yous to sweet Laura (merci Laura! au revoir! à bientot!), we welcome our wonderful new friend and fabulous food stylist, Rachel Khoo. She and friend Andréa have been busy in their new venture, la cocotte - a wonderful bookstore/mini café in the 11th arrondisment of Paris. Check out some of the books on the la cocotte shelves here.

Rachel aptly calls herself “the London girl munching her way through all things delicious in Paris”. She works with such publications as Elle à Table, and Galeries Lafayette Gourmet, and has kindly created a sweet tooth menu for the (blog)house. It includes that delicious chilled pandan soufflé above, plus her almond milk panna cotta , and scrumptious biscuit poppets! What’s a biscuit poppet you might ask? Well, go in the kitchen and find out! And click here to read her very funny post about biscuit poppets.

I will tell you more about Rachel in the coming days but for now, please make her feel very welcome.

Take it away dear Rach, have fun in the (blog)house kitchen , and make as much mess as you like (Alfred really loves cleaning up!)!

……………………………..

Rachel’s little blurb about her chosen menu…

“I would happily eat 3 desserts and just skip the starter and main. I’m definately a “pâtisserie-a-holic”. What I love about sweet things is the reaction they get. Mention to someone you’re making some sweet treat and you’ll see their eyes light up immediately. Desserts are meant to be shared. Bake a cake, wrap up some pieces and pop around to your neighbours and you’ll have no problems borrowing that extra cup of sugar whenever you want. So here are several sweet treats which are perfect for sharing but also just as good for curling up on the sofa and eating all by yourself…”

click here to view the menu.

With thanks to the fabulous Laura from A World In A Pan. Who also happens to be mother to the beautiful Mary-Laure! Laura runs a wonderful cooking class in Paris. If you have a love for food and a love for Paris then this is one of the best ways to fully experience real Paris lifestyle… what is real Paris lifestyle? It all revolves around food! You eat, you talk about what you are eating, you talk about what you want to eat next, what you cook, what the person at the next table is eating and so on… Laura takes you to one of her local markets to choose seasonal ingredients for your menu, then she brings you back to her place to cook up a storm. Afterwards you sit down to enjoy your home cooked Paris menu on her terrace with accompanying wine.

All the recipes for Laura’s Spring Menu are posted in the (blog)house kitchen now. I’d love you to cook this menu at your next dinner party, it will surely be a hit.

Some Spring Menu styling tips from the stylist in me:

I won’t (boohoo!). But if I were in Paris this weekend I would be going straight here for this very exclusive, and very delicious event that combines our two favourite things in life: design and food…

ensemble à thé designed by Anne Xiradakis

Café éphémère is a rather special exhibition. Curated by designer Anne Xiradakis, it is an experimental space that moves around the world, and this time it is to be hosted in the apartment of French artist Guillaume Hillairet. You are invited to sit and dine at the guest table where Anne has created a tantalizing petit menu, all served within beautiful ceramic ware that she has designed specifically for the occassion. All her pieces are available for purchase during the event.

It is open today (Friday April 4), Saturday April 5, and Sunday April 6 from 2pm to 8pm. It costs only 5€ and you can call Anne on 06 63 06 83 11 to find out more and to make a reservation. Check out more about Café éphémère here at Anne’s blog (its all in French but you get the gist).

I am already salivating at the thought of how cool this is. Aren’t you curious as to what is on this petit menu? Well I have featured the Café éphémère Paris menu in the (blog)house kitchen as menu quatre. Click here to check it out!

It’s the week of love. And I’m not one for celebrating a day of something, I like to make the good things last so I extend such celebrations for a week. My birthday last month being the big 3-0, was designed to last for 3 weeks (although that in the end did get a bit too much of a good thing!). So here in the (blog)house this week, we are celebrating love, and to do so I will be picking out some of the my heart wanders early-bird submissions at random and showcasing one each day with a little ditty. But to kick start the celebrations I’d like to begin with one of my loves: food. I’ve come up with a special menu for you which will stay in the kitchen this month. And although I’ve designed it for two, it is easily a menu that can accommodate 12. In fact we dined on an abbreviated version of this menu for my birthday dinner.

So here goes my lovelies, I hope you enjoy. I photographed and styled this story of images in Paris on a warm summer’s eve…

For hors d’oeuvre, start with a perfectly steamed artichoke. Pluck a leaf from the flower and dip it gently in a mustardy vinaigrette and softly bite into the meaty flesh at the base of the petal. Whisper sweet nothings tu m’aimes, tu ne m’aimes pas until you have both made your way to the core. Remove the tiny prickles to reveal the heart and cut little pieces, dip it in the vinaigrette and feed it to your love. The bowl of tossed artichoke leaves will leave you with a beautiful living still life to gaze upon…

Plat Principal: Raclette

Melt slices of fine raclette cheese over individual plates of cold meats, a simple boiled potato and serve with petits cornichons, cherry tomatoes and pickled baby onions while you sip on Savoie.

