Newsletter #1

Here we go...

So, here goes. Without a lot of fanfare, I’m shaking the dice and revamping my newsletter. It’s definitely going to be more casual, it may come out twice a month, and most of all, I hope you like it. I moved everyone over here, both people who subscribed to my previous newsletter as well as people who get blog posts sent to them when they are posted. My other service was charging me a fortune (as in, for the same price, if we weren’t in the middle of a Covid-19 pandemic, I could spend a few weeks in a nice hotel on a tropical island beach sharing a bowl of cashews with some friendly monkeys, and Romain) but I also thought it was time to get with the times and modernize a bit. I don’t want to be a fossil.

NOTE: Before I go on…for technical reasons, I had to move all my subscribers over, whether you already subscribe to the newsletter or just to have blog posts sent to you. If you don’t want to get this newsletter, sincere apologies and you can use the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the page. It’s not my intention to send you anything you don’t want. I’ll miss you, but we’ll always have Paris…

Another reason for the switch was that my old newsletter platform was quite dated and if you spotted a few typos, it’s because there were lines of gobbledygook code my eyes had to decode, which was problematic for my diminishing brain. And to be honest, I’d rather make cake, cookies, and cocktails, rather than making myself crazy. So here we go.

(Oh, and this new newsletter platform allows me to have discussions, Q+As, videos, and more! Once I figure all that stuff out, I hope to add more content like that…)

Some recent recipes from my blog…

This spicy mushroom lasagna from Flavor by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage took me on a little scavenger hunt through Paris for the ingredients, which was quite a delicious day (or days), but was worth the wait. Their new book is available at your local bookstore as well as Bookshop, a platform that supports independent bookstores, and Amazon.

It’s no secret that I love hot chocolate. And I included two kinds in my recent recipe post on Holiday Drinks with a few types of hot chocolate to get you through the season, whether you’re celebrating in person or online.

If you’re old enough to remember, “You look marvelous!” or not, you’ll agree that this Chocolate, Dulce del Leche, and Vanilla Marble Cake does look marbelous. It’s fun to make and more fun to eat. A reader noted that she made it with Speculoos cream in place of the dulce de leche with great success. Just an FYI.

Faced with a lot of extra bananas, and if you’re a baker and are on social media, you know the drill - yup, banana bread…but I decided to go the extra mile (or kilometer, in Europe) and make my Banana-Chocolate Chip Upside Down Cake. It’s a lower-in-fat recipe I developed that has only a little butter, and just 1 egg, but a LOT of flavor. The surprise is the big chunks of melting dark chocolate inside.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHN9Qq5KbmA/

Also…I made French chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) in my IG Live Apéro hour (above, if it doesn’t who up, you can watch it here), and showed off an embarrassingly large collection of whisks. (Sorry, not sorry.) And Romain joined me for another apéro hour live for shaking up a Queue de Lion, or Lion’s Tail cocktail, with allspice and whisky. The hot chocolate recipe is from Drinking French, which also has two other amazing hot chocolates for you to make, one is a perfectly-spiced Spiced Hot Chocolate inspired by the lovely chocolat chaud at Maison Aleph pastry shop in Paris, and another is for making Salted Butter Caramel Hot Chocolate, a recipe I’ve been hoarding for years, waiting for a chance to share. All three are in my book, and my Parisian Hot Chocolate recipe is also on my blog, but there are Armagnac marshmallows in Drinking French you can make to float on top. The best thing about them is that you don’t have to share them with the kids.

Je vous en prie. You’re welcome : )

Since we went back into lockdown/confinement a few weeks ago for who-knows-how-long, I shared some of my tips for staying sane, mentally and physically, while you’re inside. Every so often I get a message from someone that this virus is overblown or masks are some sort of larger plot. A good friend, who is one of the world’s leading infectious disease doctors, sent me a text recently: “Stay put, isolated and safe.” People pay a lot of money to get his advice and I’m sharing it for free. See how valuable this new newsletter is already? So stay safe and protect yourself and others. We’ve got this…

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Some links I’m liking lately…

• I enjoyed this list from Catherine Down about How to Support Paris Restaurants and Small Businesses During the Lockdown. A few that I like are Mokoloco, Double Dragon, Café Méricourt, Septime, and Frenchie, who are doing food to go, as iz (or is) Izzy’s Paris for creative cocktails and Home Buddy from ace cook/chef/all-around cool person, Lina Cashetto. Gal-pal Forest Collins offers up her favorites places to order liquor to your door in France. I’d also add Les Caves du Roy to that list.

• I’m not super into extraneous kitchen gadgets, but digging this box that keeps brown sugar soft, via King Arthur Baking & Amazon.

• Shirley, your helpful customer service rep, efficiently handles complaints about food blogs #hilarious

• Some friends in the food world are doing online classes, which are good ways to travel virtually, if you can’t get to their kitchens in person. Get with the program(s) at La Cuisine for a taste of Paris, Susana Trilling in Oaxaca, Mexico, Judy in Tuscany, Rosa in Nice, Kate cooking cassoulet, and Jennifer offering seminars on French cheese. And if you’ve ever wanted to write a cookbook, cookbook coach and editor Dianne Jacob has an (online) class for that.

• Don’t we all want to be Nigella Lawson? Le sigh, I do…

• Stop being weird about cast iron. I have mine and love using it, but yes, it’s just a pan...and nope, soap ain’t gonna kill it, according to Kenji.

• The secret to the best southern biscuits? One expert says it’s Italian flour.

• Wool normally makes me itch like crazy but these fine merino sweaters from Uniqlo don’t, and keep me warm in the winter. (Their Airism face masks are very comfy too.) #notsponsored

• Two of my favorite IG Live Apéro Hours videos to date were with bartender Toby Cecchini making his famed Boulevardier from Long Island Bar, and food writer Michael Ruhlman and I sharing Perfect Manhattans across the Atlantic, while also talking shop about working with (and for) Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, Alice Waters, and the late, great Judy Rodgers of Zuni Café.

• A curious comment (on a pizza dough recipe) that ‘Michael Edwards’ can relate to, via @nytimescookingcomments …

nytimescookingcomments

A post shared by @nytimescookingcomments

November 2, 2020

• I watched Judy with Renée Zellweger, and…wow, what a performance. I was riveted by the last year of Judy Garland’s life, and Zellweger’s haunting portrayal of the singer, and the pain (and some joys) she endured during the final year of her life. Highly recommended…as is The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix.

  And…it’s no secret I’m really into French apéritifs, spirits, cocktails, infusing and café drinks, like hot chocolate, lemonade, and herbal infusions. So much so that I wrote a book about them which makes a great gift for yourself or for someone else. You can click below to get your copy which will add some holiday cheer whether you’re far or near.

  Thanks for following me via the newsletter!

  David