{Cookbook Review} Souvenirs and the Making of Memories

March 18th, 2013 · 9 Comments · Cookbooks, Recipes, Reviews, Tarts

Pineapple Carpaccio with Lemon Sorbet on dessertfirstgirl.com
Pineapple carpaccio with lemon sorbet, cilantro granité, pineapple chips, and crystallized cilantro from Souvenirs.

Isabelle is two months old! I can’t believe how much she has changed in eight short weeks. It’s like the saying, “The days are long, but the years are short.” I’ve always been a nostalgic person. Even though I know there are years and years of joy ahead in discovering my daughter, I’m already feeling the passage of days. She can do so many things now she didn’t do before: the little coos she makes when she’s curious. Her smiles at me (she’s smiling!). The mini push-ups she does when she’s on her tummy and trying to lift her head. The way she looks around for me and focuses right on my face – who would have thought that being recognized would evoke such a palpable sense of joy?

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:·······

Cranberry Curd Tarts and End-of-Year Contemplation

December 14th, 2012 · 11 Comments · Fruit, Recipes, Tarts

Cranberry Curd Tarts on dessertfirstgirl.com

As we’re heading into the final stretch of the year, as I’m hitting the final weeks of my pregnancy, I realized I’ve been feeling different for the last few days. As I’m counting down the days to week 39, I suddenly wondered whether I’d spent enough time enjoying my pregnancy.

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:··

Cherries, Coconut, Cream, Summer

June 19th, 2012 · 27 Comments · Custards, Fruit, Pastry, Recipes, Tarts

Cherry Coconut Cream Tart on dessertfirstgirl.com

So I disappeared without leaving word, and came back without making a peep as well. I thought about hanging up a “Gone to BlogHer Food” sign here, but didn’t get a chance to do so before I flew off to Seattle. For those of you that didn’t know, I went to BlogHer Food a week ago  – if any of you went, I hope you had as fun a time as I did!

I was invited to BlogHer Food as a speaker along with Stephanie, my fellow sated collaborator. Together, we assembled a presentation on past and current photography trends, and how to apply them to tell different stories about food. As a first-time speaker at BlogHer Food, I was pretty happy with how we did – we had some great interaction during the talk and we got some great feedback afterwards. I always love going to BlogHer Food because I always meet so many new, amazing people there – not to mention seeing old friends or meeting dear virtual friends for the first time in person.

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:····

{Cookbook Review}: Blueberry Brown Butter Tarts

May 31st, 2012 · 9 Comments · Cookbooks, Fruit, Pastry, Recipes, Reviews, Tarts

 

blueberry brown butter tarts

Since it’s just about pie season, I thought it would be a good time to review a cookbook that’s been on my to-do list for a while: Gesine Bullock-Prado’s Pie It Forward: Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes, and Other Pastries Reinvented.

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:······

Sated is Ready! and an Almond and Chocolate Frangipane Tart

May 21st, 2012 · 10 Comments · Chocolate, Recipes, Sated, Tarts

choco frangipane tart

Well, it’s finished! Stephanie and I have officially sent off the first issue of sated magazine to the printers! I can’t tell you what a big sigh of happiness we heaved when we finally reached that milestone. After months of long nights, intense work (and re-work), we can say we accomplished the first step of that goal we set for ourselves months ago: to create a new, beautiful, food magazine.

Thanks to everyone who’s expressed their support and well wishes, and thanks to everyone who’s already pre-ordered! It definitely gave us that extra boost of motivation to finish the first issue and make it as perfect as possible, knowing there were already so many people waiting to see it.

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:····

A Chocolate Mint Tart to Round Out the Year

December 30th, 2011 · 24 Comments · Chocolate, Recipes, Tarts

Dark Chocolate and Peppermint Cream Tart on dessertfirstgirl.com

Hello dear readers,

In a couple of hours I’ll be boarding a plane to fly back to the US, so I’ll be ringing in the new year at home. It’s been a great two weeks in Vietnam and Hong Kong, filled with family and, as always, a surfeit of good food. Below is one of my favorite photos I took during my trip, on a bus ride rounding the Hong Kong harbor – one of the prettiest views in the world, in my quite-biased opinion:

(more…)

Read more →

Tags:··