Tu m'as manqué, Paris!

Voici la tartelette au citron meringuée de Manon bakery à Paris. It has a delicious buttery crust, and a delicate lemon curd (with an oh so faint taste of omelette), topped with a foamy meringue that will easily slide off the tart if you're not careful, so, faites attention, mes amis!

It was my first night in Paris. After a magical day of simply breathing the air and strolling the winding streets of this charming city steeped in all sorts of architectural magnificence, I settled into bed with a cold glass of milk, a madeleine, and a book on cabbage.

That night I had a dream that I was on le Métro. In front of me was a woman sleeping, stretched across the laps of her friends. She was fair skinned, black and had a young, fresh face. Slowly, she awoke from her nap and began to sing. Her voice sounded strange at first, meandering and crooked like a vine. Encouraged by the silence of the passengers on the train who like me were rapt w attention, she continued to sing, filling the train with a resounding poetry that was both beautiful and wise. It was the voice of Billie Holiday. We all leaned in like ragged paupers starved for art, begging her in our hearts to sing more.

So much more than a s'more

S'mores Cookie from Posh Pop Bakery

Hello, Friendly Reader. For the sake of continuity, let me say that "I'm back!" after an insidiously long hiatus because of work obstacles and computer issues.

It's been a long road, my friends, a merciless trek through the netherworld known as employment. A stultifying existence under the abject florescence of office lighting. And of course, nothing marks the passage of wasted time like the refilling of a stapler. Need I say more? No thanks.

Need I say s'more?

Today I bring you a new dessert discovery, from a new bakery. For those with a rapacious appetite for desserts, for those of you who crave conspicuous consumption of the most conspicuous and consumable kind, this is the place for you. Pop Shop Bakeshop on 192 Bleecker St. is a veritable crack den of better-than-homemade pies and cakes and cookies and brownies, and more.

For weeks I've passed by this dessert shop, rolling my eyes in annoyance at the small white space with pink neon signs. Why? Because it appeared to be yet another pink-and-white themed, overly sweet dessert place in this sprawling dessert land known as Greenwich Village.

And yet, on one recent bright, sunny weekday in June, as I passed by this very same contemptibly trendy bake shop, I saw a tray of large chocolate-chip cookies oozing with marshmallow. “Interesting,” I thought to myself. There was a lot of marshmallow in that giant cookie and it looked freshly baked. I continued walking, but my mind lingered on that vision of gooey marshmallow erupting from the desert-colored surface of cookie like titanium white magma. Would they still be there tomorrow?

Before I knew it I was inside the dessert shop ordering a s'mores cookie and asking the man behind the counter how long the bakery had been here. He said they'd been open for two months and were already known for their cinnamon rolls and monkey bread. Every cookie, cupcake and pie is made from scratch daily at the shop, he said, and recommended the blueberry pie and asked if I'd like my s’mores cookie warmed up. Sure, I said, if he thought it would taste better warm. He said he'd recommend a warm cookie over a not warm cookie any day.

I left the shop excited about my purchase. While waiting for walk sign to cross Sixth Avenue, I opened the white paper bag, stuck my nose in and inhaled -- my own version of vaping. It was a magical scent: the warm, slightly caramelly, vanilla-laced scent of a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookie. I broke a piece off and tried it. A triumph of flavor. Now THIS is a cookie, said my tastebuds. And I hadn't even reached the marshmallow yet!

Upon arriving home, I immediately grabbed a plate, poured a glass of cold milk, and brought my plated cookie to my work desk. I ate the whole thing; it was delicious. Dare I say the marshmallow was the best part. An awesome pairing, indeed. To use “Top Chef” phraseology, the subtle flavor of the cookie, together with bits of chocolate, really allows the marshmallow to sing. I love marshmallow. Health experts always talk about vitamins, but are they concerned about whether we're getting enough marshmallow in our diets? The world would be a better place.

The verdict: The s'mores cookie at Posh Shop Bakery is supremely delicious. If it were a movie, it would be a summer blockbuster you could watch all year round. Like "Poltergeist" or "Goonies." Pure goodness. And very posh indeed.

