Côte d'Azur

The south of France is compact with many beautiful places in a small area, so we decided to fly to Nice and then rent a car to explore the area with the main goal of getting to Provence and the Valensole Plateau. July is the height of lavender season and it's the perfect time of year to visit, but our first stops took us to Nice and Monaco.

One thing I observed time and time again along the coast was so much diversity. The beaches were packed from morning onwards and people who typically would feel self conscious in a swimsuit were right along side everyone else, including little old grandmas would be standing topless having a conversation. It was refreshing to see people so comfortable with their bodies.

Shortly after arriving we went to Monaco - also known as the second smallest and most densely populated country in the world. They also have one of the longest life expectancies and 0% unemployment.

It's just a short 20-30 minute drive from Nice, so it's easy to access. Since it's a tax haven with no income tax and with the highest capita of millionaires and billionaires there's quite a bit of money being splashed around. The jewelry stores were dripping with some of the biggest gems I've seen outside of a museum and the cars were from the pages of magazines. 

The big Monte Carlo casino featured in the James Bond movies had many cars parked outside the casino with Monégasque license plates although the locals aren't permitted to gamble there, (no one really appeared to check where people were from). 

Cameras weren't allowed, however besides the grandiose exterior and the main hallway, it seemed to me like any other casino in a big gambling city. We had a laugh watching a little girl pay for her ice cream with a 200€ note nearby. 

In Nice, we had to try the quintessential socca, which is a thin pancake made savory with chickpea flour. I read that Chez Pipo has the best socca in the city, so that's where we went. They are great as a light dinner with a glass of wine. Yotam Ottolenghi has a recipe for socca (also in his Plenty cookbook). Chickpeas are underrated. 

There are so many quaint litle streets to get lost in around the old town. It was nice to see another facet to France. Did you notice the statue of liberty hiding in the street lamp above? 

Other foods we sampled were salted carmel potato chips, goat cheese tarts, and of course Pierre Hermé macarons from Galleries Lafayette. I think I may have surprised the women working, because I was requesting each one by name, even though they weren't labeled. That might be an indicator that I have a macaron problem. 

Another sweet treat I was looking forward to trying was the ice cream at Fenocchio, which boasts some really unique flavors, like thyme, beer, avocado, and jasmin. I either ordered the wrong kinds or it just fell short. Stefan's ultra dark chocolate was the best of the mix. The savory flavors are too sweet. 

Next stops... Cannes + Saint Tropez. 

`ello, London!

We added another travel spot to our annual line up: London!

It's going to be so nice... people speaking English, endless book stores, awesome restaurants, seeing the Olympic build up, Pierre Hermé, and Indian food!

I think I'm most excited about the instillation by Yayoi Kusama and the Damien Hirst retrospective (his very first solo) at the Tate. One would be reason enough for a visit, but both is a dream!

In the meantime I'm compiling a list of restaurants and places to visit while we're there. Chances are good we're not going to make it to all of these, but it will be nice to have a list for next time.

As always, I'm open to suggestions and recommendations if you have any to share!

London Pop Up restaurants + shops
Pollen Street Social 
Zuma
Ottolenghi (I have his vegetarian cookbook, Plenty, it's great!)
Dock Kitchen
Fernanadez & Wells
Sketch bar

(When I think of London it always brings smile to my face, because I think of my mother-in-law telling me about a family trip when Stefan was child. He heard his Dad speaking English with the hotel reception and said, "Das will ich auch machen!" / "I want to do that, too!")
(old photos from one of my in-laws' trips)

Tartine Brioche bread pudding

This weekend we set out to make our own bread pudding à la San Francisco's Tartine.
The brioche came from a bakery to save time (... if you live in Munich you can find it at the French stand in the Schrannenhalle or at Brot- und Feinbäckerei Neulinger, but you might have to order it in advance).

We made use of the blueberries that are everywhere right now; I'm assuming because it's summer in the Southern hemisphere.

This recipe would be great with any in season stone fruit or berries though.

The Tartine cookbook is nothing short of incredible and the recipes truly taste like the ones from the original bakery. They aren't incredibly fussy or difficult, but the results are something special.

[Here is Tartine's Savory bread pudding recipe and also their famed Morning Buns recipe, which I think we might try next.]

Books: Pierre Hermé Pastries + Henri's Walk to Paris

If you love pastries as much as I do, you'll be delighted that Pierre Hermé Pastries is soon to be released with more of his incredible creations.

It's supposed to come out March 1st, but when I pre-ordered his macarons book it came a bit quicker.

