XOXO Thomas Keller.

Last week I was in Las Vegas. I don't really like it there, for various reasons. There's only one good thing about Vegas, and that's the assortment of lovely restaurants I can't afford to eat in. This does not stop me though, from pressing my nose against the glass at B&B and whimpering at the gorgeous wood paneling and wine glasses.

There is somewhere I can eat, though- Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Venetian. And I ate there every day. Well, I ate a vanilla macaron every day. Perfect, palm-sized, almondy, creamy, sweet, chewy, crackly macarons, wrapped up in quirky beach-ball printed papers.



I almost cried when I ate this sammich. Perfect ham. Perfect cheese. A dab of perfect dijon. All stacked up between the most perfect, warm baguette- it was crunchy and chewy on the outside and the middle just melted. I miss you, ham sammich.



Also: Homemade peppermint patty! Chocolate was good, filling was too powdered sugar and nothing more.

Coming up on OMG!:

-The Gossip Girl Sailor dress I bought in Vegas.
- Belgian chocolates! Belgian pastries!
- Hot Air Ballooning!

Bouchon Bakery, Pt. I

When I finally made it up to the counter at Thomas Keller's Bouchon bakery at the Venetian in Las Vegas, all I could do was clap my hands and try not to squeal in glee. I was limited to things that would make it back on the plane ride home (farewell, red velvet cupcakes and other custardly delights).
I attempted to make it home with my goodies, toting my box home last night. But I broke down on the plane and indulged in a vanilla macaron. I wish I had gotten more, they were light and flakey and chewy and filled with the creamiest, fluffiest buttercream.

Pine Nutz

A few weeks ago I tried my very first Bouchon recipe, Lemon Sabayon-Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream which came out pretty okay. The crust was made out of a kind of pine-nut shortbread, which I thought would make a good shortbread cookie.
Which led me to this recipe for Honey, cinnamon & pine nut shortbread fingers which I have modified a little:

• 2 sticks plus 2 Tbsp. soft butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• Plain flour, to dust
• 1/3 cup pine nuts

Grind pine nuts into pine nut dust using food processor. Mix dough as you would any other cookie dough. Pat dough into pan and cut into fingers before baking. Bake at 320 degrees for 40 minutes.

Coffee Table Books!

New apartment calls for, at the very least, a new coffee table book. So it's time to replace the old, 'People You Know, Horses They Love" with something else. My current top options:

1.) TARTAN: Romancing the Plaid- Fashion, history, delicious plaids.
2.) Bernd Munsteiner: Reflections in Stone- No one else can facet gemstones like this. From creating new, unique cuts for small stones to carving entire pieces of rock, everything in here is breathtaking.
3.) The Complete Keller: The French Laundry Cookbook and Bouchon- My latest chef obsession with both cookbooks chock-full of shiny obscene drool-worthy photographs.

Frrrrench Fooods

The past few days I've found myself more than usually obsessed with Thomas Keller. And who isn't? He has one of the greatest restaurants in the world (The French Laundry), he was a consultant for one of the best food movies ever (Ratatouille) and my most favoriteist blog is based on his cookbook.
I will probably never cook his food, as it is super time-consuming and takes days to prepare a single dish. Unless it involves poached eggs.