You will never be able to escape from your heart.
So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.
—Paul Coelho, The Alchemist
Happy Valentine’s Day!…
Category: white chocolate
Summer, Alone, Ripe
If it could only be like this always – always summer, always alone, the fruit always ripe.
Evelyn Waugh
40 Days and 40 Nights
I was taught if we’re born with love then life is about choosing the right place to put it.
People talk about that a lot, feeling right, when it feels right it’s easy. But I’m not sure that’s true. It takes strength to know what’s right. And love isn’t something that weak people do. Being a romantic takes a hell of a lot of hope.
I think what they mean is, when you find somebody that you love, it feels like hope.
—The Priest, Fleabag
Not A Sprint
Like wine through clay,
joy in his blood bursting his heart—the bliss!
Robert Browning, Pheidippides
It is my 26th birthday, today.
More pressing is that my exam, culmination of the last 3 months of my life, is next Friday.
I am therefore resolutely trying to ignore the fact that my birthday has arrived until then.
It has been a marathon, sans doute.
Next to Love
Huitième
How to Not Be a Perfectionist
People are vivid
and small
and don’t live
very long—
Molly Brodak
I say this with incredulity: happy 8th birthday to La Pêche Fraîche.
Always Be Here
You are loved just for being who you are, just for existing.
You don’t have to do anything to earn it.
Your shortcomings, your lack of self-esteem, physical perfection, or social and economic success—none of that matters.
No one can take this love away from you, and it will always be here.
Ram Dass
Cinquième
“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package.
I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances.
To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment.”
—Joan Didion, UC Riverside commencement address, 1975
Happy birthday, La Pêche Fraîche!
This blog is five (count them, five) years old. I don’t quite know how, but it has survived through my last years of high school and all the way through college.
I will take LPF with me out into the real world now, I suppose. Daunting, but comforting, in some ways, to always find a steady refuge in my own creative space.
Blogging has been occasionally sporadic, but always a constant presence in my mind and being.
I don’t know what shape it will take in the future, but I hope it will retain its shape and I will retain my drive, inspiration, and desire.
The blogiversary run-down:
Four years.
Three years.
Two years.
One year (oof).
I didn’t predict or envision my fifth blogiversary coming the day before my last final as a student of the University of Chicago; by tomorrow at 10:20am, I will be irreversibly set on the path of becoming an alumnae.
I have to spend all day today studying—but I also want to fit in the new Sherlock episode, because duh!
This quarter went by so quickly; it’s strange to think that I’ve been taking this class for ten weeks. I already had my last class ever. Craziness.
The five years of writing this blog—half a decade!—have also gone by quickly. I started writing this blog when I was 16. I had recently gotten my driver’s license. Now, I’m 21 and about to graduate university and move to NYC.
Lots of milestones have been celebrated on this blog.
I want to share some places, people, and things that help me retain my inspiration for baking/photographing/learning/creating.
Nicole Franzen is a photographer I follow on ig; she’s in Míkonos right now and has been in Italy and every time she posts, I am filled with longing and wanderlust.
Courtney’s cookie study. Because I deeply respect this is the kind of dedication to the improvement of the finest thing humanity has arguably ever produced (chocolate chip cookies, duh).
Siddhartha Mukherjee (author of Emperor of All Maladies), wrote a fascinating piece on epigenetics in the New Yorker last year that I only recently discovered. Worth the read if you’re at all scientifically or medically inclined or interested.
“You are not the work you do; you are the person you are.” Toni Morrison doles out wisdom from her father in her most recent piece for the New Yorker (if you’re going to read the above piece, might as well give this one a peek too—it’s short).
This vanilla rhubarb pound cake from the Herriott Grace blog (Nikole Herriott adapted a Tartine recipe) is the single most beautiful rhubarb cake I have ever seen. Seriously.
Deb’s strawberry graham icebox cake has me dreaming of summery treats, and plotting what other types of thin, many layered cakes I can create, because they sound amazing.
This is a celebration cake, make no mistake, but it is very simple and not intimidating at all. It is 100% doable in an afternoon, or as a last-minute offering the night before a birthday.
The cake itself is my perfected chocolate cake recipe. It bakes up flat (no leveling needed), moist, and not-too-sweet. It’s not overly fudgy—it has a relatively delicate crumb, and it saves like a dream.
It’s covered in a classic American buttercream tinted the palest pink and given an extra dose of salt to balance the buttery sweetness.
A generous drizzle of white chocolate and a smattering of marshmallows and sprinkles gives it the happiest of vibes.
I topped it off with candles, but a cake topper or some extra piping would also look great!
“Enthusiasm is common. Endurance is rare.”
― Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Fifth Blogiversary (Simple Chocolate Cake)
ingredients:
for the cake:
330 grams (1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cornstarch
180 grams (1 1/2 cups) AP flour
65 grams (1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon) extra dark cocoa powder
2 tablespoons instant coffee or espresso
120 grams (1/2 cup) boiling water
85 grams (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) vegetable/canola oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
160 grams (2/3 cup) buttermilk OR 145 grams (2/3 cup less 1 tablespoon) milk plus 15 grams (1 tablespoon) apple cider vinegar
for the frosting:
225 grams (1 cup, 2 sticks) butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
460 grams (4 cups) powdered sugar
45-90 grams (3-6 tablespoons) cream, as needed
1 drop pink food coloring
to assemble:
lucky charms, if desired
sprinkles
60 grams (2 ounces) white chocolate, chopped
60 grams (1/4 cup) heavy cream
white food coloring, if desired
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour 3 6×2 inch pans.
Place sugar in a large bowl, followed by salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cornstarch; whisk together briefly.
Add the flour on top of the mixture, then the cocoa powder, then the instant espresso on top of that.
Slowly stream the boiling water over the cocoa powder; once it’s all added, whisk vigorously while you add in the oil.
Add in both of the eggs and the vanilla extract, then stream in the buttermilk while whisking.
Scrape the bowl to ensure homogeneity, then portion evenly into the three pans.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a tester comes out with a few crumbs and the tops are springy.
Allow to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, beat the softened butter for 3 minutes, until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume.
Add in the salt and sugar and mix on low speed until combined; add cream slowly (spoonful by spoonful, mixing after each one) if the frosting is too thick.
Tint to your desired color; here, I used only the tiniest drop to create an extremely pale pink frosting.
To decorate the cake, place one layer on a cake stand and top with 1/2 cup frosting.
Repeat until all 3 layers are stacked.
Crumb coat the cake and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Top with the remaining frosting and smooth with a large, warmed spatula.
Once smooth, place in the fridge to chill.
Melt the white chocolate and cream very gently in the microwave (about 45 seconds to 1 minute on medium power); pour or pipe over the edges of the chilled cake.
Finish the cake with lucky charms marshmallows (crush a few for powder), sprinkles, and candles, if desired.
Settled
I have already settled it for myself that flattery and criticism go down the same drain and so I am quite free.
—Georgia O’Keeffe
Falling into a new routine, even when in the same environment, surrounded by the same people, is a process.
The thing about work is that you can get into a rhythm pretty quickly—you’re expected to be somewhere at the same time, every day. For most jobs, monotony rules as you generally do similar tasks each day.
At school, not so much. Different classes not only mean different buildings (unless you’re a science student at UChicago, which means you’ll be sticking to the same two locations for every class for a while) and different subjects, but radically different sleep and work cycles.
It’s not more or less stressful than a job, but a student’s schedule has different demands.
And getting used to a new one (especially right after summer break) is an adjustment.
I think I am settling into my new routine now, as the end of my last first week as a student at UChicago passes.
I’m back in the kitchen and excited to start creating again, when I can find or make the time.
These cookies are a perfect way to ease into Autumn.
Crispy, chewy, and buttery oatmeal cookies are spiced with cinnamon and studded with white chocolate and butterscotch chips (which I may or may not have found hiding deep in my pantry).
They come together very quickly and not only does this recipe make a small batch—only 12 cookies—but you can easily freeze the unbaked cookies in a freezer bag and save them for any later (inevitable) cookie cravings.
These are a great snacking cookie, and are customizable. Sub in raisins or dark chocolate chips and dried cherries, M&Ms, or chopped nuts. They can suit anyone’s taste, and prove that oatmeal cookies are worthy of praise.
Happy Fall, friends! And happy new school year!
Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
makes ~12 large cookies
ingredients:
112 grams (1/2 cup) butter
100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
25 grams (2 tablespoons) sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon molasses
90 grams (3/4 cup) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
100 grams (1 1/4 cups) rolled oats
3/4 cup butterscotch chips (or raisins, or chocolate chips)
1/4 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
directions:
Make the dough: place butter into the bowl of a standing mixer and beat on high for 3 minutes, until soft, fluffy, and doubled in volume.
Add in the sugars and salt and beat for another 5 minutes; mixture should be shiny, fluffy, and not gritty.
Add in the egg, vanilla, and molasses and beat for another 2 minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Add in the rolled oats and stir to combine.
Add in the butterscotch and white chocolate chips (or any other mix-ins that you desire) and stir gently to combine.
Scoop out 1/3 cup portions onto parchment lined cookie sheets and place in freezer for at least 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown but still soft in the center.
Allow to cool completely, then serve with milk!