French Fridays With Dorie: Gougeres

**Let's just get this out of the way: I lived in France for 16 months. I lived in the Loire valley for the first 13 months and way down south in the Pyrenees for the last 3. This was 12 years ago. 3 years ago I went to Paris for the first time. I spent about 36 hours there. ....That is the extent of my Paris experience. 36 hours. Dorie LIVES in Paris. She's a world famous chef. She hangs out with world famous chefs. Soooo...sometimes when she talks about the food she eats...and I've never heard of it......let's forgive me...ok?

For our first recipe (hand chosen by Madame Greenspan herself! - hi Dorie!), we made gougeres. Dorie says, "Gougeres are made everywhere in France..."(........except maybe the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees...) "...but their home is Burgundy..."(...oh, ok. Now I feel better.)

(Let's also forgive my crappy camera....before the baby comes, we're getting a much nicer one...mmkay?)

Gougeres:...imagine a cream puff....but instead of cream, it's Gruyere cheese....and instead of being in the middle of the puff, it's all throughout. Oh my...so light...so airy...so cheesy. And friends? So easy.

This is (embarrassingly) my first Dorie Greenspan recipe. And kids, Dorie likes to really explain every step. So, the length of the recipe can seem a bit daunting. I was having my parents over for dinner (mommy was bringing soup) and I worried a bit that I wouldn't finish them in time. (especially with directions like "add the eggs one at a time and beat, beat, beat until the dough is thick and shiny.") But, oh these came together so quickly. And her thorough directions made me confident I was doing it right at every step.

She says you can use any cheese, but lists Gruyere or Cheddar as possibilities. I used all Gruyere and its strong flavor was perfect for something so little and light. AND it went perfectly with the Wisconsin Cheddar Potato Soup my mommy brought over!

Verdict: I absolutely loved these bite-sized, puffy, cheesy, happy gougeres. I will definitely be making them again!

Dear Readers,...bienvenue a French Fridays With Dorie (henceforward to be known as FFwD).

French Fridays With Dorie

Dear Readers, I am embarking on a new and exciting journey. Sure, sure, motherhood. But ALSO....I am going to be cooking and baking my way through Dorie Greenspan's newest cookbook "Around My French Table".

Remember how I served my mission in France? Well, I did. And I ate a LOT of French food there (seriously...it was, like, everywhere). But what I did NOT do a lot of was COOK French food. My mission was very big into creme fraiche pizzas and burrito fetes (holla, France Bordeaux Mission!). And while I did learn how to make a mean crepe, I didn't acquire a lot of skills in the French kitchen (or la cuisine) (...and no I did NOT just have to look up that very simple 8th grade French word online.....*sigh*).

So imagine my excitement when that too-cool-for-school group of food bloggers who started "Tuesday's With Dorie" decided to celebrate Ms. Greenspan's latest beast of a cookbook by creating the group "French Fridays With Dorie"! No really...imagine it. ...See?! I was really excited! I sneakily added the book onto an Amazon.com order of birthday presents for Andrew and it showed up in my mail 2 days ago. And dear readers...I devoured it. I read the first 120 pages the moment I opened it. I LOVE this cookbook. It's gorgeous and interesting (she writes a little intro for every recipe!) and full of The Yummiest Food This Planet Has Ever Conceived.

And guess what?! I get to blog about this group every Friday!! We'll be starting October 1st. And every Friday to follow, I will blog about making one of Dorie's French food creations. (I will NOT, however, be posting the recipe. ...For that, you gotta get your own book, yo.)

Want to join the group?! Go here.

And watch this space for my weekly journey into the art of French Cooking. (...I just rocked your world with the idea of me blogging weekly, didn't I?)

MY Google Fate

Remember how I like to talk about how I'm not original or creative? Yeah...I'm not.

So, maybe I'm gonna copy Krisanne right now (because I STILL haven't scanned images of the baby in my belly...so this will have to suffice as a blog post).


I went to Google Images, typed in "What is the fate of Susan Gardiner" and among the random photos, I found this one...





….Do we think ‘Susan Gardiner’ is the cat, pulling the ribbons of life? Or is she the teddy bear, being smacked around by the kitty claws of fate?................


PS - it's Andrew's birthday! Happy birthday, Andrew D. Gardiner! Who's fate looks like this!:


(The caption of this photo reads: "Andrew predicts the future with a big bag of money in the background." Yes.Please.)