[if you want to read more about an apprenticeship with master pâtissier Pierre Hermé, check out  Food Beam, written by Fanny, a pastry chef / food blogger]

Let me know if you end up making something from the book, too! [here's an excerpt]

I think I will be making something from Pierre Hermé for my brother-in-law's wedding festivities in March.

Another great Parisian related re-release is Henri's Walk to Paris by Saul Bass. The illustrations are spectacular!

Send me an email or leave yours in the comments if you'd like a 10% off coupon and free shipping globally (before 29 February) on these books or whatever else you'd order from the book depository. (As always, I'm not receiving anything for these recommendations, but I love to share.)

San Francisco

We opted to avoid the holiday travel chaos, which meant a delayed trip to the US.

This was the best option after having several airline mishaps in the years past - driving from Washington DC to Ohio on Christmas Eve three years ago, and nearly getting stranded in El Paso two years ago.

Thankfully this year the weather decided to also cooperate with us.

Before our biannual Ohio visit, we stopped in San Francisco for 5 days to visit our dear friends, Emily & Jeremy, and their new pup - Banjo.

Having visited San Francisco twice before, it was so nice to see the city from our friends' view points and to simply catch up more on life after Germany. We sure miss them.

San Francisco is a great city;  fog swept rolling hills, inventive restaurants, creative people, and a lot of high tech industries. The only downsides are the amount of homeless people and dog poo littered sidewalks.

There are also many public parks speckled around and warm weather year round to make it incredibly livable.

Oh, how we missed the variety of American food. The portions may be larger than in many places, but it's the best way to enjoy a meal - by sharing great company and delicious foods. We did a lot of eating and this is certainly the city for that.

A few of the restaurants we visited included:

Tartine ... this is the legendary pastry shop with long lines that are worth the wait.
Nopa ... for a great New Year's eve dinner
Umami Burger ... waygu burgers
Tacolicious ... I will dream about these tacos and margaritas for a long long time. They are perfection. The tuna tostadas were my favorite, but I don't think you can go wrong.
Mosto... the tequila bar right next to tacolicious, making waiting time that much better.
Beach Chalet ... as close to a California beachside biergarten as it gets - with a veggie hops burger.
Tornado Pub ... an endless array of beers from around the world.
Mission Chinese ... this pop up restaurant has caused quite a stir and is now here to stay - don't miss it! The food is crazy good and the rap music is a hilarious blast from the past. The salt cod fried rice and the thrice cooked bacon were probably my favorites.

Bi-Rite Creamery ... delicious ice cream, which is extra sweet to enjoy in Delores Park with great weather in the middle of Winter. They also have an ice cream cook book coming out later this year! 

Chantal Guillon macarons... a touch of France in California. 

Ici ... (Berkeley) I'm not sure what the deal is, but sadly it was better the last time we went

Saigon Sandwiches .... Banh Mi, Vietnamese sandwiches

If you are planning a trip check out the following:
Jamie Oliver's San Francisco tips... We visited many of his recommendations, although the magazine came out a month after our trip.
7x7 Big Eat List of 2012... plenty more restaurants to try
7x7 Big To-Do List... 100 quintessential San Francisco experiences

Not all of our time was spent eating... we also did a lot of walking. I always seem to forget - or mentally block out - how impossibly slow and archaic the public transport is even in the biggest US cities.

With the California sun shining brightly and only needing to wear a jacket I wasn't sure if I was in some sort of alternate reality. A heavy dose of sunshine in the middle of the Winter is really is amazing and was the perfect way to start the new year. Those year-round beaches are such a luxury, too.

Fort Funston ... this beach is so unique. Dogs and their owners stroll along, splash in the waves, and find little treasures washed ashore. I'd go to take it all in even if I didn't have a dog, but I really can't wait to get one.

Tilden Park... for incredible Bay area views and a nice nature stroll.

Street art... lots of self expression around town 

St. Mary's Cathedral... home of the "two o'clock titty", at two o'clock the sun's channels its own Mary Katherine Gallagher to give the church it's own perky bust. 

What a great place to start the new year. Even the fog couldn't hold those fireworks back this year. 

Pierre Hermé Macarons Cookbook - in English!

I can barely handle my excitement, because in just over a month Pierre Hermé's famed macaron book will be released in English.

Right now it's available for pre-order, which I of course did immediately. It will be so nice to create those beautiful and exquisite little pastries between trips to Paris (or London, or Tokyo).

This little Lékué DecoMAX is a great reusable way to pipe them out uniform sizes.
(If you live here in Munich, I've seen them available at Kustermann.)

Here is a listing of flavors.

[ETA: Here are some tips and the raspberry macarons I made using Pierre Hermé's recipe.]