Indulge in a little pre-dessert to tantalise your tastebuds and follow with les fruits et le fromage: fresh figs with crumbled goats cheese and drizzled with rose-infused honey…

Before it gets too hot in here, lets cool down with a glass of champagne with wild hibiscus flowers. Santé a l’amour. Capture the moment and scribble each other a little message of love…

Then, between stealing kisses, serve le paroxysme. That is, la mousse au chocolat…

Et voilà.

bisous

Often (okay, sometimes) I use the freedom of my Sunday to bake… bake cookies that is. Because I love cookies. And cookies love me.

But I have been flat out these past few weeks and have not had a chance to try Momo’s recipes that have been in the kitchen this last month. But today was the day and I can’t wait to show and tell…

Starting with this one, Momo’s choc and banana slice. Now I think I have explained before, habit of my occupation I cannot help but detour off the beginning recipe - Momo did call this a pudding but as you can see mine turned out more like a slice. And WHAT A SLICE it is! I asked French Boy who is un palais (translation ‘to be a palate’, or to have a fine sense of taste) to taste test the result with me. Deliceux was the answer. Et je suis d’accord. As I’ve now discovered with Momo’s recipes, she allows the sweetness to speak through the fruit she uses and in this one, the banana and raisins add the sweetness necessary to bite through the cocoa. This is a perfect naughty afternoon treat that actually is not naughty at all, just take a look at the recipe .

Next up is this treasure I’ve been wanting to try ever since I saw Momo’s batch come out of the oven and onto her blog. This is how mine turned out…

Yes they are so very different to hers! I didn’t actually follow the exact instructions and just went with the flow, creating a log with the fruity filling.

When I scrolled through the quantities in Momo’s recipes I thought they seemed tiny - I’m so used to seeing recipes with cups of flour and cups of sugar, and I was intrigued. When I made the dough for this it seemed so little but it is just absolutely perfect. Note there is no baking powder and hardly any sugar. Again, the fruit reveals all. I would suggest baking two ‘logs’ as these little pillow cookies will be eaten up quickly.

I love that at the end of Momo’s recipes she wrote this:

This is a gentle vegan baking.
Gentle to animals.
Gentle to the earth and gentle to us too.

And gentle is exactly how I would describe the process of cooking and enjoying these recipes. It was such a pleasure to cook these recipes too. I am not a vegan or vegetarian but absolutely adore the real and simple flavours within Momo’s ingredient choices. Thank you so very very much for being my very first guest in the (blog)house kitchen, it was such a beautiful birthday gift.

In light of celebrating love, a new menu will be in the kitchen this week. So please make a copy of Momo’s recipes if you haven’t already. If you would like to submit a menu of your own for the (blog)house kitchen, please send me the recipes and some photos if possible, and also a story about what this menu means to you. Or if you just have one recipe then send that and I will endeavor to make a menu collaged from the submissions. And for those who haven’t yet tried my chocolate and cranberry cookies, the recipe is over at A World In A Pan.

Happy Sunday mes chers amis, see you tomorrow!

Each new week here in the (blog)house I am overwhelmed with the amount of inspiration and talent I find amongst you. Little girl giddiness takes over and my heart starts racing, I get ants in my pants and I just want to shout out to the world with hands full of my new-found treasures. Yes, it is just like being given the key to open a new treasure chest every Monday, the light from all the goodness shining on my face like glittering gold. I intended to post an update of My Heart Wanders but first I just have to share with you this morning’s finds…

photography by Caroline Moore

I’m proud as punch to announce that I won Caroline’s birthday competition! I can’t wait to receive her fabo cupcake prints. When you go and read her ‘and the winner is’ announcement post you will see who I have been selected alongside, I feel rather special and am very honoured. Thanks Caroline, it was heaps of fun to compete and am looking forward to your next one, I implore everyone to get on board! It’s a great excuse (not that you need one) to peruse Caroline’s extensive photo collection in her etsy shop. I will showcase another one of Caroline’s photographs in the upcoming post of inspiration for ‘My Heart Wanders’ .

Eat me!

I’ve been holding back on revealing my chocolate and cranberry cookie recipe for some time but when Laura from A World In A Pan asked if I’d like to submit a recipe for her beautiful website I gave up the notion of keeping this secret any longer. Friends and family have always said I give away too much but bugger it I say, if I wanna I will! So here it is, my treasured cookie recipe. Click here for the recipe and to read about the background of this cookie, inspired by my love of Canadians and the fruits of their fine land. Also check out Laura’s blog for an update on her cooking classes in Paris and the fabulous stores in her arrondissment, I am especially loving the look of that fromagerie!

And last but not least, I must start this week by introducing you to the very talented young Queensland potter and poet, Kylie Johnson. She has just published a collection of her poetry in book form called ‘Count Me The Stars’. The above image is of one of her bowls just to give you an idea of her work, but for a more thorough look go and wander around her Paper Boat Press website and blog. I have already popped her into my blogroll so that I don’t miss out on her updates.

Submissions are trickling in already for My Heart Wanders . Next post will give you a little more inspiration… à tout à l’heure!