Drool-Worthy: Alice Medrich's Best Ever Cocoa Brownies

So I am going to describe something and you are going to drool. Ready?

Browned butter cocoa brownies with walnuts, pecans, and chocolate chips mixed in, sprinkled with flaky sea salt, and baked until a cracked in all-the-right-places top develops. Fudgey, moist, rich perfection. The sinfully sweet balance of gooey and chewy, of salty savory dark and sweet. Oh, and this is a one-pot recipe. And you don't have to clean the baking pan after baking.


How'd I do?

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter
Adapted from The Cilantropist, originally from Bon Appetit, February 2011, recipe by Alice Medrich


***My adaptions are in bold


1 1/4 stick unsalted butter (10 tbsps) cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 teaspoons water
2 large eggs
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans (I used a mix of pecans and walnuts), chopped
~1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Extra sea salt for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and line the inside of an 8x8 square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving 2-inch overhangs and pressing the foil tightly to the sides of the pan. (If you like spray the aluminum foil with non-stick cooking spray, though I didn't find this necessary.)


In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring often. The butter will first melt, then foam, then form more clear bubbles. Once the butter has only bubbles (and no foam) and there are browned bits at the bottom of the pan, remove the butter from the heat. Stir in the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, salt, and 2 teaspoons water. Let the mixture sit for about 4-5 minutes to cool, then mix in the eggs one at a time, beating quickly after each addition. Once the chocolate mixture looks relatively smooth, mix in the flour, and then beat well for a few minutes. Mix in the chopped nuts, and transfer to the prepared pan, smoothing the top before baking.


Bake for about 30 minutes or more, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean - if there is still a tiny bit of moist batter at the very bottom that is ok. Remove the brownies from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Once cool, remove the brownies from the pan using the aluminum foil overhangs; then pull the aluminum foil away from the brownies and cut them into 16 square pieces. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container.

Demo: Flourless Chocolate Cakes + Homemade Whipped Cream

6 cakes, over 150 samples, and a 30 minute demo in front of a large room of UC Berkeley students. The Cal Cooking Club.

I arrive a bit flushed from my hectic walk over. My skin is damp with a few drops of sweat, leaving my glasses to slip down my nose every few seconds. Alas, I made it through my demo without burning down the building and spilling chocolate on my blouse.


Flourless chocolate cake. This dessert makes it on the menu at work very often. It is just a simple, comforting, chocolatey delight. And it is such a great base for experimentation and dressing up the plate: Rosemary caramel sauce anyone? Creme fraiche with candied orange peel? Brandied cherry and slivered almonds? Pine nuts, whipped cream, and olive oil (a favorite of mine!)?! The possibilities are endless with this simple base. It could even be fun experimenting with different chocolates-I usually use bittersweet, but I would love to see what you can do with semisweet, dark, even milk chocolate!


Please. If you like to cook, if you like to bake, if you like to eat, do it, enjoy it. Keep cooking. Cook with friends, with family, with strangers. Go into a restaurant and chop garlic all day. Throw dinner parties. Go to happy hours. Go out and try some new food that you would never think to make at home.


Go home and make flourless chocolate cake. You won't regret it. I promise.

Flourless Chocolate Cake/Torte

(thanks, Kiri!)

9 oz. (about a heaping cup) Bittersweet Chocolate (at work I use Callebaut or Valrhona brand, but I am also a fan of Trader Joe's chocolate as well as Ghiradelli)

9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

5 Egg Yolks

½ Cup Sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

¼ Teaspoon Sea Salt

½ Teaspoon Vanilla

5 Egg Whites

In a bowl over a pot with barely simmering water, melt butter with chocolate. Let cool slightly.

In a mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks with sugar until very thick and pale (you can also do this by hand).

Meanwhile, add the cocoa powder (sift if lumpy) to the chocolate-butter mixture with sea salt and vanilla.

Fold beaten egg yolks into chocolate mixture.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks, being careful not to overbeat. Your whites will looks white and thick (you've gone to far if you start to see curdled chunks). Fold into chocolate mixture and pour into a parchment-lined 9” round pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F until edges are slightly puffed and cracked, and middle is set but just slightly jiggly, about 30 minutes. Let cool (cake will fall slightly). Cut into slices with a hot wet knife (I've heard floss works, too!).

May be wrapped well and refrigerated for several days. Serve at room temperature.

Suggested servings: with whipped cream, caramel sauce, or a personal favorite olive oil and whipped cream. Or add chopped toasted nuts (hazelnuts, pine-nuts…).

Homemade Whipped Cream

1-2 cups heavy whipping cream

about 4 Tablespoons sugar

In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whip your cream until thickened and to your liking. Add the sugar and stir for another 10-15 seconds.

