This & That: The March 2017 Edition

Dirty dishes?  This is a great photo because this is all I had to dirty in order to make two loaves of banana bread this fine Sunday morning.  I found a new recipe, located the overripe bananas that the Ex-Ex had stashed on top of the refrigerator (the man detests messy countertops), and stirred up something that is still baking and smells heavenly.  Excuse me for a minute– the oven timer is beeping.

Voilà.

So, random stuff this morning.

Kennedy, the cutest baby in the world continues to grow.  She is almost two weeks old. Gramma and Granddad are totally in love.  As are Mommy and Daddy.  Seven pounds of perfection.  Pretend Daughter #1 just gave birth yesterday to a bundle of baby boy.  I am thinking arranged marriage.

I am preparing for my annual student trip to France.  This will be my 30th anniversary trip. How the heck did that happen, I wonder?  Anyway, the checklists are growing, but I am crossing off as much as I am adding.  I think.  I have 22 kiddos and 2 other teachers going with me this year.  Delta began offering a non-stop flight to Paris from my hometown airport last May and, although this crop of kids cannot fully appreciate it, they are so lucky.  I will be a much happier traveler which means they will, too.  No running through airports to catch a connecting flight that may or may not have left already.  (I have been known to beg for the doors to be opened to let us on.)  We leave on Thursday.  Paris, Normandy D-Day sites, including a tour and wreath ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery, a visit with our pen pals at the Collège Anne-Marie Javouhey in Senlis, a macaron-making lesson at L’Atelier des Gâteaux for part of the group, éclair-making at La Cuisine Paris for others, and a tour of the Stade de France for a small group of boys.  And the usual sites in Paris– the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Musée d’Orsay, Sacré Coeur and Montmartre.  Throw in some crêpes, Berthillon ice cream, macarons from Ladurée and Pierre Hermé, and shopping at Galeries Lafayette and Monoprix while in Paris, course. Falafel in the Marais, strolling along the Seine, a boatride on the river, gliding under the Pont Alexandre III and Le Pont Neuf, making wishes under the Napoléon bridge,  finding at least a couple of passages to wander through, a trip to the top of the Eiffel, bien sûr. Then Avignon bound on the TGV.  The Palais des Papes and perhaps the Pont du Gard on the way to Arles, “my” French town.  Only two nights there unfortunately, but two is better than one or none.  A morning drive through the Camargue on the way to Aigues Mortes, a visit to a salt-harvesting facility (a first for me), and a few hours at the Arles Saturday market before heading back to Paris.  I will get to see all of my favorite Frenchies while I am in France.  My heart is happy at the thought of this.  Time to drag my suitcase out of the closet where it has been since January and start filling it. Sticking to my list, of course. Hahaha- I am a terrible packer.

What have I been reading lately?  I just finished this one.

I am in love with Henry Swann.  This is Charles Salzberg‘s latest in a series featuring Swann.  Charles and I are email pals.  I hope/dream about/would love to attend his writers’ workshop in NYC someday.

I get daily emails from BookBub offering up inexpensive (and sometimes free) books for my Kindle.  I am reading Blackbird Fly by Lise McClendon right now.  It is the first in a series about the Bennett Sisters.  This one features Merle, whose husband has just died, leaving her a pile of debts, a unknown mistress and daughter, and a house in France.  I cannot put it down (translation:  I have stayed up way too late the last two nights reading) because Merle is a believable character.  A 50 year old, intelligent, non-glamourous woman whose life takes quite a turn after her husband dies of a heart attack at his desk. And before you even wonder, yes, I have downloaded the next three books in the series.  I am addicted to authors that way.

Quick coffee and banana bread break…

Another book at the top of my list– dear darling Pat Conroy‘s final novel, published posthumously.  A Lowcountry Heart: Reflections on a Writing Life.  Says Amazon:

Final words and heartfelt remembrances from bestselling author Pat Conroy take center stage in this winning nonfiction collection, supplemented by touching pieces from Conroy’s many friends.

