To 2014

Every year, we can say that we'll do better. That we'll try harder. And we make a long list of things that we promise we'll do, that will we'll change for the new year.

And every year, I've followed suit. I've made promises to myself, and try as I may, I haven't really been able to keep them. There is something to be said about dreaming a little too big.

So this year, no more setting myself up to fail. Instead, what about some small, manageable changes to elements of my life that will impact the big picture.

Take time to appreciate what I have, and not what I don't have. I am rich in so many ways, and wasting time thinking about material things that are not there isn't helping anything.

Make time each month for a new adventure or experience with my brand new husband. We're both so busy, and already treasure spending whatever time we can find together. Adventures will only make this so much better.

Take better care of myself. Eat smaller amounts of better food. Try to not stress about everything. Be proud of myself, and what I do.

Here's to you, 2014. I can't wait to see what's in store!

This year, I will learn to like:

*Blue cheese
*Pastis
*Shoenberg


I am pretty certain that learning to like these things may, in fact, help me become a better person. Or something like that.

Sacramento Happy Hour

Grange, in the Citizen Hotel

Episode 5 million and one

And, we're back. Mesdames et messieurs, I bet you didn't even miss me.

So much has changed in a few years, yet sometimes it seems like nothing's changed at all.

Episode 15- Attack of the pumpkin spice lattes

Friends, Romans, Cupcakes, lend me your ears (or sprinkles). I have a problem. And that problem is holiday flavor. Actually, it's not a problem per-se, but more of a teeny-tiny growing addiction.

See, in France, the holidays don't really have a flavor. Actually, that's a lie. In France, the holidays taste like FOIE GRAS and CHAMPAGNE. And they are DELICIOUS. I ate more incredible things than I could count. Oh god, French celebrations. Oysters! Roasts! Drinking! Toasts! More drinking! (See also, last Christmas and what we ate there). But there's no special holiday flavored baking section that involves pumpkin and gingerbread and cinnamon and nutmeg. Sure, there are les buches and chocolate, pain d'epices and vin chaud. You could eat your weight in desserts (I think I have). But you can't get the breadth of "holiday flavor" products that you can here. And after three years without a pumpkin spice latte, or gingerbread-scented something, I have started to over-indulge.

The thing is that I do love me some pumpkin. And Thanksgiving. And all of the warm fall-winter flavors that transition from November to Christmas. So it's been a sensory overload lately in the stores and shops. I nearly keeled over for a candle at Anthropologie (but regained my senses over the price- 18 dollars ow). And last night at Trader Joe's I went in for strawberries and left with canned pumpkin (what a novelty! I won't have to roast a squash every time I want pumpkin-something), pumpkin granola and pumpkin butter. Oops.

Cupcakes do as cupcakes will, and I have decided to approach this from a "research" perspective. Very scientific. And hopefully delicious. Not only will I find out which products are worth it, but I may overcome this growing addiction before next year due to over-saturation! Huzzah!

And if I start to gain too much weight then I'll just go ride my bike. But that's another story.

Confession- I sort of missed Starbucks holiday drinks. Mostly because they remind me of the year that Steve and I tried all of them and one day we went together to the Starbucks near campus and we had either peppermint mochas or gingerbread lattes and then it started to snow and it was beautiful. Whew. But come one, Christmas drinks at the beginning of November? It is not time yet! Leave me my fall and my pumpkin! And take those red cups away!

So... stay tuned for pumpkin beer?

Episode 14- In which we dream about opening our own business.

Oh, and grad school? Grrrr.

So maybe the key to this whole "job" thing is not to try and fit myself into a job posting that I find on the world wide web (most of which never answer me back- WHAT'S WITH YOU JOB PEOPLE?) but rather to make up a job for myself that fits me perfectly. People have suggested this to me before and I quite like the idea, but am deterred by the fact that I have no money. Which is sad.

But really, isn't America about the (American) dream and the entrepreneurial spirit and being able to do whatever you want? Shouldn't any double-grad-school-educated person be able to open their own business? Even if it's a business that no one knows about? Even if it's to make food and plan parties for other people? Even if it means I could wear a frilly apron on a professional basis? Even if most of these businesses fail in 2 minutes?

