Baking

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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Lavender Shortbread

Butter. Flour. Sugar. Salt.

I sit for hours on our front steps, the French lavender bush draped across my lap, watching the bees dance over the blooms, legs laden with pollen. Bubbling like a fish tank, these workers harvest with purpose, never stopping to acknowledge my presence. I watch them glide over the blooms, occasionally darting across my face to the rosemary bush, avoiding the bumblebees that also feed on the purple flowers.

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Chocolate-Dipped Baguettes and Raspberry Jellies

Our main challenge for the August Daring Bakers challenge was to temper chocolate. And a challenge it would be for many people - chocolate tempering in August isn't exactly simple with the soaring heat in many places. That said, I'm happy with the results of my candy making, and I think we'll be nibbling on the fruit jellies for a few more days.

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FAIL: Ghoreyba Soumsoum (Chickpea Flour Cookies)

Whenever we make big Indian dinners, we always make these cold, spicy chickpea and yogurt snacks to eat while the curries are simmering. And given that we do that a few times a year, there's always a bag of chickpea flour in our cabinet. Recently we discovered two open bags, and wanting to shed the excess, Todd asked me to find another use for it.

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