Slavery — NOT COOL. Enter Tony's Chocolonely's

They're big. They're delicious. They're giant bars of trampoline-worthy chocolate by a company I had never heard of until fairly recently: Tony's Chocolonely!

Where to begin. I didn't search out these bars, these bars came to me — via my sister who traveled to Amsterdam over a year ago and brought me back five large bars of various flavors (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, milk chocolate with nougat, milk chocolate with hazelnuts and milk chocolate with caramel and sea salt) purchased at a supermarket there.

Raising the Bar: Dutch-owned Tony's Chocolonely is making chocolate great again.

With their giant size, bright-colored wrappers, wacky font and avant-garde breaks, these thick slabs of high-quality chocolate take a sledgehammer to the flat, boring bars of yore and let loose some seriously fun, chocolate indulgence. And trust me, it's not difficult to eat a whole bar in one sitting.

Tony's also takes a sledgehammer to something far less digestible: slavery in the cocoa industry. Slavery, including child slavery, is directly linked to much of the chocolate that we ingest in one form or another.

To my surprise, this news has been circulating in headlines for well over 10 years. But it wasn't until I visited the Tony's Chocolonely website about a year and a half ago — because I liked their chocolate so much — that I learned about the abuse and exploitation that lies behind the foil-covered bunnies and melt-in-your-mouth-not-in-your-hands chocolate candies that we associate with the playful side of life.


Google "slavery chocolate" and the results are astonishing. Brands that many of us grew up with —Hershey’s, Mars and Nestle — are connected to the exploitation of children and adult laborers in Ghana and the Ivory Coast which supply more than 70% of all the chocolate in the world. Photos reveal children carrying heavy bags of cocoa beans; and articles report of child laborers being locked in rooms, beaten, whipped and slashed with knives.

It's nearly impossible to write about food these days without addressing heavy issues. Large-scale global businesses threaten everyone and everything that stands in the path of supply and demand. I miss the time when as an 8-year-old girl I could behold a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and marvel at its perfection without any humanitarian issues weighing me down. On the contrary, gently pressed between my pincer grasp was the candy world's moon landing: a beautifully engineered, exquisitely delicious peanut butter cup for all to enjoy. There was nothing but the miracle of life to ponder as the impossibly smooth and ever so thin top coat of chocolate melted beneath my index finger. That children should be harmed in the making of anything, let alone something so connected to childhood as chocolate, is deeply disturbing, and must be stopped.

How do we stop this? The good news is, you don't have to boycott chocolate, just the brands of chocolate that source their cacao beans from farms that use slave labor. And, note to big business, if any large corporations out there think people don't boycott brands anymore, consider this recent headline from Ad Week:

57% of Consumers Will Boycott a Brand That Doesn’t Share Their Social Beliefs

We who love chocolate must be vigilant in our chocolate selections. For now, it's ixnay on the ersheyshay and estlenay, and others, until these companies can get their heads out of their bottom lines and start caring about the most vulnerable members of their manufacturing chain. And until drugstores start to carry ethical chocolate like Tony's, you may have to buy your chocolate online from stores that carry slave-free brands.  (I don't know about you, but the idea of receiving chocolate in the mail sounds pretty freaking exciting to me.)

The power to bring about change in the chocolate industry is in our  hands as consumers, and the choice of chocolates we hold. With so many outstanding brands of chocolate to choose from, evolution has never been easier, or more delicious. In my unofficial research, I have found that some of the best-tasting chocolates are made by the most socially conscious companies. Is it pure luck that things often work out this way? I don't think so. Something in my gut tells me that love of chocolate and love of humanity are somehow connected. Tony's Chocolonely is a splendid example.

There's a whole lot more to say about this company and this topic, but, for now, I'll simply end by saying that if you love chocolate, you'll love Tony's Chocolonely. The bars are a bit pricey, but not a rip-off. They're easy to spot, and popping up everywhere in NYC.

Finding Mr. Good Bar: Chocolate bars by Tony's Chocolonely spotted recently at Bedford Cheese Shop in NYC.

