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Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse

The springs creak, the rug's pounded, the metronome sings, and the bike tire is pumped. All to a delicious symphony, one of my very favorite French memories from Caro + Jeunet's masterpiece Delicatessen. I turned it on tonight when musing about this chocolate mousse, because my first chocolate mousse was made after seeing another seminal French movie, albeit a very different one, Jean de Florette.

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Homemade Cracker Jack

It was 40 degrees outside and I was craving a hot fudge sundae with salty roasted peanuts on top. Spanish peanuts.

I dug through the freezer and found the peanuts, but there was no ice cream, and I was too lazy to make it and the hot fudge sauce from scratch. Jonesing for salty and gooey, I settled on homemade Cracker Jack, sprinkled with Secret Stash Salt vanilla salt. Just the thing. If I'd had any leftover, I'd have gone to the store for vanilla bean ice cream and folded it all in.

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Candied Bergamot Zest

I came into some bergamots. Like an inheritance, four gleaming orbs showed up one day unexpectedly, their pocked skins sending missiles of mouthwatering spray into the air. Visions of bergamot gumdrops danced in my head, my imagination sparked by that familiar floral perfume.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Precious though they were, I was the victim of poor planning and had but a few hours to make them last. Zesting and candying might be my best chance to preserve them for the days when the light shines longer.

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Blueberry Muffins with Lemongrass

My eyes are always bigger than my stomach, and my plans grander than there is room to keep the results. One Thursday last summer I found myself at three different farmers markets, seduced by escalating richness of the Seattle-area bounty. I try hard to have a plan before I buy something, and after my first stop and purchase of two flats of strawberries, I was still on track. At the second, I bought only a few tomatoes, perfumed and spicy, I knew there was a place for those. At the third, I went off the rails.

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