Indira The Sweet

Treats April 7, 2008

I have been having some crappy days since my cousin left last Friday and today I decided to self medicate with a treat of a French macaroon from the bakery/cafe, Madeleine on west 23rd street. I met Jen (pictured savoring her coconut with dark chocolate ganache macaroon) for lunch at Monster Sushi and on my way there I passed this cafe that I keep forgetting about, called Madeleine. I came across it sometime last year and was really impressed with their selection of French macaroons and the look of their croissants and tarts. They were producing real French pastries, which always makes me happy. Jen was with me when I first found the place (I think), and I remember explaining the difference between the French macaroon that is made with almond flour and resembles more of a meringue cookie and the American (?) version made with flaked coconut. I was amazed when I read the recipe while in school that this was considered a macaroon. I was very excited to try it, and then was really disappointed when it came to actually make them. First off, it is a cookie that needs to be piped. Right away for me (at that point of my experience) pipping was HARD and MESSY! Second the baking was really precise and with 6 or 7 teams of 2 students trying to get in and out of the oven, it proved to be difficult. We were taught that “classically” the cookie is sandwiched with a jam. We were making VERY pink ones and therefore we had to sandwich them with raspberry jam. I am not sure, but at the time it was just a gross sweet mess. I did not like them much at ALL!

Then came my brief stint as an assistant to the (very French) Pastry Chef at Bouley Bakery. I was only there for a little over 2 months, but boy did I “mis en place” for A LOT of macaroons!!! “Mis en place” is French and means to measure out all the ingredients for a recipe before you start mixing. The chef had me measure out 1 kilo each of almond flour and confectioner’s sugar that both needed to be sifted. Have you ever tried to sift almond flour? It is not an easy task, it is not as fine as flour and neither is confectioner’s sugar. UGH! I grew to hate this process more and more each time I had to do it. I was happy to learn that jam was not the only thing used to put in between these sweet cookies. We made ganaches! YUM. A basic ganache is an emulsion of melted chocolate and cream, then you can add other flavorings, (like fruit purees, nut pastes,or spices), to fancy it up even more! These crazy French raise the fun factor up another notch by coloring the cookies various colors to indicate flavor. Green is usually pistachio (my fave), pink indicates that you will probably taste raspberry somewhere, brown= chocolate. Etc. You get it. So when you walk into a bakery in Paris you will most likely see a large selection of colorful macaroons. You have to be careful because like the coconut version of a macaroon, they are VERY SWEET! I like the ones at Madeleine’s because they are not too big. The ones we made at Bouley were really big. Too much!

Anyway, I was glad to have rediscovered this place and for my waistline’s sake, I hope to forget them soon and then have the chance to stumble across the place again in the future as opposed to making it a part of my weekly eating habits!

I need to mention briefly and then again in more detail later, I was lucky enough to have shared dinner with Jackie and Tom Sunday night. I need to share a picture of this beautiful plate that Tom created. Not only did this look good, it was delicious!

Thank you Tom, what a treat. And of course Jackie, thanks for ALL the help. You guys are great together as you are separately. Love yous.

Family time.

My cousin was in town briefly last week much to my delight. She moved out to Arizona about 2 years ago after living in northern New Jersey for all of her life. She was on the east coast to be “in the office” for a few days, so I only really got to see her in the evenings, but that was good enough for me . On Thursday night we were able to get our little family together at Clinton Street Baking Company for a yummy dinner and more importantly dessert and a shared hot buttered rum.

As you can see our family resemblances are astounding! Here is the way it fits together. My mom and my cousin (her niece) are related by blood. Eden is the daughter of my Mom’s sister. My brother (Peter) and I are both adopted. I was born and adopted right here in NYC and my brother was born and adopted in India. (Long before adopting children from another country was like shopping for a fashion accessory)

So together we make up my family. I am always so happy when we all can spend time together.

who loves you kitty!

How much do I love my kitty! So much, I cannot express in words, only pictures!

Tarts March 31, 2008

A sampling of some summery fruit tarts.

Some previous cakes

Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Filling.

White Cake with Oreos and CreamFilling.

Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream Cake.

mini cupcakes are just sooo cute. March 30, 2008

Whenever a cake is baked there is usually a little or a lot of batter left over. I had just a little red velvet left over so I baked off these little gems. I happily gave them to Eric, my friend who helped me deliver the monkey birthday cake to Brooklyn.