Spices

Since I've been cooking up a storm recently I wanted to reorganize my spices so they weren't taking up so much space and so they would be more uniform.

I first saw this idea on delicious days, however I modified it to suit our needs - changing up the colors of the labels so I could categorize differently and typing up each spice's name in both German and English.

These are the spice tins. They are perfect, because they are light safe, air tight, have screw on lids, and you can put expiration dates on the bottom. Now I can just grab the ones I need for my recipes and get cooking.

I ordered 60, so I can always create my own mixes or have a home for the new things I pick up in far away cities. We bought loads of Moroccan spices while we were in Marrakech, and now they are perfectly nestled in my drawer with my kitchen scale and the rest of my collection.

Elisen Lebkuchen

Since not everyone is able to make it to Munich for the markets I translated this recipe and made a cute little card to match, so you can have some German Christmas cookies, too.

I've made these several times and Stefan claims they taste like his Oma's, which is clearly a good sign. Best of all they don't have flour or hirschornsalz (baker's ammonia) in them.

The illustrations were so much fun to draw. I'm working on a second edition of my cookbook and debating if I want to do use them as opposed to photos.

I'll post a recipe for homemade glühwein in the coming days as well... homemade is the way to go. The only trouble is it tastes better than most at the Christmas Markets, but the ambiance and warmth keeps drawing me back.

heirlooms from the Omas

This weekend we went to visit Oma. I absolutely adore our time with her. She is so full of life and always so incredibly thoughtful. Her kindness is inspiring and she is one of my favorite people. I just want to sit and talk with her for hours.

We left her house with sweets and sekt to celebrate our anniversary and she also gave me a beautiful brooch, which I will always cherish. It made me think about my own Grandmother opening her jewelry box to me and the overwhelmed feeling I had. I didn't want to take her things. Once she passed away I was offered her wedding dress, however I was in junior high and I still regret not taking it. Oddly, I'd go through that feeling once again later in the day.

During our visit we also stopped to visit Stefan's cousin and his wife. I also wish we saw them more often, because we always have such a great time talking and laughing. They are clearing out the other Oma's home after she passed away on their wedding day last year. I cannot fathom having to go through someone's belongings after they pass. We left with some family photos (I can totally see how Stefan turned out to be so handsome), an old typewriter, a handwritten cookbook, and a sewing machine.

I was always sad I couldn't bring my own sewing machine from the US, but with different electricity and it weighing so much it's rather pointless. Hopefully I can figure out how to use hers, which is really built to last. I also want to try my hand at her recipes.

Grandma's Cookbook

My grandma gave me her old cookbook when I went to visit yesterday. It was a wedding gift from my grandfather's grandmother (my great-great- grandmother) and is a first edition Betty Crocker.

The pages are in shambles and it is very well used, but I am looking forward to trying a few old time classics. My mom said she remembers this cookbook always being around, so I am really happy to have it. Here's to hoping the recipes are better than the photos!

Sundried tomato cheese biscuits

I love to cook and bake, but the truth is I am extremely critical of recipes. My tried and true favorites go into my 'permanent folder' and they have to be outstanding to even stand a chance. It's great to have Stefan as a husband for a multitude of reasons, one of which is that he is willing to eat anything I make and he tells me it's all delicious.

Deep down I'm not as forgiving. Lucky for you, I'm posting one of the pages from my heirloom cookbook that passed the test, as a thanks for reading my blog. Just click on the image if you need to see it larger.

I love to make this recipe because it's simple, versatile, forgiving, and delicious. These are a winter staple for us and go great with soups.

My only word of warning is not to use low fat butter. It kind of pours of out of the biscuit while it's baking. They may not be the most healthy, however they are extremely delicious and filling.

Hopefully you enjoy them as much as we do!

Heirloom cookbook

While I was on the internet hiatus I was able to really work on a rather large project.

I decided to make an heirloom cookbook filled with our favorite recipes as well as family favorites from Stefan’s family and mine. I have had this in mind for some time and thankfully I had a large stock of photos that I have taken of various dishes over the years. At the last minute my Grandma gave me some of her recipes that I didn’t have photos for. I improvised by taking images of ingredients and her.

Once I was finished making the book, I decided to add photos of the people that gave me the recipe, as well as little quips about occasions when we eat the particular food or what it reminds me of. After that was completed I added a simplified family tree in the back. It’s rather amazing, but I can track some of my mother’s family back to the 1500’s!

Rather than tackling this again, because it was much more time consuming than I could have ever expected, I will continually make pages of new favorite recipes and combine them for a second book once I have enough.

My sister said the book has already arrived and she said it's absolutely beautiful. She sent me these pictures until I am able to pick it up next month. I'm so excited!