Tarte aux Poires

I picked up this bottle the other day:

Poire William. Ever had it? It’s a pear brandy with a mild taste and you might find it on a menu as a digestif (after dinner drink). Some Poire William brands have whole pears inside them by attaching the bottle to the pear tree while the pear is budding — my bottle was pearless. The presentation of the bottle would be cool if I was actually going to drink it or serve it to guests, but I wasn’t…I was going to bake with it!

Hello Tarte aux Poires. Although pears are not in season here in New York, I just couldn’t resist…

an interesting tart…

on a flaky pastry.

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Happy Tuesday

Good morning!

I finally went to the doctor’s yesterday for my weird cold. It turned how that I had a horrible sinus infection. Gross. I may have a collection of antibiotics now but now I have time to catch up on a lot of things like podcasts, tv shows and doing some reading. You know, important stuff.

I’ve been spending a lot of pinning dream kitchens on Pinterest today too and trying to figure out how to decorate and design our [future] grown-up home. My ideal kitchen needs to have a flour drawer and a sugar drawer (like this). Oh, and white cabinets. And communal tables. And black and white checkered floors. What do you want in your dream kitchen? Anyways, I need to stop pinning before I waste my whole day doing this and envying other people’s kitchens.

Links I love today:

• With the financial crisis and current events (*cough*Greece*cough*), the jargon used in the media is enough to make your head spin. Finally, someone has explained the basics of modern finance by using an analogy that deals with a bar owner named Helga and cashless alcoholics
• A recipe for red eye gravy; I love Chef’s red eye gravy but I can’t wait to try this one
• Want: this cocktail chart
• The visual puns of Phil Jones — this one is my favorite (via)
• Magical Disney World gifs

Comparing Notes

Things I’ve purchased this week:

• a lot of cough drops (for my cold/whatever this is)
• tights from Gigi*K in the village
• a chocolate bar from Marie Belle

Things Chef has purchased this week:

• lardons
• a liter bottle of soda
• tweezers from JB Prince

Things I’ve eaten in the last 24 hours:

• baked eggs (with pancetta)
• french fries
• ham steak
• Swedish fish
• bag of onion chips
• a cupcake
• wheat crackers
• cough drops
• coffee
• tea

Things Chef has eaten in the last 24 hours:

• salad
• roasted chicken leg

He buys the most random things. I eat the most random crap (and I am quite aware that I eat like a 13 year old boy). Match made in heaven.

Things I Did This Weekend: American History’d

This weekend, Chef took me to Big Nick’s on the Upper West Side for lunch (burger! waffle fries!). What was most interesting about this place was even though the menu was so incredibly huge (pages and pages), there were also additional specials and items plastered on all of the walls. How do they do it? How do they prep for all these menu items? Truly an experience. On Saturday, I had a quiet night in (and did laundry too!) because I was stuffy, congested and felt generally gross. On Sunday, I had brunch at Caffe Storico (baked eggs with pancetta! polenta! coffee!) with Steph and then we went to The New York Historical Society. Here is my Sunday in pictures:

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