Serve atop flourless chocolate cake!

Thank you to Cal Cooking Club for this wonderful opportunity!

Valentine's Day Dessert to Die For

Brownie Pudding. Amazing. Make it. Eat it. Love it. With your lover, with your loved ones, or just with your lovely self!

Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

Oh yes, this dripping cone of chocolate heaven is SORBET. No cream, no milk, no egg yolks...but no skimping on the rich chocolate flavor. Oh no, no skimping. This is as pure as a frozen chocolate treat can get. Joanne Chang, the owner of a popular Boston bakery called Flour is responsible for this bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe. She describes the taste perfectly: "It tastes like a frozen deep, dark chocolate bar." Oh, lordy I couldn't describe it better myself!

I was just in New York and discovered that there are some REALLY GOOD hot chocolates to drink out there. Like REALLY REALLY GOOD, especially when you dip a pretzel croissant into your hot chocolate. This sorbet tastes like the dark hot chocolates that I was drinking just a few weeks ago, but frozen.

I had some organic vegan ice cream cones on-hand that I used to make red velvet cupcake cones a short while ago, and these cones were a great way to enjoy this bittersweet chocolate sorbet (and the cones only have 25 calories, 0 fat, and 0 sugar!!!).

I do very much enjoy the process of making ice cream. I like the whole heat the milk, temper in the egg yolks, and pour into cold cream thing. But with this sorbet, I get to do the make a nice caramel, add some cocoa powder, and pour everything over chopped chocolate thing. I like this, too.

Chang provides a nice food-science explanation for using caramelized sugar instead of pure sugar in her bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe:

"...caramelize the sugar before combining it with the sorbet base. Because there is no cream or milk in this recipe, it is a challenge to create a smooth, creamy texture. Caramelizing the sugar means you can use more sugar than you would normally (since straight sugar is pure sweet and the sweetness of the caramelized sugar is offset by its characteristic bitterness). The extra sugar-disguised-as-caramel helps to lower the freezing point of the sorbet base, which means it won't freeze solid. The result is a creamier, softer, not-icy treat."

Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

from Joanne Chang's book, Flour

makes about 1 quart

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

3 1/2 cups (840 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

4 ounces (114 grams) bittersweet chocolate (60-70 % cacao), finely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Put the sugar in the bottom of a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup (120 grams) of the water and gently swirl the pan to moisten the sugar. Place the pan over high heat and leave it undisturbed until the contents come to a rolling boil. Then continue to boil rapidly without moving the pan until the sugar syrup starts to caramelize. This will take 3 to 4 minutes: the sugar syrup will boil furiously, then as it thickens it will boil more languidly, and then you will see some of the syrup start to color and darken around the edge of the pan.

When you see color in the pan, gently swirl it in a circular motion so the sugar caramelizes evenly, and then keep swirling gently until the caramel is a medium golden brown. Turn down the heat to low and slowly and carefully add the remaining 3 cups (720 grams) water. Be careful, because it will sputter and spatter when it hits the caramel. The caramel will harden at the bottom of the pan; turn up the heat to high, bring the mixture back to a boil, and whisk for a few minutes until the caramel fully dissolves. Then whisk in the cocoa powder until fully dissolved.

Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the hot caramelized liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk gently until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a container, and whisk in the vanilla and salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until cold.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Sorbet can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 week.

The Chocolate Room, Brooklyn

(Above you see brother and mom, post-chocolate indulgence) Nestled next to a quaint movie theater in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, The Chocolate Room knows how to hit the spot on a cold, snowy day.


Immediately when you walk in a case of gorgeous chocolates will tempt you.


You can sit at the bar or go to the back and sit at a table (If you sit at a table there is a beautiful tall window with which to watch the snow flakes fall). The waitstaff hands you a menu and a little sample: almond cake drizzled with chocolate.


It is pretty much a given that you must order hot chocolate when the snow is falling and you are at a place called "The Chocolate Room." Oh, and please do order a homemade marshmallow to swim in your hot chocolate. The Chocolate Room also has a hot chocolate with a shot of espresso in it. It is called a Cafe Torino. My eyes just got a little brighter thinking about it.


So five of us "dined" at the Chocolate Room. We each got a drink and then shared two chocolate desserts. A flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and whipped cream=dense and dreamy, and I loved the raspberry-chocolate combo.


Chocolate pudding cake with whipped mascarpone and brandied cherries. Rich and oozing chocolatey goodness. Definitely my favorite chocolate delight from The Chocolate Room.

Both of the desserts--the flourless chocolate cake and the chocolate pudding cake--were on the specials menu.

