Fridays with Julia: no. 2 fresh green asparagus soup

          With a bunch of fresh spring asparagus I started my soup. 

 Of course there was a bucket-full of butter, cooked with onions until they were tender and aromatic, I then blanched the asparagus until it was a bright, bright green. 
               
                    I served it with buttered toast and a sesame-beet salad.

      cooking onions the Julia way in a heaping 4 tbsp. of butter 

blanching asparagus

                                             waiting to be eaten:)

The Row

      Actresses Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's simple and gorgeous design company, The Row, was featured in Vogue were I found out about it.

 
Its very high quality {which means it's equally expensive:) }, and actually designed by the twin actresses { they're not just stamping their names on clothes designed by another designer }.

{heels from Christian Louboutin}

images from vogue.com and net-a-porter 

Fridays with Julia: no. 1 classic French Pain brioche

(sorry, had to post this on Saturday because I didn't have enough time to upload the pictures on Friday:)

     So to start off my Julia child idea, I decided to cook something relatively simple- pain brioche! But I do have to fill you in on a few things, first of all I will not be posting for the next two weeks (I'm on spring break) second, I rethought making pates, I can find only three liver pates in my Mastering the Art of French Cooking volume 2 cookbook (one even calls for a pound of veal fat, I've never  even tried veal, much less veal fat! ). Third of all, I'm planning to have about a quarter of the posts with recipes in them, I don't think I'll have the time to write all of them out.  
     I've been vegan for the last week (I just wanted to try it out) and going from eating no animal related foods to eating Julia's meat and dairy filled recipes seems like a big leap! But don't worry, I won't be sticking to the easy recipes, I'm set on making lobster bisque and killing my own lobsters.... something I've never done before and I'm a bit nervous :)

                                                     adding butter to the brioche dough 

                                                      toasted with jam
                                                


                                    

an idea

After watching Julie and Julia for the second time  I had an  idea, I would follow in the footsteps of Julie Powell and blog about cooking Julia Child's recipes. Instead of my biweekly foodie Fridays, it would be Fridays with Julia.......... I have no Idea how I'll cook some of these recipes ( umm... pork liver pate or sausages filled with pork, veal, truffles and Foie Gras for dinner anyone? ) so I'm going to probably stay with with a few of the more umm... not as meat filled recipes. A few examples I want to conquer are: Croissants, Boeuf bourguignon,  Mille-Feuilles, and maybe even a simple Pate or two. 


What do you think?

bon appetit!

adorable

sigh..........I wish I had that bunny nightlight for my room {both 1st and 2nd images from le souk}:)! And those donna wilson pillows, so cute!

a hint of spring

 above:

dress anthropology

necklace kate spade

nail polish anthropologie 

below:

dress anthropologie                                                                                           

shoes kate spade

stuffies    donna wilson 

foodie fridays: mini lavender cookies with orange whip cream filling

{all pictures are by me}

I made this recipe at 8 pm one night, I took it off an epicurious recipe for butter cookies filled with dulce de leche, since I didn't have any dulce de leche (and I was too lazy to make some) I added lavender to the cookies and filled them with delicious, sweetened orange whip cream.

                            ingredients:

• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tsp. dried lavender
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• About 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. shaved orange
• 1/2 cup sugar

                       directions: 

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a large baking sheet.

Whisk together cornstarch, 3/4 cup flour, baking powder, lavender and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then beat in egg yolks, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until combined, adding 1 to 2 tablespoons flour if dough is sticky. (Dough should be soft.)

Form dough into a long rectangle and roll up into a roll or long cylinder, then refrigerate for at least an hour. When the dough is hardened and chilled through take it out of the fridge and cut into around 18 small cicles. 

Bake until firm and pale golden around edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool 10 minutes.

Whip the cream for 2 minutes then add the sugar and orange, after they are added, whip until fluffy. Chill the cream , when it is chilled spread the cream between two cookies and enjoy!

these cookies get eaten up quickly!

bon appitit