I’ve loved Pat’s writing since I picked up The Great Santini years ago. I even talked the Ex-Ex into reading it and he never reads fiction.  However, so much of Pat’s life is wrapped up in his writing, that it’s not really fiction.  We have both read all of his novels, ending with The Death of Santini.  Santini was Pat’s dad.  Thank you for the recommendation, Miss Anna T!

I am not really a shopper.  I loathe trying on clothes.  This week, however, I happened upon two bargains.

#1

Pale pink linen from Chico’s.  My favorite color.  I was at The Stock Exchange, a consignment shop in Chapel Hill, and it caught my eye. It was already on sale, I had a $10 gift certificate from my last shopping adventure there, so I ended up spending $1.63. Can’t wait to wear it.

#2

Navy blue and white polka dots from Crown and Ivy at Belk’s.  I am normally a black dress/pants/skirt/sweater kind of girl, but this caught my eye.  I have a thing for polka dots.  Once again, on sale.  Around $10.  Go me.  I look forward to wearing it with jeans in Paris.  Très chic, n’est-ce pas?

Lo and behold, I just found out, thanks to a text from the BFF and CBS Sunday Morning, that berets are back in style!  I have never worn one, but I think I may change that. Being the snob that I can be, though, it will have to be one made in France, the traditional way.  Laulhere is the gold standard in France, it seems. Perhaps Bertrand, our French ACIS tour manager will be able to help and give advice…

(photo: CBS News)

My goal for Lent this year–  place one item of clothing into a bag for each day of Lent. This will be given to The Salvation Army after Easter.  Admit it.  Most of us have way too much.  There are many out there without enough.

Enough randomness for this morning.  I will leave you with yesterday’s photo of Granddad and Granddaughter.

As I wrote yesterday on my Facebook page:

I love this photo. The beginning of a very important bond. My Papa was a major influence in my life from my birth to his death. I was lucky to live next door and spend many hours with him.

New life.  New beginnings.  New love.

Easy Sunday Morning Banana Bread

adapted from Simply Recipes

makes 1 loaf, 4 x 8

• 2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I also used rum flavoring)
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (I added about 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the flour)
• I sprinkled turbinado sugar on top to give it a crunchy finish

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), and butter a 4×8-inch loaf pan.

2 In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.

3 Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.

4 Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350°F (175°C), or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. (Mine was completely done at 50 minutes.  Be sure to test and not overbake.)

5 Remove from oven and cool completely on a rack. Remove the banana bread from the pan. Slice and serve.

Bon appétit.  Bon dimanche.  Have a lovely week.  Be kind.  Be brave. Treat others the way you want to be treated.  Or even better.

Finding time

In the hustle and bustle of my everyday life, I fuss enormously about not having enough time.  Time to take long walks with my BFF. Time to try a new recipe.  Time to blog more often.  Time to read. Don't get me wrong.  I can burn daylight, fritter away time, pass the time, dillydally, piddle, dawdle, while away the time, lollygag, and goof off with the best of them if left to my own devices. Checking in with friends and family on Facebook. Reading Sean Dietrich every morning as I wait for the coffee to brew. Thumbing through magazines. Playing Word Welder or 7 Mots on my iPad. Watching Hallmark movies.  Googling whatever or whomever. You get the picture. I am not yet ready to count the days until the final school bell of the year rings, but I am getting close. (If any of my students are reading this-- oui, we teachers do that, too. Quelle surprise, n'est-ce pas?  Pas vraiment?) 

