The weak December sun filters through the crimson leaves of the sugar maples overhead. This stretch of Quincy Street is uncharacteristically quiet at the moment—she pictures students all tucked into lecture halls, their backpacks slouched at their feet, the cavernous hallways silent. The foliage is still flaunting its riotous colors, later than usual it seems, and she idly names the trees in her head, a habit instilled in her by hours of forest field trips at summer camp (she can still differentiate between a chipping sparrow and a dark-eyed junco by hearing just a few notes of their trills): American sweetgum, smooth sumac, Kentucky coffeetree.
Read moreCHOCOLATE HAZELNUT AMARETTI
The tea room is dim and cozy, lit by soft glass lanterns that dot the walls, which are lined in an opulent red and gold wallpaper. The murmur of voices drifts down the marble hallway and out into the hotel lobby, where it meets and gets subsumed by the bright cacophony of comings and goings. Bellhops whirl their gold wheeled luggage carts to and fro, the elevators ding cheerily, the glass doors whoosh open and shut.
Read moreCHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BISCOTTI
The first letter he writes is almost impossible to read. “I don’t even have to worry about how I phrased it,” he jokes, “because you won’t be able to figure out what it says.” She smiles and slips the thin envelope into the pocket of her bag. The envelope is white and flimsy: the sort that comes in 100-packs from Office Depot. He must have picked it up at work, stopping by the supply cabinet somewhere to search for the stack of envelopes—the idea of him in a meeting, thinking about writing to her, makes her inexplicably glad.
Read moreDECADENT CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE
“Okay,” she says slowly. “I’ll think about it,” and she hangs up the phone, holding it in her hand and staring at it as if some message will appear on its darkened surface like a Magic 8-Ball. She and her sister used to consult the Magic 8-Ball religiously when they were younger: There was a phase, somewhere around age 13, when they genuinely believed it told you true things. This was the era of sleepovers and Ouija boards and middle school mixers where all of the girls stood in a knot on the polished floor of the gym and the boys threw cheese puffs at each other by the folding tables that held the sodas.
Read moreS'MORES WAFFLE SANDWICHES + A QUESTION
This will be a brief one—if one can call any sort of musing involving a full-on s’mores waffle sandwich “brief”.
If you’ve visited or read this site much, you’ll notice that the recipes have always been accompanied by quite a bit of writing: about life, about my life, about things both cooking and non-cooking related.
Lately, you have probably noticed that there’s been a shift in the tone; I’ve been playing around with writing some fiction (although that is…a loose term, at best). I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to treat this fiction writing as a new project, instead of dropping it in here.
This would mean I’d start a weekly email (newsletter?) with fiction chapters. If you’re into reading it, you can sign up and it’ll come right to your inbox.
I’ll keep this space for what it’s always been (for now)—recipes and some related writing around it.
Or, I could just…keep throwing fiction at you here! I’d be very curious (and happy) to know what you think…and what you’d like to read, and how. You can always leave a comment here, or just email me here.
In return for your thoughts, here’s a recipe that everyone should probably make immediately, if not sooner.
S’mores Waffle Sandwiches
For the waffles
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups (397g) well-shaken buttermilk
8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) graham cracker crumbs (about 4 full crackers, finely crushed)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
an additional 4 graham crackers, coarsely crushed
For the assembly
mini marshmallows
dark chocolate chunks or chopped dark chocolate
To make the waffles: Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and melted butter.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs (finely crushed), baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix gently until mostly smooth—don’t overmix.
Stir in the coarsely crushed graham crackers.
Heat a waffle iron and grease well.
Cook the waffles accordingly to the waffle iron’s instructions and set aside.
(You can make the s’mores sandwiches now or let the waffles cool, freeze them, and assemble the sandwiches at a later date.)
To assemble the sandwiches, heat the waffle iron again. Place one full waffle on the bottom of the iron, top it with a layer of mini marshmallows and a layer of dark chocolate, then place another waffle on top. Close the iron and cook until the inside is melted and gooey.