Hot, Cross, Buns

 One a penny (plus $2.40): Hot cross buns from Amy's Bread

Hot, cross, buns. Rumored to have been invented by a monk in the 12th century, these fistfuls of holiday breaditude, which roll around every season of Lent, are exceptional with coffee or tea. Blame it on too much Cadbury chocolate and Peeps, but I didn't even know that hot cross buns were connected to Easter until I got hooked on them about seven or eight years ago as an adult. Before then, I had assumed hot cross buns were simply old-fashioned sweet breads with a criss-cross of icing. It turns out those crosses are crosses. Who knew crosses could be so yummy! 

Without delving too much into the religious symbolism, I'll just say that the hot cross buns at Amy's Bread are heavenly. No high levels of sugar here, just an ever so slightly chewy dough imbued with a soft whisper of spices. Pair it with tea, and feel the power of your own resurrection from afternoon fatigue.

If cupcakes are television, then hot cross buns are a book. They offer quiet me time for your mind and mouth. Raisins and currants may not jolt your senses the way pink frosting does, but they do a good job at keeping things from getting boring.

Attachments area

Attachments area

Langues de Chat Got Your Tongue? They Should, They're Chocolate!

Sometimes receiving a present from a friend or family member who's traveled abroad is just as exciting as being a traveler. After a recent trip to Europe, my good friend Margery — a naturally creative person with a gift for being colorful and expressive — was nice enough to bring me back a beautiful box of chocolates from ... Vienna.

Ah, Vienna! Land of Schubert and Strauss and ... chocolate cat tongues.

Vienna from Belvedere by Bernardo Bellotto, 1758

That's right, chocolate in the oddly-imagined shape of cat tongues, aka katzenzugen or lingua de gato, depending on where you are in Europe or South America. With a name that cat lovers will find either cute or revolting, langues de chat, as they are called in French, are elongated paddles of chocolate with rounded ends. 

Tongue and cheeky: The box cover of Demel's langues de chat 

And here they are:

Sharp-tongued: razor-thin chocolates from Demel

Beautiful isn't it? Like peeking under the lid of a baby grand piano and gazing down at perfectly aligned strings and hammers. Such exquisite neatness and uniformity, and all for the sake of enjoyment! 

These finely crafted, razor-thin chocolates are made by Viennese chocolatier Demel.  

But why are they called "cat tongues"? And what came first, the shape or the name? Did an 18th century aristocrat have the chocolates made in honor of a tongue-projecting tabby? Unfortunately there isn't any anecdotal information to be found online regarding how this eccentric name came into being. All I could uncover from extensive Googling is that cat-tongue chocolates originated in Austria and are a spinoff of cat-tongue biscuits, which originated in France.



                                                     LANGUES DE CHAT BISCUITS

Freshly baked langues de chat cookies from www.meilleurduchef.com

                                                     

Parfait: Raspberry Syllabub with Langues de Chat by Jamie Oliver

However you feel about the name, langues de chat chocolates, like their cookie counterparts, are the perfect — OK, yes, purrfect  — garnish for a scoop of ice cream or an espresso. They can also be enjoyed straight out of the box, when all you crave is one lick or two of chocolate.


Vive les langues de chat! And vive les bon amis!
 

Cake for Breakfast

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... If that sounds tedious to you then you're doing it all wrong. It's too easy to grind ourselves down to nothing in this corporate-driven world. You must try and remove yourself from the treadmill—at least, once in a while. Not the gym treadmill, the treadmill of routine.

With that in mind, I give you cake. But a kinder, gentler cake: olive oil cake. Remember in A Moveable Feast when Hemingway went into a Parisian brasserie and ordered something along the lines of potato salad, beer and sausage? Just reading that made me happy. So manly and yet so refined. How Hemingway is that...

Too often we relegate foods we eat to specific roles on the plate, or associate them with specific meals. Yes, we've come a long way: salads with watermelon and goat cheese, frittatas any time of the day... But I personally still don't feel that I'm living the dream. I want to cook more meals for myself that speak to who I am as a person. The temper of my soul.

This is a breakfast combo that I feel embraces that sentiment because it combines two foods I love.

