apple crisp

"Life starts all over again

when it gets crisp in the fall."

Jordan Baker, The Great Gatsby

Happy First Day of Fall! I absolutely LOVE this season: brisk air and cool evenings, pumpkin patches and apple picking, crunchy, crinkling leaves, changing colors.  I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Baker. Fall bring renewal and refreshment.

st. paddy's- green velvet cupcakes

Last week, I saw Bakerella's beautiful pictures of her project; they were so lovely that I was inspired to bake similarly for Saint Paddy's Day. 


Green Velvet Cupcakes, anyone?

In stock was, literally, the one last drop of green food color. 

After rummaging through the pantry, I found some "Willow Green" from Wilton's Country Colors. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I had no time for a ShopRite run, so I put some in...

happy 200th birthday, frédéric chopin!

Today is Chopin's 200th Birthday and I want to celebrate. Chopin was born in Poland, but he spent his adult life in Paris, so I dusted off my copy of Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets and settled on making a mille-feuille. With store-bought pastry puff. I know it's a bit of a cop-out, but I didn't have time to make it from scratch. I also didn't have the patience as that recipe called for two doughs and too many turns and folds. Inside-Out Puff Pastry will have to wait.