To fondant or not….

Here is the first version of the cake I made for a little girls first birthday. The final version had a smaller bow and more flowers. This bow just would not fit in the box!

When the birthday girls’ mom and I talked about me doing this cake last weekend, I suggested covering the cake with fondant ( a sugar dough that covers a lot of cakes you see at weddings and on TV! ) It creates a really smooth canvas for decorating but tastes very sweet. When trying to describes the taste, one might be reminded of marshmallows. Personally I like the way it can look, but I am not crazy about the taste. But a lot of cake designers like to use it. So thinking this is what she would probably want, I suggested it. Over the next few conversations we had about the cake, she out right told me she didn’t really like fondant, to which I replied. “oh, you can just eat around it, some people just peel it off.” For some reason I was not hearing her and still was insisting on using the fondant.

Then on Friday morning while preparing to cover the cake with a baby pink colored fondant, a light bulb went off in my head. She doesn’t like fondant, you don’t like fondant, why are you covering the cake?? I think a cake can look very elegant sans fondant, and I hoped she would too. So I made the decision to just use the fondant for accent decoration, and I am pretty happy with the results. I have to admit I learned a lot about cake decoration working with Anne at, Pink Cake Box, but what I need to remember is that I was making and decorating cakes before I went to culinary school and met Anne, to the delight of my friends and family. Fondant can elevate the design of a cake, but is not always necessary to make a beautiful and sophisticated cake. It is nice to be able to come to these revelations by myself sometimes, as opposed to having someone else point them out to me! -(Thank you Tanya!)

Happy Birthday Dylan! And thank you Meg, for your Birthday party brought Dylan’s mom and I together and created the possibility for this cake opportunity!

not much to say, but… March 26, 2008

Well I actually have a lot to say but little time. I promised myself I would post AT LEAST once a week. I think I missed last week.

Last week I got the opportunity to go back to The French Culinary Institute with my friends Anne and Gretchen. We all met at FCI’s Classic Pastry Arts class in 2004. Last Wednesday FCI had an Open House for prospective students and asked Anne back to do a cake decorating demonstration. I should explain that Anne has her own cake business. She is an amazing cake designer, you will be dazzled and amazed when you go visit the website for her shop, Pink Cake Box.

Here we are at Anne’s shop in Denville NJ.

Anne and I met the morning of our first class in the Starbucks across the street from the school. Then we both befriended Gretchen during class. After we graduated in August of ‘05 we all went in different directions. Anne had been working on her cake business thru school, and continued with that as well as taking a job as the Pastry Chef at Il Cappricio, Gretchen went to work in the school’s restaurant kitchen as the Pastry Chef for L’Ecole, (Gretchen is now the Sous Pastry Chef at Craftsteak!) and I went off and tried my hand as an assistant to the Pastry Chef for Bouley Bakery. (Ech!That is a WHOLE other story for another day!) We all stayed in touch and tried to see each other as much as we could while navigating between our new busy jobs and the fact that we live in New Jersey, Long Island and Manhattan! In late March Anne called me to see how I was liking the bakery business. For many reasons, I was more than ready to quit before she called! The short story is… I went to work with Anne in Morristown NJ, in her mom’s kitchen where Pink Cake Box was born. I am very proud to have been a part of that beginning growth of her “baby”. I worked with her until this past September, when I decided I wanted to do more than cakes, but mostly I just could not do that commute anymore!

So last Wednesday I offered my help if she needed it for the demo at FCI. She gratefully accepted my offer and here we are with a half decorated cake! I really admire what she has done and how far the business has grown in such a short amount of time. It was fun to be working side by side again.

This week I am knee deep in red velvet cake. Tomorrow I start a 1st birthday cake for Dylan, with a cute monkey and other fun sugar decorations. I hope she likes it! Pictures will be posted by Friday night or Sat. I hope! I know there was more I wanted to say, but this will have to do.

Spring is really here, I promise. March 20, 2008

Spring might be here on the calendar, but I think we have yet to believe it is really just around the corner. Although I am counting down to the day when I can shed my bulky winter layers of clothing I beg my fellow New Yorkers to CHILL OUT!