I've always harbored a dream of being a wedding planner (sigh, J.Lo, sigh) and planning extravagant affairs that were like really big formals. Sarah could make the cakes! But probably not happening any time soon. But wouldn't it be nice to plan smaller, classy parties? With cocktails and small bites and cupcakes? Would you come?

So please hire me and my pretend business! Here are things that I could make for you:

Cupakes (duh), filled with jam and topped with a rosewater glaze
Cakes, in the French savory style- goat cheese and walnuts, asparagus and mozzarella, etc
Quiches of all sorts
Tartes, savory and sweet- nectarine and vanilla sugar, portabello and bacon and spinach, etc
Half-moon bites, filled with pesto or goat cheese or anything
Tartelettes, of all sorts
Many many mini-toasts for every taste under the sun
Kir, of course

I think that this is only the beginning of the list, though

Episode 13- Which hopefully is not an unlucky number

When the going gets tough and there's still no job on the horizon, why not make a savory tart?

And if you, like cupcake, cannot roll out a round pie crust to save your life, why not make a rustic savory tart?

These were my favorite during the thesis-writing period, because they are easy, fast and can be made without a lot of pricey groceries. Any combination of meat and vegetable and cheese will work, or it could go completely veggie. Buying cuts of meat and chopping them at home instead of using pre-ground saves money and lets you control exactly what goes in. Plus, you can buy whatever meat is on special! Let's use one of my favorite examples.

The "I just came back from Spain and I want to use some of this delicious smoked paprika" tart

1 pie crust (made with love at home or purchased if you are in France and can purchase a decent crust)
2 boneless pork chops (they don't have to be huge, the idea is to not use very much meat)
1 yellow onion
mild melty cheese, grated (I've used emmenthaler and comte)
a few teaspoons of aforementioned smokey paprika
salt and pepper

*Preheat your oven to 350, if you're the Fahrenheit type
*Cut the onion into quarters. In a food processor pulse into the onion is finely minced. Set aside.
*Cut the pork into several large pieces and chop in the food processor until the pieces are the approximate size of ground pork.
(Alternately you could just mince the pork and onion by hand, as long as the pieces are fairly small.)
*Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat, and when hot add the pork.
*When the pork starts to release some liquid throw in the onions. If the pork is too dry add a little olive oil so the onions don't stick.
*Cook the two together until the onions are soft and the pork is done but not dry (it'll cook a bit more in the oven).
*Add paprika, salt and pepper and stir to mix. Taste and re-season. Repeat until it's delicious.
*Roll out that pastry! (or unroll the store-bought from the box)
*Dump the pork-onion mixture into the middle, leaving about a 2 inch radius around the edges.
*Fold the bare sides of the pastry up onto the middle, creating the edge-crust. It will look like a rough circle unless you're perfect and then it will look like a perfect circle.
*Sprinkle with the cheese
*Put the whole thing into the oven until the crust is golden, the cheese is melted and it looks ready. It can take anywhere from 20-35 minutes.

This serves 3 easily, or 2 very hungry people (or boys)

Episode 12- where we talk about music...

... specifically this playlist, unremarkably titled "songs about g"

Amour du Sol- Yelle
Je chante en français, des années 80, je n’aime pas le passé, mais c’était quand même bien

Say Yes! To Michigan!- Sufjan Stevens
Yes Michigan, the feeling forever....

Clark Co. Record Fair- Saint Etienne
Only the best from the SE, from a stupidly hard-to-find album

Hey Eugene!- Pink Martini
For a long time, I told people that this song was about Eugene, Oregon. Fail.

Plasticities- Andrew Bird
Strangely enough, a huge inspiration for my MA thesis

That's Not my Name- The Ting Tings
I would like to be in this band.

L'Homme aux Bras Ballants- Yann Tiersen
Ready for a little waltz?

En Cendres- Emilie Simon
The percussion group I worked for collaborated with Emilie, and after they introduced me to her music I realized I was the last person in France to know who she was.