It starts with a cake that you bake yourself: Mario Batali's Grapefruit and olive oil cake —a very simple and healthy recipe as far as cake goes. There's no frosting or filling, it's just plain yellow cake. In addition to that, what makes this cake better for you than others is that it's made with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter and also includes bread crumbs, which can be healthier than flour if you use whole wheat bread crumbs. Batali also suggests a side of crème fraîche or whipped cream. With cake, I generally prefer the latter however, I'm trying hard to lower my dairy intake (I hate you dairy industry) so I gave it an ample dusting of powdered sugar instead.

It's a great cake to have around, especially for breakfast as it is superb with coffee—and bacon. I don't eat mammal, but as luck, and food evolution would have it, I discovered Applegate Farms bacon—the most amazing turkey bacon ever— around four years ago. It's all-natural, meaty and delicious.

Whether you're having a leisurely or hectic morning: Olive-oil cake and bacon. It's a delightfully rustic breakfast combo that compliments any sunrise.

Christmas Stollen, Happiness Found

Stollen fruit and nut bread by Hot Bread Kitchen 

I never expected, back in December 2014, to discover something new at the breakfast table, but there it was on Christmas morning: a short, lumpy loaf, swaddled like the baby Jesus himself in a thick blanket of powdered sugar—the very picture of old-fashioned holiday gatherings. Nevertheless, the calzone-size stollen remained untouched throughout the entire meal, overshadowed by a heavily frosted bûche de Noël decorated with meringue fungi, a plastic Santa-driven sled, plastic Season's Greetings and an equally plastic spear of holly.

It wasn't until later in the evening, propelled by boredom, that I gravitated toward the stollen, knife and plate in hand. Slicing through the powdered sugar wasn't as messy as I thought it would be. Back to the living room I went, to enjoy my sliver of stollen and coffee (brewed earlier but still hot), on the couch, in front of the glowing monolith that is my parents' television. 

Somewhat like panettone but denser, the bread-cake hybrid had me at guten tag. The cool feeling of powdered sugar on your tongue, mixed with the heavy bread, marzipan, dried fruit and spices, makes you feel all bundled up inside, and wrapped and warm and ready for winter. 

I had to learn more. 

Legend has it—a most appetizing phrase—that stollen goes back to the 14th century in Germany, where the existence of stollen was recorded for the first time in 1474 on a bill at a Christian hospital.

By most historical accounts, the Middle Ages was a tough time for man and bread alike. When I think of 14th century Europe I think of brown-cowled monks and giant cauldrons like in The Name of the Rose—the Umberto Eco novel turned Sean Connery movie that takes place in 14th century Italy. Of course, nothing records the general human condition of a specific time and place more tellingly than art. With that in mind, here is one of the most famous sculptures from Germany, circa 1325:

The Roettgen Pieta, Early 14th Century, Reinesches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany

As you can see from its heavy emphasis on emotional anguish and physical pain, this 3-foot Gothic statue does not suggest an era that would bring us the Cronut. In addition to the plague, Europeans of that century had also endured dismally bland stollen made solely of flour, yeast and water.

It took an official letter from the Pope, more than a hundred years later, known as The Butter Missive, to loosen the rules of Advent and bring butter to stollen. And you can bet your sweet marzipan that butter made stollen better.

Today, stollen, aka Weihnachtsstollen, aka Christstollen, is gaining in popularity far beyond the borders of Dresden, the city that lays claim to the original stollen and most-prized version, and where an annual stollen festival is held at the Dresden Striezelmarket—the oldest Christmas market in Germany. Dresden of course takes its stollen very seriously.  Authentic Dresden Stollen can only be found in Dresden, baked by any one of 150 official Dresden stollen bakers.

For those who have never tried stollen, if you're looking for ways to relax and enjoy the cold winter, I recommend stollen with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. The power of a good stollen is its ability to take the harshness out of winter, transforming snow-covered rooftops and driveways into powdered-sugar landscapes. And, like its legacy, stollen itself is long-lasting. Buy it in October, keep it refrigerated, and it'll stay edible at least until March.