There seems to be something in the air. I think they call it…. hostility. In the past week I have witnessed and unfortunately been on the receiving end of really hostile behavior. I must have inhaled a little of this hostility that is floating in this still chilly NY air because I stupidly found myself arguing over a parking spot. I realized I was not arguing with this idiot because I wanted the space, it was the way he approached me. With his back half to me, cell phone in one hand plastered to his ear and dog leash in the other hand, he stepped out almost in front of my car and waved me off. I said “excuse me?” He said “nah, nah, I am holding this spot.” I said next, “Where is your car??” Again, with the “nah, I am HOLDING this spot. I want it. It is mine” I just went off! I couldn’t understand how he could be such an ass. How the hell do you hold a parking spot with your body and a dog? I tried to explain that I just needed it for 5 minutes to run into the store in front of the spot. Some guy had just pulled out and I was hopping to hop on the end his minutes. This idiot just kept turning his back yaking away on his cell phone. Some nice guy pulled up next to me on the other side of the two way street and asked me if everything was alright. I thanked him, but I was really just seeing red. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THIS GUY??

Finally sanity prevailed and I drove off, cursing loudly in my car. But it took me a good hour to really let it go. All I have left to say about that is… he sux, and I hope he… oh forget it he ain’t worth the bad karma.

Then while I sat in my car double parked waiting for the street sweeper to drive by, I heard another fight break out between a motorist and a bicyclist. Really nasty words, were exchanged. And it just continued the rest of the week. Then just the other day some guy literally walked up to me and shoved me with his body. This totally surprised me folks! I pride myself in being a very aware New Yorker. I am always weeding out the crazies as I walk down the street at any given moment. Figures that at that unusual moment when I was really spacing out, one of “them” got me. It was really scary for a moment because as he came closer I was staring him in the face and saw the crazy in his eyes. He was really tall, unkempt and waving his arms around. Um, how did I notice him sooner you might ask. I don’t rightly know! And it was a really quick moment in time, but it really did happen in slow motion, and unfortunately I was unable to get out his path before he shoved me. Thankfully, that was all he felt he needed to do because he just kept walking in the opposite direction.

So I implore you all, relax, warmer temps will soon be here and hopefully we will feel a little better when we are less constricted by our heavy winter coats.

Happy spring my friends!!!

Out of the oven and back into the dark… March 10, 2008

This week finds me back in the darkroom. Before I decided to make dough making dough, ( i can be really stupidly corny, please excuse!), I worked at a photo lab for close to if not more than 12 years. It WAS called Exhibition Prints Inc.(EPI) It was a great lab and I started working there in its’ infancy. I was there to watch it grow from a lab with 1 1/2 part time printers into a lab that was able to employ 4-6 full time printers. I was a printer for a LONG time and then became the manager and for the last few years there, I ran the whole show. It was a wonderful communal environment. I say I ran the show because in the end I was responsible, but I had great support from my other managers and print staff. It was definitely a fun place to work. We all knew how to work hard within tight deadlines, but we all understood the IMPORTANCE of laughter as well. It brought together a really interesting group of (mostly) women who I really miss. I miss them, not because I don’t work at the lab anymore, but because the lab had to close in 2007 (as has been the fate of many photo labs recently). Now there is no meeting place for all of us anymore. I had already moved on to my new pastry career but I was comforted knowing that I could always go back to my friends at EPI. Now Jessica, Beth, Ana, Dimitri, Kristina, Dale, Jen, Becky, Parsley, and Kelly are spread out around the city and the country, and it is hard to keep up with them all.

When pastry doesn’t pay my bills, I have to take other work, as I have mentioned before. Last month it was an office job in New Brunswick New Jersey, this week it’s back to the darkroom in my beloved NYC. I am printing for a client I met during the early days of EPI and she has happily kept me busy printing a few days every month for Conde Nast Traveller magazine. It felt so nice to be in the darkroom again. I use My Own Color Lab, and I am always bumping into either former clients or printers from EPI. It’s almost like going back home. Today I was lucky enough to run into photographers Katie and Joe. It was great to see them both.

I used to live a very secure life. Every week promised a paycheck. Since September, not so much. It gets a bit tight, but in the end I always seem to make ends meet. In other words, my bills get paid, and I am not starving. Cheers to making it work! I hope all my other former EPI- ers are doing the same if not better!