And when I am in the mood to daydream, I wonder what it would be like to live in Paris and while away the hours. Roam around the city. Visit little or lesser known museums. Sit on a bench in every park and green space. Taste the treats in the best bakeries and ask for recipes or tips. Sip wine and write at a table, inside or out, in a café, Report back to the world on what I am up to on any given day. I would walk on every street in the city eventually. Taste every flavor of macaron that Pierre Hermé offers up. Then move on to every flavor of Berthillon ice cream on the Ile Saint Louis. Find out where the best café crème and croissants are served. Stroll through every little passage couvert tucked away between the busy boulevards. Take photos in the early morning light and at dusk of every single bridge, all 37 of them, that spans the Seine. Check out the houseboats and barges docked at l'Arsenal. Rummage through the treasures found in the bouquiniste stalls. Walk through la Ville Lumière in the warm summer rain not caring if my hair gets wet. Light a candle in the memory of Mme Buchanan, my high school French teacher, in every church found within the périphérique. Get off at every métro station mentioned in Métronome and see if I too can find a scrap of forgotten history. Get to know the best vendor or two at each outdoor food market. Get lost in every arrondissement and stop to have lunch at a café in order to try the menu du jour. Stumble over the same paving stones as Napoléon and Joséphine, Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, Victor Hugo, Vincent and Théo Van Gogh, Camille Claudel, Auguste Rodin, Gustave Eiffel, Josephine Baker, Edith Piaf, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marie Curie, Charles de Gaulle, Cole Porter, Coco Chanel.  You get the picture.

Is there a book deal out there for The Sabbatical Chef?  Anyone want to listen to my pitch?  The Sabbatical Chef Does Paris. Or how about Lollygagging in Paris with The Sabbatical Chef. Maybe Burning Daylight in The City of Light. Time Well-Wasted ? Recipes, photos, and addresses included.

Carol Gillott of Paris Breakfasts lives a life similar to my dream life only she is an artist.  I've lived vicariously through her for a while now. She is celebrating her blog's 10th anniversary this week. I received my first Paris Maps from her on Saturday. Just opening my mailbox and seeing a Paris postmark on the envelope makes my heart beat faster. The first one features macarons and Pierre Hermé.  Carol even stuck in a cute little original macaron watercolor. A true treasure.

And speaking of macarons, while in Paris with the kiddies in March, we took a macaron-making class with Audrey at L'Atelier des Gâteaux near Bon Marché department store.  Thirteen of us had so much fun beating eggs whites, macaronner-ing (yes, there is a verb for this action!), mixing, piping, filling, sandwiching, and tasting these beautiful treats. 
(photos taken by I. Strauss using my iPhone 6) 

The chocolate one was made by moi!

The ingredients are listed in grams. The measurements are more exact this way.  I have a small scale that measures either in ounces or grams. Not expensive and very useful when baking.

Macaron Recipe
L'Atelier des Gâteaux
23 rue de l'abbé Grégoire
75006 Paris
Tel: 01.42.84.19.05

Ingrédients for cookies:

- 125 gr almond powder
- 225 gr confectioner sugar
- 20g cocoa powder (optional- only if you want chocolate cookies) 
- 3 egg whites
- 30 gr sugar
- powdered food coloring (this works better than liquid)

Pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
With a spatula add the almond powder and the confectioner sugar in 3 or 4 increments.
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 15 minutes.
Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macarons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macarons.)
Vous pouvez garnir les macarons avec un petit peu de ganache, de confiture ou appareil citron. Les parfums des macarons sont infinis.  
You can garnish the macarons with a little bit of ganache, jam, or lemon curd.  The flavors are limitless.

Suggested fillings

Chocolat ganache

250g chocolat 
250g heavy cream, heated but not quite boiling

Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often.

Mascarpone cream

200g whipping cream
100g mascarpone
30g sugar
Quelques gouttes d’arôme, de la pâte de spéculoos, de la confiture... 
Several drops of flavoring, Speculoos, jam...

In a mixer, place the cream, the mascarpone and the sugar and whisk until peaks form. Place in the refrigerator until use.

Sauce au caramel beurre salé

80 g sugar
40 g salted butter 
10 cl heavy cream

In a medium saucepan, bring the sugar to a boil. Using a wet pastry brush, wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil over high heat until a deep amber caramel color forms, about 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream and butter. Let the caramel cool to room temperature. 

