0 Le Beurre d'Amande

We are back in la cuisine PBers, mais forget les macarons!

The adventure continues using up those pounds of Honeyville Almond flour...

As a daily eater of peanutbutter I asked myself why not?

Easy peasy too!

2 heaping cups almond blanched and toasted meal

1/2 tsp sea salt

about 1 tbsp olive oil or less

Regarde!

In just 3-5 minutes. And here's a nice video to help you DIY :)

Et voila!

This stuff does not taste bad at all and is rather pricey when storebought.

My new beurre d'amande will only sit next to le Grey Poupon in the fridge - rather snobby IMHO...

On to the next (almond meal) thing...

SESAME CRACKERS! These are from Elana's Pantry. I will need a proper rolling pin next time if there is a next time..ahem

Cutting up the 2" crackers before baking - ooops I said the 'B' word :(

BEAR likes the crackers which is a hole in one...sort of. Could one put the almond butter on the almond-sesame crackers? One could but should one? I'll be pondering that question this weekend...

Just by chance, ready for a little R&R last night, I turned on TV et voila - there was BIG BROTHER. And they were dipping contestants into a giant bowl of melted butter whist attached to a giant mix-master gizmo! The story of my life currently :O

Mon dieu PBers, should I head out to the nearest pastry shop?

Do Tell!!

BONJOUR LE WEEKEND!

0 It's All About The Dress

Bardot's Vichy Ballerines, watercolor, 9" x 11"

Today being Fashion Night Out 2011...
It's a perfect opp to tell you about Vicky Tiel's It's All About The Dress!
If you're a little bit mad about fashion/Paris/celebs you can't go wrong.
Vicky Tiel and I both went to Parsons School of Design. Miss Keagy, head of the fashion dept., kindly suggested I become a librarian.
I replied, "It's either the river or 7th Avenue!"
Vicky was also dissuaded from a fashion career for different reasons - her designs were super short, super sheer and very naughty. Vicky went off to Paris with fellow classmate Mia Fonssagrives and they shook that town up, whilst I went off to 7th Ave...wish I'd followed suit...
The overnight success of Vicky and Mia made them international fashion celebrities...
And they got to dress super hot celebrities in their first movie, "What's New Pussycat" and many others...

Francoise Hardy, Ursula Andress, Paula Prentice, Woody Allen, Peter Sellers etc. YIKES! Vicky's book is full of fun vignettes of all their Parisien adventures....

On top of it Mia got involved and married Louis Feraud (they did do designs for his show and modeled them on the runway to boot) who had designed Bridget Bardot's famous 'Vichy' pink checked wedding dress among other glories (gotta read the book to find out more).

Did I mention Vicky's book is full of sketches like this Paris map near her shop on 21, rue Bonaparte...
Isn't it funny that I doodled one house down from her shop..?
Vicky's building formerly was the grand residence and shop of superb interior designer, Madame Madeleine Castaing...

Did I mention Vicky got involved and married Ron Berkeley, Liz Taylor's personal makeup artist, so Liz and Vicky became bosom buddies for N-teen years and Vicky designed Liz' famous caftan bla ba bla...

Vicky's book is loaded with all kinds of 'rules' from everyone who was anyone plus their recipes (none for the dreaded macaron thank gawd). Plus lots of dirt on everyone in Paris and Hollywood and and and.
Oh just READ IT!
BONJOUR VICKI!Disclosure: Vicky sent me her book..

0 Blueberry Macaron-Muffins

Call them 'macaron muffins' or 'muffin-macarons'...
When you have almost FIVE pounds of almond flour you can not make lemonade but you can try.

Since I failed royally at making macarons I thought at least I can make some muffins out of this stuff.

HA!

Like making macarons you beat the egg whites till they peak nicely then fold into the batter = quelle wreck!

It was my idea to add the frozen blueberries to the batter since I didn't have poppy seeds. My idea to cut the sugar in half too (won't be doing that again)...hmmm

The recipe says fill the mini cups 2/3s...ahem

They don't look too bad...

Especially set in the right environment...

But the insides were not cooked enough :(

I would do better to walk on stilts that try my hand again baking.

Back to the drawing board vite!

I'm pretty good at savory cooking like sesame soba noodles or French lentilles or tzatziki thanks to my niece. But baking? Forgedaboutit.

BON APPETITE!

0 BLACK & WHITE WEDNESDAY #9

~ Maman by Louise Bourgeois ~

~ Orthodox? Naaahhh! ~


~ Curvilicious ~

The two last pictures were submitted to "Black & White Wednesday", an event created by Susan at "The Well-Seasoned Cook".

0 Melodies Graphiques!

C'est la rentree! R U ready? U will need an apple for the teacher (organic/bio svp) Chocolate pencils are a must-have from Patrick Roger. How do U say 'pencil sharpener' in French?

A lovely Eiffel tower pencil box - check

Lacy notes for teach when U'd rather stay bed - check.

Longer lacy notes for more elaborate excuses - check.

Postcards to send to yourself - check.

Quill pen + l'encre for handwritten notes to your boyfriend - check.

Lovely rubberstamps to decorate your envelopes - check.

Little felt mats to blot your pen points - check.

You can get all these essential back-2-school goodies at Melodies Graphiques on 10, Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe 75004, a unique calligraphie shop in the Marais.

For all chocolates - Patrick Roger.

Bonjour La Rentree!