I feel like I have taken a chocolate and burger tour of New York. My stomach has never hurt so good.

The Chocolate Room
86 5th Avenue
New York, NY 11217
(718) 783-2900

The City Bakery

The City Bakery.
I want.
I crave.
I think I found my new favorite bakery.
I think I need to move to New York City.
I think I need to live above The City Bakery.


Exhibit A: The Pretzel Croissant
Salty
Buttery
Tender
Flaky
Sprinkled with sesame seeds
Dipped into my hot chocolate drink


Exhibit B: Dark Hot Chocolate with a Homemade Marshmallow
Chocolate in the morning.
Makes me a happy lady.


Look at those muffins. Ooo tummy.


Bran muffin. A mountain of a muffin.

David Lebovitz turned me on to this bakery. They have a salad bar at the bakery. Salad and pastries. No but really, the salad bar is supposed to be raging during lunch hour. But really no, just go get a pretzel croissant and dip it into your liquid chocolate drink.

The City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 366-1414

Chocolate Truffles: 5th Avenue Chocolatiere New York

Love.

5th Avenue Chocolatiere
693 Third Avenue at 43rd Street
New York, NY 10017
(212) 935-5454

Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownies

Ok so I'm clumsy. You don't even want to know how many of my shirts have food stains on them. Most of them aren't even from baking/cooking, they are from my sloppy eating habits...I really need to start carrying my tide-to-go pen on me at all times. It's really the only way.

Ok so I made a whole pan of brownies. There was no way that I wasn't going to nibble on one hot out of the oven, how could anyone possibly wait until they are cool?


Ok so this was a very crazy week and I began many a morning with a comforting cappuccino and ended many nights chowing down on chocolate covered cranberries. That's just how it goes.

Chocolate

Chocolate + Butter

Melted Chocolate + Butter

A week ago I spent the afternoon procrastinating studying "diseases of the liver." I was sitting at a cafe looking up brownie recipes. All I have wanted this entire week was to make brownies. Uber-rich, uber-buttery, uber-fudgey brownies. A week later and I've finally done it. I've made the brownies that I have been dreaming about for 7 days.

Special thanks to Kiri for recommending this recipe to me...

Nick Malgieri's Supernatural Brownies

recipe from Saveur magazine

makes 24 brownies

16 tablespoons butter
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut in 1/4" pieces
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup flour

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13" pan with butter and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment. Set pan aside.

2. Pour enough water into a 4 quart saucepan that it reaches a depth of 1". Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Combine butter and chocolate in a medium bowl; set bowl over saucepan (do not let the bottom of the bowl directly touch the water). Cook, stirring until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3. Whisk together eggs in a large bowl. Add sugars, vanilla, and salt. Stir in chocolate-butter mixture. Fold in the flour. Pour into prepared pan; spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Let cool on a rack. Cut and serve.

Food Science?: Chocolate Agar Plate

What is an agar plate? Agar plates are commonly used in biology labs. An agar plate is a Petri dish containing a growth medium used to culture certain microorganisms.

There is a type of agar called chocolate agar (see photo above). Unfortunately there is no actual chocolate in the agar; it's name is chocolate because of the color of the agar. Chocolate agar comes from cooked blood (yummy!) and is used to culture fastidious (fussy) organisms.

So a note to all of you bio students/researchers/dabblers: DO NOT EAT YOUR CHOCOLATE AGAR...it is not made of chocolate. Go buy a bar of the goodstuff to satisfy your cravings.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

I made some chocolate chip cookie dough flavor ice cream for you. A whole tub of it. It's like cookie dough, but it's ice cream. Insane. I used a combo of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate morsels just because. I used brown sugar and egg yolks in my custard, and when this yummy frozen treat was finished churning, I licked the ice cream maker clean.

And hey, if you still miss those "chunks" of cookie dough mixed into the ice cream, well by all means go ahead and make some dough to mix in. Or if you want to crumble some already baked chocolate chip cookies into the mix, go to town. (If you are looking for a chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.) I actually took some leftover homemade oreos from my work and mixed them in.

I happily ate my cookie dough flavor ice cream with chopped chocolate, oreos, and yes, I took a spoonful of peanut butter to go along with my bowl of decadence.