The World is a Disco Ball- Future Bible Heroes
As Matt would say, "Moses on guitar!"

Love Generation- Bob Sinclair
The (old) Star Academy song!

Those to Come- The Shins
The best Shins song, ever. For cupcakes.

Merry Happy- Kate Nash
Oh, Kate Nash. I listened to this cd straight through approximately 10 million times after buying it.

Episode 11- Taking stock of Tucson, or, get me away from here I'm dying

A wise cupcake once said that you can't go home again. But then another instructed to get back to where you once belonged. WHICH IS IT THEN CUPCAKE????

Sometimes the hardest thing is going home again, and realizing that it's not exactly what you had planned. Sometimes you can realize that nothing is ever going to change in this city and that the only thing that can change is you. And sometimes that means just picking up and getting out, as soon as you can.

Let's face it, this job market is no good, especially if your cupcake logic inspired you to get degrees in French, music, French, and Arts Management. And Tucson is mostly horrible for trying to job search in anything but science, health or missile stuff at Raytheon. Plans to leave by the beginning of September slowly fall apart and become October. So it is time for action! It is time to choose a city! And I choose you, Portland! (do you choose me too?)

So until further notice, all actions and energy will be directed towards getting cupcake and Ninja back to the Northwest. Will jobs be found? Will there be a scouting trip? Will this take time away from embroidery time? Actually, this is all just pretty confusing. Please choose me Portland! I love you!

Episode 10- Let's go to Mexico! (a letter to e)

Dear e,
So, it was just a cupcake birthday, which usually means "special food" (and this year it also means that I'm coming to see you in 2 days!). There was a lot of hemming and hawing going on around here, until I exclaimed, "I want to go to that restaurant in Nogales that everyone talks about and that we've never been to because I've only been to Mexico once!" That's right kids, Nogales, Mexico. And although it may seem like a vague description (notice that I didn't even know the name of the place), there really is a restaurant right across the border that everyone talks about. The part about me only having been to Mexico once is sadly also true. Worse: never been to the Grand Canyon.

So, without a care in the world (except for when I thought my skirt was too short), we headed southward from the Old Pueblo towards our destination. We had good information that the key was to park on the US side of the border (at a McDonalds) and walk across. Shady? Well, sort of, but not really. Walking across the border into Mexico was ridiculously easy. Not easy was seeing that stupid wall, but that's a whole different story. We walked around a little, then started to look for the restaurant. Clue: the restaurant, La Roca, has huge magnolia trees in front of it. Bigger clue: the restaurant is built into a cliff. Behold:


That huge iron bird in the window was a little scary, but we kept going. You know that feeling when you've reserved a table and then arrive at the place only to find out that you had absolutely no need to reserve? Yeah, that was us. But it did get us a prime seat by the window, looking over at this:


For anyone who thinks Mexico is all fiesta and pinatas, welcome to Mexico. La Roca has a very Spanish colonial feel, probably due to the huge Spanish colonial influence in the area. The waiters all wear white jackets, which is also pretty awesome. Once again, the cliff wall:


Then, problems arose. We were presented with this:


How do you choose? One of everything? Two of everything? Make friends with the table next to you? Also, I have to congratulate myself on the blurry photo before I had really even made a dent in my (ahem, first) margarita. I'm pretty sure you would die just reading the choices. And thinking about how delicious they'd be. And I wish you'd been there to eat this:


Ok, so chips and salsa aren't too orignal, or even authentic, but they were good. I really meant that I wish you'd been there to eat this:


Queso la Roca. Melted cheese (I'm guessing cotijo?), like a queso fundido, but with thinly fried potatoes (almost chips), cilantro and salsa verde. If man could live on cheese and potatoes alone, I would eat this every day. And probably have really high cholesteral. I know that you're a guacamole fan, so e, this guacs for you:

We alternated eating it with the tortilla chips and the fresh tortillas they brought to the table. Sorry. But we were only getting started! (also on the margaritas)

La Roca is known for its seafood, and Dad said his sea bass, or cabrillo was excellent. What am I talking about, I tried it, it was excellent. Mom's chicken mole was to die for, but the picture wasn't. Apparently you can also get really good shrimp around there, so I decided to test the waters (ahahahahaha, I'm so punny).