Bon appétit to all dreamers out there!  Dream on.

Re-entry 2016

It just isn't easy.  It never is.  But this year... maybe the toughest re-entry yet.  Why?  Many emotions are tied up in knots.

• Relief. I have returned the kiddies home safe and sound.  No lost passports.  No picked pockets.  No broken bones.  Or broken hearts.  Actually, I am not at all sure about that last one...
• Sadness.  I miss them.  I miss eating breakfast and dinner with them.  One of the girls started calling our meals "family dinners."  I miss their random hugs.  I have never been photographed so many times with individual kiddies.  I miss their excitement and eagerness to try new foods and see new sights.  And their laughter.  I miss France.  In spite of air traffic controller strikes.
• Regret.  Did I take enough photos?  Did I show them everything I meant to?  Why did I lose my patience with one or two more than once? Did I send home emails to parents conveying how much I truly enjoyed spending 12 days with this group?
• Joy.  I was back in France-- with my students who have endured two years of my stories about this amazing country.  I spent time with almost all of my Favorite Frenchies.  I was surrounded by this beautiful language that I have spent most of my life trying to master.  I wandered the streets of Arles once again.
• Hunger #1.  The chance to eat my favorite foods once again... Foie gras.  Duck.  Bread. Cheese.  Pain aux raisins.  Gratin. Aïoli. Sandwich au jambon, fromage, et beurre. Pierre Hermé macarons.  
• Hunger #2. To see more and more and more.  To really see details.  To really look at people. To be mindful and live in the moment.
• Satisfaction. I think that the kiddies enjoyed the activities I planned.  It all fell into place almost  as if by magic.  Wreath-laying ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery.  Macaron-making at Atelier des Gâteaux.  Paris Levallois vs Monaco basketball game.  Meeting Tatiana de Rosnay in the park outside of Bon Marché and sharing poems written about Sarah's Key with her.  The most perfect weather we could hope for during the month of March.  
• Exhaustion.  I fell into bed every night bone-tired.  We probably averaged 9 miles of walking a day.  I laugh just thinking about trying to keep my eyes open so that I could compose an email every night to parents and sound at least partially sane.
• Gratitude.  This is my on-going project, with the help of Pretend Daughter #2.  I do not have the words to thank this group of kiddies, my co-chaperone Mr. P, our families, and my school administration.  For trusting me in the face of daily worries about terrorism and all of the what-ifs that keep some people buttoned up and locked down in their homes.  I will never be one of those people.  

There is so much to say.  So much that I will leave unsaid for now, but save for later posts.  I will look at my 1500+ photos and relive this trip for a long time to come.

Merci à toutes et à tous!

One of the girlies pointed me in the direction of an Eiffel Tower cake mold while we were roaming around in La Grande Épicerie at Bon Marché department store.  I decided to make a chocolate cake in it this morning.

I cannot believe that I forgot to add sprinkles until the very last part of the first cake.  And I completely forgot to add them to the mold on the second one.  Oh well.  Next time, n'est-ce pas?

Gâteau au Chocolat à la Tour Eiffel

recipe adapted from Taste of Home

2/3 c. butter, softened

1-2/3 c. sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 c. all-purpose flour

2/3 c. baking cocoa

1-1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1-1/3 c. buttermilk

Confectioners' sugar or your favorite frosting

In bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until combined.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with milk, beating until smooth after each addition.

Pour batter into greased and floured pan. (The recipe calls for a 13x9-in pan.  I used my new mold, buttering and dusting with cocoa powder.  The recipe made two of these cakes. Cupcakes are always a good idea.)

Bake at 350˚F 35-40 minutes or until cake tests done (less for cupcakes).  Cool on wire rack.  When cake is cool, dust with confectioners' sugar or frost, if desired.

12-15 servings

Bon appétit to all my 8th graders!  Je vous aime!  May you always be so enthusiastic and may you travel to wonderful places during your lifetime.