***NOTE: Apologies for the low quality photos...my camera is still broken and in the process of being fixed. So just hold your horses until then...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Flavor Ice Cream

from JoytheBaker

3 tablespoons butter
2 cups half and half
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk (whole or 2% is best; milk with less fat might make this particular ice cream get too icy when frozen)
3/4-1 cup chocolate, chopped (I used half semisweet, half bittersweet)

Pour your 1 1/2 cups milk into a medium-large bowl and set over an ice water bath. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter until it melts into a nice golden brown color (this is called browned butter). Add the half and half until scalding (not quite boiling). Add your pinch of salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add some of the warm half and half mixture to the egg-sugar mixture while stirring constantly. Then pour the rest back into the saucepan and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture has thickened slightly and can coat the back of a metal spoon. Strain through a sieve into the bowl of milk. Stir over the ice water bath until chilled, then stick in the fridge until completely chilled.

Pour into the ice cream maker. In the last few minutes of churning, stir in the chopped chocolate, cookie dough chunks, whatever tickles your fancy...

Caramel Ice Cream with Sliced Almonds and Heath Bar

Making caramel can seem very intimidating at first. You are playing with science. You are playing with fire. You are playing with sugar--hot bubbling sugar. There are different types of caramels that can be made: wet caramel is made by heating a combination of sugar and water in a pan and dry caramel is simply sugar heated without any liquid. Wet caramel is used mostly for sauces and drizzling. This particular caramel ice cream recipe uses the dry caramel technique.

The 2 main things to take note of when making caramel are recrystallization (lumpy clumpy sugar crystals) and burning the sugar. You can avoid recrystallization by making sure that your pan and your sugar have no impurities in them and that you are cooking your sugar in a fairly even layer. Limiting the amount that the sugar is stirred can also help prevent recrystallization (point: do not over-stir). To prevent burning the sugar, it is important to stand guard and hover around the pot. Right when the sugar turns an amber color and starts smoking and foaming a bit, you must remove the pan from heat immediately to stop the sugar from darkening further. Usually, a liquid is added (cream, coffee, orange juice/water...) at this point to help stop it from continuing to cook.

Look, if you mess up, just try again with a new batch of sugar. Sugar is pretty inexpensive and you can think of the process as an educational lesson in cooking and science.

Caramel ice cream is a real treat. This recipe is just a basic dry caramel mixed with a milky creamy custard, but there are all sorts of fun ways to play with caramel ice cream mix: burnt caramel ice cream, salted caramel ice cream, salted butter caramel ice cream (I had this flavor at a shop in Paris, caramel burree sale, mmmmm!)...

I also chose to mix in heath bar candy and chopped toasted almonds. I actually wish that I hadn't done the heath bar thing because it took away from the actual caramel taste, but it was still absolutely delicious regardless. Next time I think I will pair the ice cream with a flourless chocolate cake or maybe some chewy gingersnap cookies and make ginger caramel ice cream sandwiches. Uh. Yea.

Caramel Ice Cream

from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert

makes about 1 quart (1 liter)

1 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Spread the sugar in an even layer in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over medium heat, without stirring, until the sugar begins to melt around the edges. Using a heatproof utensil, slowly drag the liquified sugar to the center and stir gently until all the sugar is melted. Continue to cook, stirring infrequently, until the caramel turns dark amber in color and starts to foam a bit. Remove from heat and immediately add the milk (SLOWLY!). The caramel will bubble up vigorously (WATCH OUT, STAND BACK/WEAR OVEN MITS), then the bubbling will subside.

Set the saucepan over low heat, add 1/4 teaspoon salt, and stir until almost all of the hardened caramel has dissolved into the milk. A few bits may remain, but don't worry; they'll melt later on.

Pour the cream into a medium bowl and set a mesh strainer across the top.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, then gradually add some of the warm caramel mixture, whisking constantly as you pour. Pour the warmed yolks back into the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan with a heatproof spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the spatula. Pour the custard through the mesh strainer into the heavy cream. Stir in the vanilla, then taste, and add up to 1/4 teaspoon more salt, if desired.

Set the bowl containing the custard over a larger bowl of ice water. Stir the custard until cool, then cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

**Optional: Stir in 1 to 2 cups of mix-ins just after churning--chopped chocolate or candy bars (I did chopped toasted almonds with heath bar), bits of broken caramel, crumbled brownies, praline...

or

Make cookies and make caramel ice cream sandwiches!

French Home Cooking in the Suburbs of Paris

I feel lucky. I feel very lucky. I feel very lucky to have just spent the last week in the suburbs of Paris, France with a lovely French family. A lovely French family who gave me a bed to sleep in at night, a clean shower, and home-cooked meals. Let's just say that I have eaten well this past week, eaten well with great company (and don't forget about the wine!!).

Let us start from the beginning, shall we? I have a friend, her name is Alex (pictured below on the right). Alex is from France.


Alex and I worked/lived together last summer (2009). We worked together in Berkeley, California at a cooking camp for children.

