lemon tart recipe on a plate image

Lemon Tart Recipe (Tarte au Citron)

One of my favorite parts about living in California is the abundance of citrus. I just love lemons and oranges, and I love that their trees can be found everywhere here. I regularly have fresh squeezed orange juice and lemon juice on hand for beverages and desserts, including this lemon tart, or tarte au citron as the French call it. Unfortunately for the French, they don’t have quite as much access to beautiful and delicious lemons like we Californians do.  While there are some lemons grown in the French Riviera, there aren’t quite as much, and they’re much pricier than the ones we get here in California.

french chocolate mousse recipe image

French Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Oh, how this French chocolate mousse tested my patience! But I guess that’s what happens when you decide to follow a recipe from a sacred French establishment like Le Cordon Bleu. Recipe failure is also bound to happen when you’re attempting to recreate perfection off a distant memory. When I set out to make this mousse, I wanted to recreate the mousse I had at the corner cafe, steps away from the Sacre Coeur Cathedral in Paris. The mousse was as rich and thick as it was light and fluffy; a contradiction that seems impossible, but yet is magically so. 

canelé mold produces perfect cannéles bordelais

Canelés Recipe (Cannelés Bordelais)

Like I explained in a previous post, I had the opportunity to visit the Bordeaux region during my last trip to France. My best friend’s mother-in-law lives in that area, so we decided to take a weekend trip to visit her. On the way to her house, I asked my friend to stop at a patisserie so that I could pick up something as a gift for the hostess. Instead, my friend encouraged me to stop at this tiny shop that sold some of the best canelés (a Bordeaux specialty) she had ever eaten. I had of course heard of canelés having been to France before, but I had never come across them in Paris. It turns out that canelés were even better than I imagined them to be; they were just as addictive as my friend described them to be!

Profiteroles Recipe on a plate with warm chocolate sauce

Profiteroles Recipe

One of my good friends sent me an article recommending this classic French bistro right before one of my trips to Paris. It was a picturesque restaurant right near Place des Victoires in the 1st arr., and was conveniently named Bistrot des Victoires. The restaurant’s menu featured a lot of my favorite bistro items like steak frites and soupe à l’oignon, so I knew that I definitely wanted to pop in. The restaurant served a tasty steak, but what’s always stood out in my memory from that night were the profiteroles I ordered for dessert. They were so wildly decadent that I just couldn’t help but clap my hands in glee over the dessert presented before me. 

croquembouche tower of cream puffs with spun sugar - featured image

Croquembouche Recipe (Profiterole Tower)

I was watching the fashion documentary Dior and I on Netflix, and I was reminded of my own time spent in the fashion industry. When I tell people that I used to work in fashion but now work with food, they’re often surprised. For me, however, the transition felt very natural and homogeneous. In my old job, I used to work with a design team to create various marketing visuals, including look books and digital content that could be shared via social media. Art and creativity were always the basis for my work.

french crepes with whipped cream and strawberries

French Crepe Recipe

I remember the first time I went to Paris, I made it a mission to stop and pick up a crepe from one of the street vendors. I didn’t care if I looked like an obvious tourist. I have been eating crepes in America since I can remember, and the chance to eat a real, French one was one of my life ambitions (kind of joking, but not really). That slightly sweet French pancake with cream and strawberries enveloped inside…mmm, I was a happy tourist indeed.