vintage books

During my quick trip to LA to shoot a wedding and visit my sister, we stopped by two used bookstores, equally amazing in their own way.  The first was Alias Books East in Atwater Village.  They have a carefully curated selection of used books, and I hit the jackpot there.  The second bookstore was The Iliad Bookshop in Hollywood.  There I was able to find a pretty sweet edition of The Lord of the Rings (although I'm missing The Fellowship of the Ring still) and also Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. I don't know why, but I absolutely love used bookstores and never leave empty handed...

wish list: great gatsby sweater

I really love this Great Gatsby sweatshirt by Out of Print Clothing.  Possibly with a collared shirt underneath, it would make a great every day outfit.  Hopefully the company adds more awesome book designs to their clothing collection!  They already have a good amount so far.   I think this particular sweatshirt is going to have to go onto my birthday wish list!

Source: anicelittle.tumblr.com via Hollin on Pinterest

sugar baby, baby, baby...

It's one of the most beautiful new cookbooks (if you can call it that) out there, a part from Baked Explorations, of course.  Sugar Baby is a new book solely based on the "cooking of sugar."  It's awesome!  Typically, most dessert books are full of cake recipes, with a recipe for marshmallows thrown in there, but this book, includes any book where you must cook sugar, and each section is categorized by the sugar stage, i.e., soft ball stage, hard crack, etc...

I had to buy the husband a gift from Amazon.ca, but wanted the "free super saver shipping,"  I was only half way there, so upon discovering Sugar Baby, I thought, perfect!  The name, Gesine Bullock-Prado sounded so familiar when I browsed the cookbook online, and then it hit me -  GOLDEN EGGS!  This woman (actually the sister of Sandra Bullock) makes THE BEST little cakes in the world.  I made them because the simpleness of the cake inspired me, and if you follow the directions exactly, they will explode your mind... or something close.  If you live in Austin, TX you can go to Bullock's cafe, Walton's Fancy and Staple, to try the little cake yourself, but really, just make them, please.

Back to Sugar Baby:
If you don't like buying cookbooks, or if you like to try a few recipes first, look at her blog, for some example recipes you can try now! Also, the author's personality is hilarious and just so evident in the instructions and writing.  But it'd probably be worth it to buy, it is just chock full of gift ideas and easy ways to get diabetes. 

Gesine Makes Parisian Macarons from Raymond Prado on Vimeo.

the folio society and too many birthday wishes

I am terribly "wish-list obsessed" when it comes to birthdays, Christmas gifts, anything where I may get a present.  I usually find one gift I absolutely have to have, but then, find dozens of other gifts I "have to have" as well.... it's awful... This year, I knew I had to have the iPad 2, and that is still #1 on my list, but after going through The Folio Society's catalog, I can't help but want a membership for their beautiful books as well.  If you haven't seen them, look!  If you aren't a member, but love to read, you should join. Here are just some of the books I am wanting to buy for myself!

{images from The Folio Society}

memory inducing madeleines

"And suddenly the memory returns. The taste was that of the little crumb of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before church-time), when I went to say good day to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of real or of lime-flower tea. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it; perhaps because I had so often seen such things in the interval, without tasting them, on the trays in pastry-cooks’ windows, that their image had dissociated itself from those Combray days to take its place among others more recent; perhaps because of those memories, so long abandoned and put out of mind, nothing now survived, everything was scattered; the forms of things, including that of the little scallop-shell of pastry, so richly sensual under its severe, religious folds, were either obliterated or had been so long dormant as to have lost the power of expansion which would have allowed them to resume their place in my consciousness."

- Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

 

Source: google.ca via Hollin on Pinterest

If you're not familiar with Marcel Proust or madeleine cookies, it's time for you to get acquainted (I'd say the cookies first).  Madeleine cookies have always been a favorite of mine, and after a failed attempt with a bad recipe, I took a break from madeleines.  However, my interest returned.  Living in Montreal, every tiny market on every street corner has packaged pastries, including madeleine cookies.  I've never tried them, as I'm always scared of wasting pennies on pre-packaged pastries, but decided to make my own.  I used the recipe from 101 Cookbooks, cut it and half, and I think it worked wonderfully.  A side note, these cookies to not create that "bump" on the back of the cookies, but none the less, I found them delicious, and with this recipe, there's no chilling for several hours, which means more cookies right away!

{Classic Madeleines}

makes 15-20 regular sized cookies

3 ounces unsalted butter

1/4 cup + 2 tbs. all purpose flour

2 large eggs

a pinch of fine grain sea salt

1/3 cup sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Melt butter in a skillet until it browns and gives off a nutty aroma.  Strain the butter, discarding the white solids, and set aside and cool.  Meanwhile, butter and flour your madeleine pan, shaking off any excess flour.  Using an electric mixer, mix eggs and salt on high until it thickens and lightens in color, approximately 3 minutes.  Slowly add sugar in a small stream.  Whip for 2 minutes or until thickened and ribbony in texture.  With a rubber spatula, fold in lemon zest and vanilla extract just until combined.  Sprinkle flour on top of the batter and gently fold in.  Next, fold in the cooled, melted butter, just until combined.  Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown and springs up when touched.  Remove back rapping the pan against the counter, loosening the cookies, or use a fork to carefully lift cookies out of the molds.  Cool on a rack, dust with powdered sugar.

wildwood

If only August 30, 2011 would come sooner.  Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) and wife, illustrator, Carson Ellis are releasing a fairytale book called Wildwood.  There's not a whole lot of information about the book out there, besides a couple images of Ellis' illustrations and a couple of reviews by acclaimed writers.

the cover image

 This is what my favorite author, Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) had to say:

“Dark and whimsical, with a true and uncanny sense of otherworldliness, WILDWOOD is the heir to a great tradition of stories of wild childhood adventure. It snatched me up and carried me off into a world I didn’t want to leave.” (Michael Chabon)

Click here to look at the lack of information on Amazon!

Special thanks to Husband for finding this information and after much debate divulged it to me.

pretty books

This week I received a wonderful, out-of-the-blue gift from my awesome brother-in-law.  I received this 2-works copy of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway & A Room of One's Own.

 

Another set of beautiful books I've been dying to get is from one of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Penguin UK sure knows how to do it.  I love these shiny editions more than anything.