Shrimp la Roca was huge shrimp envelopped between jalepenos and onions and then BATHED IN CHEESE. I loved it even after I ate a half jalepeno that I didn't realize still had the seeds. That is why margaritas were invented.

Unfortunately, I "forgot" to take pictures of my surprise birthday flan and the singing that accompanied it (with a guitar!). I don't even like flan, but this particular diversion had me at hello with its carmelness. I know, all flans taste like caramel. But this flan, it was special. It was my flan. Sadly, the night had to end, and we had to leave la Roca to walk back across the border (this time they checked our passports) and drive back to little old Tucson. Sigh.

So that's the trip to Mexico. I'm pretty sure you would have loved it, and also been slightly freaked out by the giant bird. But for the first time in years I get to say, I'll see you in a few days! Don't worry, I won't forget the tortillas.

Love, g

Episode 9- Waxing poetically about Breton seafood...

...with pictures
Ooooh

Ahhhhh

Ahhhhhh

I mean come on, Arizona has no ocean. For the best seafood, Cupcakes recommend traveling to Bretagne and eating any of the above- lobsters (served cool, with homemade mayonnaise), crab claws (same way) or mackerel (grilled on a plancha and served with lemon). The views help too. And the wine. And the French. Oh France, I'm so not over you yet.

Episode 8- Which is really just dinner from yesterday

Dinner for Sarah means French dinner! Ahem...

Tartelettes aux champignons, echalottes et poireaux (Mushroom, shallot and leek tartlets)

Parmentier du porc aux figues et miel et polenta (Polenta layered with roast pork and figs in a honey balsamic sauce)

Granite du cafe, creme chantilly a la canelle (Coffee granita with cinammon whipped cream)

Cupcake says, 2 thumbs up! The first two recipes come from two lovely Marabout editions- Tartes and Parmentiers. They arrived, finally, in the boxes from France along with many other cookbooks and other treasures. It looks like most things made it, but claims still have to be made with one of the two postal services for the things that were broken. After worries that the Oregon diploma was lost (it's already traveled across the ocean once!), there it was, nestled in its case. It's currently living at the framing place, awaiting its future home surrounded by mats and a frame. Then the world can delight in my Masterness, part 1! Ahahahaha.

Episode 7- Thank you Barack Obama

"America, we are better than these last eight years."

Yes we are.

Episode 6- In which cupcakes support the arts

Now, anyone who is a friend or acquaintance of this cupcake knows how much I care about arts education. It is one of my biggest passions, and something I hold very close to my heart. The arts are for everyone. They should not be only for those who can afford expensive class fees or visits, or those who live in areas with a high density of arts offerings. No, the arts belong to all of us, and the younger we start the better it is. They round out a complete liberal education, and should not be cut just because schools are aiming to perform higher on standardized tests or because budgets are low. This could go on forever, so I'll just get to the point. Americans for the Arts, a great national arts advocacy organization, produced these incredible tv spots. Please watch. And laugh! Because children screaming Johannes Brahms! around the breakfast table is funny. Real funny.








Both are produced by Americans for the Arts and the Ad Council. Thank you Americans for the Arts.

Episode 5- Pastries cupcakes like

Let's talk about butter. Cupcakes love butter. And are often largely composed of it. But butter, our friend, also plays a part in many other lovely things in life. One of those is Kouign Amman.