This summer (2010) I went on a 3-week Euro-trip where I spend my last week with Alex and her family in Paris, France. Actually, they live right outside Paris in a town called Vincenne. Just before I arrived, Alex was at her family's country home where she picked fruits and made jams with them: rhubarb, cassis (black currant), groseille (red currants), apricot, apple, raspberry...

Groseille (red currant) jam

Apparently Alex and her family have NEVER had to buy jam before. They always make it in abundance with the summer fruits from their country home. And every morning they eat their jam on a toasted baguette. What a life, eh?

Rhubarb jam

Speaking of rhubarb, check out this piece of rhubarb:


It is huge! And green! Totally different than the rhubarb that I am familiar with back in the states. I have made rhubarb jam before, it was red. Their jam is green. "C'est la vie."


Pictured below is Alex's mom, Catherine. She is making rhubarb jam and she is literally the queen of her kitchen, my taste buds can attest to that:


Alex recently celebrated her 22nd birthday. Bon anniversaire! (that means "happy birthday" in French). Of course we had to celebrate with good food and good drinks. We had a multi-course meal with a bottle or two of wine for each course!

This multi-course meal, however, was as simple as can be. It all started with fresh scallops. During the winter months, Alex's family buys fresh scallops, shucks them, and freezes them. Her mom defrosted these scallops over-night in milk so that they would not dry out or smell. A sprinkle of oil in a hot pan with a dash of fresh garlic, sauteed two minutes on each side and these babies are done! Accompanied with a fresh baby spinach salad, I found such joy in the hot/cold, soft/crunchy balance of foods. Mmm summer!


Next, we had a little somethin' called "tarte tatin," which is sort of like an upside-down tart. Typically, you see a tarte tatin for dessert, made with fruits such as apples. But Catherine prepared a savory tarte tatin with a confit of ratatouille-style vegetables, topped with slivers of fresh Parmesan cheese.


And with every great meal there is always fresh baguette...


Now lets talk dessert. I sat with Catherine as we picked through a big bucket of fresh red currants, separating stem from fruit.


We were adding these currants to a fresh fruit crumble. Rhubarb and red currant crumble. No sugar was added to the fruit. I couldn't believe it. Seriously? Yes, why add sugar when you can just taste how good the fruits are as is?


Topped with a pastry crust: 200 grams each of flour, ground almonds, sugar, and butter.


Pat it down and Voilà! We added a little special touch to the crumble by making the number "22" out of the pastry.



And after it baked, the currants just exploded over the pastry top and all that was left was this special "22." Yum-o! I love the tart fruit mixed with the sweet pastry crust. Really just so simple and not too much sugar.


Now, last year when Alex came to Berkeley, she made this cake that I have since dreamed about all year long. This cake is of the chocolate variety. It is called Fondant au Chocolat and is the best darn chocolate cake I have ever tasted. It only works if you use very good chocolate. There is only about 2 tablespoons of flour in the whole cake. So easy to whip up and so quick to bake. The key is timing and temperature of the oven. Oh how I adore this cake.


Alex's mom probably could have prepared the cake with a blind-fold on and one hand tied behind her back. It was like a little dance watching her bake with such easy and joy.


Let us meet dad now, yes? Everyone, meet Emmanuel. The wine connoisseur, the grill master, the cheese aficionado, the jokester. This man knows everything and more about French wine. We even tasted a very special red wine that is supposed to be eaten ONLY with really good chocolate (yes, we drank this wine with our fondant au chocolat). Below, Emmanuel grills pork and lamb on the rooftop of their flat.


What a beautiful summer evening, the perfect night for another perfect meal...


Roasted potatoes, perfectly browned...



Special French salt called "fleur de sel." It's great for sprinkling as a final touch to any dish...


On my last night in France, Alex hosted a barbecue for friends. On the menu was a simple tabouleh salad: cucumbers, tomatoes, couscous, lemon juice, olive oil. There was also a salad with fresh sliced tomatoes, hericot vert (French green beans), and feta cheese.

Prepping the tabouleh

Tabouleh Salad

Hericot vert, tomato, and feta cheese salad

Alex made a lovely fruity rum cocktail with fresh orange slices and vanilla beans:


And then the meat...chicken and ribs. Dude.

Poulet (chicken)

Alex at the grill

Meeeeeaaaaaat!

Wow, what a week. I really admire Alex's family for not having "snack" foods around. Not even cereal or oats or crackers. Everything was fresh. Lots of yogurts, fruits, cheeses, and everyday more baguettes appear. After every meal, I would "cleanse" my palate with strong French cheeses. I miss those cheeses already!

Until next time, Paris!