creating in the kitchen

When Paul and I were in San Francisco we visited Tartine Bakery and quickly understood why it was so crowded. Tartine is a small shop that sells pastries and sandwhiches. We ate lunch and for dessert decided to try something different than we would usually order. Paul had a coconut macaroon and I had an almond rocher that was so tasty I bought the cookbook because it had the recipe in it! It's a simple little cookie that while a little strange looking, is really tasty and actually pretty easy to make.
I made some of the rochers (a fancy french word pronounced ro-shares) for Kate's party and then decided to use the new tart pan I got for Christmas to try my very first tart--chocolate hazelnut, also from the Tartine cookbook. It was delicious and worth the effort of peeling the skins off the hazelnuts (although next time I'll try to buy ones that are already peeled!) So far I'm loving the cookbook and dreaming about becoming a pastry chef and opening a shop of my own. It sounds romantic, although being around delicious pastries all day probably isn't the best thing for the waistline.

Another Christmas gift I received was a fancy cookie cutter meant to be used to make edible bouquets--similar to the ones they charge $50 for! You can find a video here with instructions, it was surprisingly simple to make and comes together at the end. While making it I kept thinking I was just going to have to give up and throw everything together in a bowl for fruit salad, but in the end, it turned out ok. It's fun for kids to look at and I think Kate may have eaten more fruit than usual because it looked so "fancy".