Kouign Amman, a Breton specialty, is composed of butter, bread dough, butter, sugar and butter. Oh, and maybe some more butter. During the baking process the sugar caramelizes, making a chewy crunchy top. Some of us may or may not have eaten our weight in this during our recent trip to Bretagne. Good thing the same trip included a lot of walking. Kouign Amman is sort of like crack- it is addicting and a hard habit to break. I STILL HAVEN'T GIVEN YOU UP KOUIGN AMMAN. It would be an easier habit to keep up if cupcakes were better at making bread dough. But you know, we cope. We mostly cope by eating other things made out of butter. Like,


You know, butter, it's what's for breakfast. As it should be. (Side note- even though you may think it to be true, not every croissant in France is good. But they all have butter) Sometimes we liked to take croissants to yet another level and slather them in butter enriched with sea salt crystals. That's right, sea salt crystal butter. It's every bit as fantastic as it sounds. Is it available in America? This butter, delicious in its own right, also makes a mighty fine pie crust. Actually, it can be used for just about anything. Maybe even to put an end to war and pollution. Look into that Obama, please.

This would be a good place for a recipe, but this cupcake doesn't know how to make Kouign Amman or croissants. What am I supposed to do, put up a recipe for how to slather butter on bread? Actually...

Breakfast
Take one baguette. Still warm. Cut of piece of said baguette. Cut piece in half. Cover knife in sea salt crystal butter. Transfer butter to baguette. Transfer baguette to mouth. Enjoy.

Episode 4- A lovely French music video

Giant. Dancing. Appliances.

From last year. Not the 80s. Cupcakes support Yelle for President. Of France.

Episode 3- In which the cupcake makes Cosmos

Cupcakes, like most other people/pastries, enjoy a delicious cocktail. And seriously, the only thing better than a delicious cocktail is a delicious pink cocktail (see also: delicious purple lavender martinis only available in Portland, Oregon). The ur-cocktail of the pink lineage has to be a Cosmopolitan, made even more famous by its frequent guest-star roles on Sex and the City. Frankly (franchement), if this cupcake could bathe in cosmos, she would. France marked a dry-spell in the Cosmo department. And even if France has so many other things (wine, Chartreuse, Chambord, other things of the non-alcoholic variety), it does not really have that same fondness for Cosmos. And that, France, is why we are broken-up. Just kidding, I love you.

All this being said, one thing is evident: cupcake in US= obligatory consumption of cosmopolitans. How convenient that BevMo had even supplied the cupcake household with berry vodka. Nice Bevmo, nice. However the shaker gods/stars were not aligned, and the deliciousness had to be made in a make-shift shaker (not that shaking drinks in a glass with tin foil over the top is make-shift...) And they were still DELICIOUS.

Now you shall make your own....

Cupcake's Favorite Cosmos (from Shag's "Around the World in 80 Drinks")

1.5 ounces vodka (regular or "special", although this blog claims no responsibility for injuries incurred if you try chile vodka)
.5 ounces Triple Sec, Cointreau or Grand Marnier (to be determined by budget)
1 ounce cranberry juice
.5 ounces lime juice (or just squeeze some into the shaker)

Add all elements to an ice-filled shaker. Shake. Strain into classy glass. Enjoy.

Episode 2- In which we muse about foie gras

Oh foie gras, how I love thee. I know that many many people think that you are inhumane, and that you have been illegal in places. But I'd like to put that all aside and talk about how much I love you. With pain d'epices. In ice cream form. On Christmas Eve. On special occasions. Anytime.

Due to recent relocation to America, I think that I'll be on a foie-gras-free diet for a while. Unless you have any...

Episode 1- An alcohol Haiku

Oh, America
And your microbreweries
I miss Carrefour wine

Projet culturel

I found out today that the project I've been coordinating at work is going to be one of the main and thus most-advertised projects in the region for the Journées du Patrimoine.  This weekend of cultural heritage events is one of the biggest times for people to get out and go to museums, visit places that aren't usually open to the public (like government buildings or privately-owned places), and do other things that they basically ignore all year.  We had always planned the project for presentation in the six regional parks that weekend, but then the regional branch of the Ministère de la Culture (la DRAC) stepped in and mentioned that they'd like to feature it heavily in their documentation.  I'm so excited- everyone throughout the parks and the collective has been working so hard to make this project work, and it's going to reach so many people now.  I'm working on a press kit now, and seriously, I get to put pictures of the churches and CASTLES where the cinema concerts will be performed in it. And really, who doesn't want to go to a concert in a CASTLE?