Dear Harry, you know why I send you this

Today is Harry's birthday. Now all books and films are out, there is (almost) nothing less but fans to keep the story alive. I never thanked J K Rowling for writing such a story which followed me through my childhood and teenage years. This is not much, but I needed to bake the very first cake that appears in the book: the one Hagrid gave Harry for his eleven's birthday. I'll add the recipe soon.

Wonka Wrap

Each year in Provence, we have a fair called Arles Prestige, an exhibition of decorative arts and culinary wonders, where you can taste wonderful specialties. Among the delicious things I discovered, there was ... LE COMPTOIR DE MATHILDE.

Marian in a Twirl

Finally, here is my first challenge with the Daring Bakers! If you are looking for a place to challenge yourself in the kitchen, look no further. Each month a new blogger is testing our resistance to kitchen tools. Well I did not let it bother me this month. My Pavlova with chocolate mascarpone mousse accompanied was eaten at full speed, right after it stroke the pose for a quick portrait.

23 candles and a Victoria Sponge score

Monday, May 17, I celebrated my 23rd birthday. That day seems very far already, just like my age. Everything always goes too fast. But I go with the flow, what else can we do? That day, there weren't many people in my little Brum' bubble : only my brother and my roommate. But tradition is tradition, especially when it comes to birthdays, and even if my parents were to arrive two days later, I needed a cake on my birthday to blow out my candles. With 23 it starts get crowdy on the crust, especially when I don't plan to cook for fifty guests, so I reduced the number to the half and that was good. And after the revelry with the Summer pudding, I reiterated with another recipe from the BBC. This time, it's the Victoria Sponge cake which blew its own trumpet. So let the music play!

Last drip of Easter dough

I have said before that I'm often surprised to see it's sometimes the ugliest preparations or those that seem to have failed, that others like most. But the funny thing is, it's mostly men who make this remark. I guess you don't necessarily need to spend hours putting up incredible recipes to please them, and sometimes even being a little wilder and offhand can make a good cake spicy. 

By the Hedge of the Window

Sun was shining, strong and hot against my face. Morning was calling. Or afternoon, maybe. I wasn't sure anymore. I rubbed my hands against my forehead and down to my chin.

Where was I? I didn't want to open my eyes to know it. I wanted to know it before I did. I tried to feel everything my body was touching. A soft mattress, cushions, big and full, and a cover. A single one. A thin layer that didn't cover my feet. But they weren't cold. They probably were sunbathing.

Peanut-Beak masks

Dreamy visions invade me while I finish my journal in the park. My handwriting is changing. My fingers are frozen. But it's beautiful. The freshness in the air, geese, ducks, moorhens, riders of the evening. But mostly, yes, more importantly, calm. Two pigeons are struggling on the roof of branches and hide the breathing of a commuter train that rides a little further behind me.

Fudgy-Yamas

I think some recipes are truly cursed. This for example. You see, instead of the text you are reading, there was another much more interesting. But once I had composed the whole message on the Internet, and despite the fact that I had saved it, something tripped. There was a progression about me being sure that this recipe would work well. I said when I felt confident and I had much hope for the result, and chose the best ingredients to be sure I - and others - would enjoy the experience. 

Twelfth Night calzone

message from January, 14th :

When we're only three to eat a Twelfth Night cake, and when you buy only one flaky pastry when you know very well it takes two for this recipe, you must find a fallback solution. I will not take responsibility for the missing pastry this time, because it was my dear father who insisted that I make one. But hey, he bought everything else!

Black Forest cupcakes

message for Christmas of 2009 :

When I prepared the first recipe of cupcakes for Christmas - the craters dates, you know - I realized that if I followed the book for all the quantities of the others cupcakes, I'd find myself with a hundred small cakes to eat. If they were biscuits it would be all right, but they're definitely not... The two recipes that I give here are complete and correspond to a dozen muffins or thirty cupcakes. In both cases, they were eaten quite fast.

Jonsi's trufflelesque fudges

message for Christmas of 2009 :

I promised myself that I would make the squary chocolate fudges Jonsi & Alex showed on their website. Though the shape of the ones I made is nothing like the originals, I think they taste the same. At least I hope so. I gave them the form of marbles, because it was the easiest to do (apart from the obvious shapeless rock) and I rolled them in cocoa to prevent them from sticking together.

This is the first time I had to use agave syrup and I was really curious to try it. Its texture is similar to honey, but the taste doesn't resemble at all. This is not particularly tasty. It reminds me of cactus though I've never tasted cactus. But what is sure, is that this syrup has quite a phenomenal sweetness which inspires me lots of culinary experiments!

I C double

message from Nov. 15th, 2009 :
If there is something equally easy, or even more simple to realize than scones, it's crumble. Just make a basic recipe for the crispy dough you'll sprinkle on fruits, then after you can indulge in all the madness. Yesterday, I was getting crossed-eyed by looking at the Crunch bar lying next to the oven. I'm sure she was trying to tell me something. I took it, I breathed it, and I whispered : "you, I'm going to do something explosive with you tonight". That's where I told myself, considering this chocolate is crispy, I might as well use it in a crumble. So here we go.

A red-hot treat (or kind of red)

message from Oct. 11th, 2009 :

To end a meal in color and to tickle a bit more your taste buds, nothing is better than red fruits fondants. The slightly acid taste of fruits mixed with the sweetness of white chocolate creates one last smile on the table. With a flute of champagne, it's downright divine. It's so fast and easy to do that you really have no reason not succumb!

Driving license cookies

message from Sept. 29th, 2009 :

Very first cookie to enter the blog, it's not for nothing that he's there! Today, I am yet a little more independent. I just received my driving license! A A A Aw that's so good! Now I only need a car.
So, in order to thank my teachers - and incidentally revise my code - I took my spatula and my brain.These simple biscuits were cooked with spices and awkwardly redrawn after cooking (lack of gear in the house). I searched to find food colors, but it was just a waste of time it seems. That's too bas. I would have made a red background for the stop sign. Now, if someone should also celebrate this event, it can be arranged.

The fable of the Ant & the Cricket

message from Oct. 1st, 2009 :

When summer lingers, I start to think about winter. Will it be very cold? tumultuous? rainy? icy? or sweet, soft and powdery? Anyway, I needed an excuse to give another chance to use the wonderful mold I received for my birthday. Considering the first result looked like this: