Not just gingerbread houses...

Today I came across this amazing video that shows the progressive build of a 17-ft. gingerbread tree at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL. The tree is made up of only 6 ingredients, but check out the quantities:

1,050 pounds of honey
800 pounds of flour
600 pounds of powdered sugar
35 pounds of spices
600 pounds of chocolate
180 pounds of apricot glaze

As someone who enjoys building gingerbread houses, but to put it nicely, lacks the architectural prowess it might take to construct these seasonal builds, I'm in awe of this production. Check out the time lapse video below (and if this doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will).

I'm off to Providence, Rhode Island - it's time to celebrate!

I'm heading up to Providence, Rhode Island, this morning to celebrate two things: My dear, dear friend Jessy's engagement to Alex AND the new house they recently purchased.

I'm super excited to visit Providence - I make my way up there quite a bit since Jessy relocated back there from New York City last year, and I'm even more thrilled to see her new home, see her wonderful family (I'm talking to you Bert and Teddy!) and meet her future in-laws who are currently visiting all the way from Glasgow, Scotland.

I'm sure Jessy and Alex have a delicious party menu already planned, so if they have slotted a space for desserts or sweets, you better believe I'll be chowing down (and in between bites, taking photos). I can't wait to share all the details once I get back!

Also, for any of you interested in following the adventures of a first-time home owner as she tackles the process of designing her new space, you should check out Jessy's blog - Taste for Tartan (the name is a throw back to her soon-to-be Scottish husband!).

Why Puff and Choux?

This blog was born on February 24, 2009, but the gestation period began long before. Honestly, the idea to write about food didn't occur to me until around Christmas, but the idea of writing about something I loved started right after college. It just took me five years to figure out what I was passionate about. That process is still ongoing.

At first I thought that I would be a travel writer. Perhaps it was instilled in me from birth, but wanderlust is a "disease" I constantly battle. My grandfather was a Scottish immigrant, and I sometimes wonder if he is the cause. I was only six years old when he passed away, so my memories of him are like quick snapshots in time, somewhat too fuzzy to remember if the event actually happened, or the advice was actually uttered, but I sometimes wonder if he quietly whispered to me,"Go see the world. Don't miss out because you're too scared to go far."

This is the only logical conclusion I can come up with. The man traveled from Scotland to the United States, landing in New York. I've heard the very short story of how he built a motorcycle from spare parts and took the United States head on, driving cross country to the West Coast. I find it odd that the details of his trip only belong to the beginning (New York) and the end (the West Coast, no particular city or state, just the vague geographic area). But I've heard the story so many times from several people that it must be true. The details of what happened in between the time he first turned the key in the ignition to when he parked his bike for the last time are a mystery, and I often catch myself daydreaming about what he saw, who he met, how a young man from Glasgow ended up in the suburbs of Oklahoma City.

Although he was only present for the first one-fifth of my life, I believe I am probably more like him than any of my other relatives. Perhaps the relentless need to travel, the inability to sit still for too long in one place was passed down by gifted DNA, or to some, a genetic defect. Defect or not, I've been lucky enough to travel the world, have lived in three countries and continue to find myself boarding a plane, watching the world zoom by from my seat on a train, or behind the wheel on road trips to small towns and big cities.

At the age of 23, I took a weekend seminar through New York University entitled "From Traveller to Travel Writing." Although I had visited Europe and many of the 50 states, at this point, I found myself at a loss of what to write about. The teacher's mantra ("A location is not a topic") haunted me and my inability to focus on a specific subject caused me to lose interest in travel writing. It was a sad death of an interest as I would sometimes catch myself on a trip and for a quick second think that a tour of Parisian patisseries selling only French macaroons or a tour of a local farmers market would make a great travel piece, but just as quickly as I had the idea, I would file it away as something I would never put to paper.

It wasn't until I decided to learn how to cook in the autumn of 2008 that food writing even entered the equation. And it was several months after I discovered my passion for the pastry arts that a blog even entered my train of thought. But entered it my thoughts it did. Night after night I found myself lying awake in bed coming up with article ideas focused on pastries. Instead of counting sheep, I made mental lists of all the chocolate factories, bakeries, doughnut shops, and patisseries I could visit. I thought of the food tour I took in October 2008 and cursed myself for not jotting down notes. I devoured articles on pastry during my lunch break and would give up my sack lunch as to allow time to jog to the nearest sweet shop to try out baked goods I had never heard of and had names I still can't pronounce.

At this point, my day job was working at public relations agency in a role I was never particularly fond of. I bring this up because it was with this job that I doubted my writing abilities for the first time. If there was one thing I prided myself on, it was my writing. I had always won people over in the past with my words, but for the first time in my life, I was told by a superior that my writing was "stupid." It was like a blow to the chest, the wind completely knocked out of me. My writing was stupid? Was this man mistaken? How could I have received praise for my skills as an author from the time I won the Think Ink Creative Writing Award in the third grade for my story about a potato to when I was tasked with writing all the company outing e-mails at my previous job if my writing was poor? How could I have any sort of readership on my personal blog if people didn't at least find my posts mildly interesting? I was at a loss.

And I cried. I cried that some man who I found, funnily enough, to be a horrible wordsmith, had the nerve to call my writing stupid. I took that as a personal insult to my intelligence as I was, in his eyes, the source for the unintelligible dribble he saw in front of him whenever I asked him to proofread my work. Ultimately, I was "laid off" from this job, and I think my pink slip was directly tied to the fact that this man thought my English diploma was a sham - my university had obviously had pity and granted me a degree, even though a giraffe was more skilled than me in the writing department.

Ironically, it was the loss of my job that pushed me to finally publish this blog. I'm not sure where the confidence came from, as I felt utterly drained when it came to my ability to convince myself that I was, in fact, talented, but without any hesitation, Puff and Choux took its first breath and entered the world.

I've never claimed to be an expert writer. I've been told by a handful of people over the years that they love my work, but I've never claimed to be the end all of the written word. In fact, when people ask me what my hobbies are, I usually lead off with the line,"I enjoy pretending to be a real writer."

However, I am passionate. I love writing about topics I'm interested in, and I like to think that a little bit of my personality comes across in everything I produce. Whether, you enjoy my humor or are irritated with a comment I made, if I can evoke an emotional response from my readers, I feel like I've achieved what I set out to do.

I don't know where Puff and Choux will take me, if anywhere. A lot of people have asked me in the past few weeks what it is I hope to achieve with this blog, and I give them the only honest answer I have: I don't know. As long as I'm writing about what I love, from local bakeries in New York to cookbook authors I've had the pleasure of meeting while vacationing in Portland, Oregon, I'm happy. What else could a foodie want?

Interview with Nicole Rees, author of Baking Unplugged

While visiting Portland last week, I was lucky enough to interview Nicole Rees, the author of Baking Unplugged. Funnily enough, it turns out that Rees is a fellow University of Kansas graduate, so I'm happy this meeting took place on two levels - I love connecting with fellow KU alum and Rees happens to be one of the friendliest folks you can have a coffee with while visiting Oregon.

Rees' love and extreme knowledge of food come across immediately in conversation, and it's obvious that the underlying concept of Baking Unplugged is a topic she is passionate about.

"I want first-time bakers, as well as people who have been out of the kitchen for a while, to realize that you don't need the $300 mixer to get the job done."

Rees has a rich professional history in the food industry. After graduating from KU, she moved east to New York City, where she trained as a pastry chef. Realizing early on that although she loved food, she didn't want to spend every waking hour of her life in a kitchen.

"As a pastry chef in New York during the mid 1990s, you learned very quickly that the waitresses were making all the money, not the pastry chef working long hours in the back of the house," said Rees.

She eventually landed an editorial assistant position at Chocolatier and Pastry Art & Design magazines.

Her editorial career evolved into a role as the Test Kitchen Director of Woman's World magazine. She has written for baking newsletters, blogs (including a stint at BHG.com, the website for Better Homes & Gardens).

Rees now holds the title of Food Scientist and develops recipes for some of the most prestigious publications in the industry and also oversees R&D for Innovative Cereal Systems.

Another interesting fact about Rees is that not only is she a whiz when it comes to cooking for people, she is also skilled in the art of making homemade dog food. Crediting her recipe for improving her pooch's quality of life, it's obvious her skills go way beyond the average chef.

Dog food recipe not included, you can buy a copy of Baking Unplugged at Amazon (retail price - $19.77).

My favorite bakery and café in Portland - St. Honoré Boulangerie

If you happen to be in Northwest Portland, you HAVE to stop by St. Honoré Boulangerie. I very rarely say this, but this little café and bakery rivals many that I have visited in New York and has easily become a favorite of mine in Portland.

Although I have only tasted two items on the menu, I was blown away by the flavors and sheer visual artistry put into their desserts. Master Baker Dominique Geulin and his baking team – many of them students at Portland's Western Culinary Institute - are some of the finest talents I've seen outside of Paris.


Although it was difficult to choose - everything I saw in the pastry/dessert case had my mouth watering - I chose the following two desserts to sample:

Saint Honoré
Puff pastry and pate á choux base filled with pastry cream and whipped cream, topped with caramelized cream filled choux.


I chose this particular dessert for three reasons: 1.) It incorporated the name of this blog, 2.) It caught my eye the second I peered into the dessert case and 3.) I'm a sucker for whipped cream and caramel. I don't believe the pastry could have been more delicate and the cream was just right the texture to melt in your mouth.

Tarte au Citron
A smooth and rich lemon custard on a bed of almond cream in a paté sablé shell.

Lemon tarts are probably one of my all-time favorite desserts. My best friend Emily makes a mean lemon tartlet, and if you had been there the first time she whipped up these little beauties you would have seen how ravenous I ate my piece. So, when I saw that St. Honoré Boulangerie had their own version, I had to try (and really, who cares if you eat two desserts before 10:30 in the morning...). And boy, I'm glad I did. The lemon custard was divine and nailed the accurate flavor. My only complaint was I found the crust a bit too tough, but the almond cream made up for that in the end. All in all, I'd eat this tart again (and again...and again...).


My experience at St. Honoré Boulangerie was absolutely the best food I had while visiting Portland. I can't speak highly enough of this place. From the Parisian atmosphere, DELICIOUS food and extremely nice staff, I can't wait for another trip out west so I can indulge my St. Honoré obsession once again.

On an interesting side note, I learned why the bakery has its name. According to what I learned at the shop, St. Honoré Boulangerie is named for the patron saint of bakers, Saint Honoré. History says that a young man named Honoré became the Bishop of Amiens in 554. During his service a number of miraculous events occurred, which spared farmers, millers, and bakers from natural disasters. Residents of France connected the miracles with Bishop Honoré and in 1204 a Parisian baker built a chapel to commemorate him. Today, the chapel is no longer standing, but the name, Saint Honoré, is etched in a gate leading to Faubourg and Rue Saint Honoré in the heart of Paris.

When in Portland, visit:
St. Honoré Boulangerie
2335 NW Thurman Street
Portland, OR 97210
P: (503) 445-4342
W: www.sainthonorebakery.com

Not surprisingly, the Dallas airport does not have a wide array of pastries to sample...

Hello readers! I'm writing this from the Dallas airport on my way back to New York from Portland, Oregon. My trip out west was fantastic, both from a food and general travel perspective. This vacation was definitely one I was sad to see end, but never fret Portland - I'll be back sometime this summer to see what warm weather activities you have to offer!

Additionally, I have a ton of fun posts to share, so keep your eyes peeled tomorrow for an interview with cookbook author Nicole Rees and some other tasty information from the City of Roses!

Voodoo Doughnuts - a little bit of witch doctor in the dough does a body good.

Other than Powell's, the one place I jotted down as a MUST while visiting Portland was Voodoo Doughnuts, where according to the bakery's motto, "the magic is in the hole."

This place might be the Holy Grail of weird doughnuts. Naturally, I ordered the voodoo doll doughnut. It seemed like a classic in its own time.


However, the rest of the menu was very tempting for this doughnut enthusiast. If so inclined, you could choose from:

Grape Ape - raised doughnut with vanilla frosting and grape powder.

Dirt - raised doughnut covered with vanilla glaze and oreo cookies.

Arnold Palmer - cake doughnut covered with lemon and tea powder.

Butter Fingering - devils food, vanilla, and crushed Butterfinger.

Neapolitan - chocolate doughnut with vanilla frosting and strawberry quick powder.

Triple Chocolate Penetration - chocolate doughnut, chocolate glaze, and cocoa-puffs.

Dirty Snowball - chocolate cake doughnut covered with pink marshmallow glaze and surprise filling

Apple Fritter - apple/glaze/doughnut as big as your head.

The Memphis Mafia - chocolate chips/banana/ peanutbutter/glaze big.

Portland Creme- raised doughnut filled with creme and covered in chocolate with two eyes)

Cock-n-Balls - Bachlorette party favorite, tripple cream filled, with your favorite saying written right on it. Comes in its own pink box.

Nyquil Glazed and pepto-bismol (currently on hold)

No Name -a doughnut so good they couldn't come up with a better name. It has chocolate rice crispys and peanutbutter on it.

I don't believe the above is the full menu as I saw several other varieties in the display case.



And I have to say, after tasting my little voodoo doll, chocolate covered and filled with strawberry jam, this is definitely a place I will be returning to when I'm in Portland again.

Here are some more pics of me enjoying my doughnut:

A foodie's bookstore heaven - Powell's food section

When I told my friends I was visiting Portland, the first thing out of everyone's mouth was "You have to go to Powell's!" I'd read a lot about this bookstore, so I was happy when Diane said it was on the agenda.

This place is huge. But thankfully, I find it more user friendly than the Strand in New York. The books are divided up into different rooms based on themes and colors, so navigating this store that is an entire city block is strangely intuitive. Of course, my first stop was the foodie magazine stand, then straight to the mother ship - the Food Section.


And mother ship it was! Aisles and aisles of cheaply priced books - everything from cookbooks to the Canadian history of the doughnut. I found a book on creme brulee and one offering pastry tips from the White House pastry chef. There were history books on the origins of the dinner roll, salt, the bagel, cookies - you name it, you could find a book on where your favorite food came from.

After piling a basket full of cookbooks and food literature, I settled on:

Remembrance of Things Paris: Sixty Years of Writing From Gourmet Magazine by Ruth Reichl

Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson

The Essential Dessert Cookbook by Various Authors



I'm currently reading My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme (awesome book thus far, by the way), but once I finish that up I'm going to consume my new purchases!

Getting a dose of religion at Saint Cupcake in Portland, Oregon

Venturing into Downtown Portland this afternoon, my friend Diane surprised me some wonderful foodie attractions. The first stop was Saint Cupcake, where we indulged in a little baking religion.

The shop itself is very..well, cupcakey. Decorated primarily in pink the shop is decent size and showcases a semi-open kitchen.

There is quite a selection, but the menu changes on a daily basis. I'm not a fan of menus like this as I inevitably find something that I would like to taste but isn't available on that particular day. Regardless, there is a good daily selection, and the shop has a calendar on their website that allows you to see what is available on a day to day basis.

Diane and I chose the following:

Vanilla with cream cheese icing
buttery vanilla cupcake with classic vanilla cream cheese iced on top.


Turtle
Rich and fudgy chocolate cake topped with gooey caramel and a drizzling of hot fudge. Topped with a pecan.


Hot fudge on vanilla
Buttery vanilla cupcake topped with gooey-drippy homemade hot fudge.


Chocolate with cream cheese icing
Rich and fudgy chocolate cupcake meets classic vanilla cream cheese icing.


I tried both the vanilla with vanilla cream cheese icing and the Turtle. The vanilla cupcake was pretty standard, and as mentioned in previous posts, I'm a buttercream fan. However, I do think that cream cheese icing is a nice choice for spiced cakes, such as pumpkin spice or cinnamon spice.

The Turtle was a great choice, if I do say so myself. The caramel and chocolate as a substitute for standard icing was a nice surprise and I caught myself licking my fingers when I had finished this yummy cupcake. To see a play-by-play photo series of me consuming the Turtle, check out these photos (courtesy of Diane). I like to call this "The Most Unflattering Series of Photos Ever Take of Mary Ann, Right in Front of the Fat High School Photos of 1999)" Enjoy:










Below are some fun photos of our time at Saint Cupcake:

My first taste of Portland - Rose's Restaurant and the Kennedy School

Yesterday was my first full day in Portland, OR, and I have to say - I'm impressed. This city is probably one of the friendliest I've ever been to (Funnily enough, I thought that Portland, Maine was super friendly, so maybe it's just the curse of cities named Portland to have welcoming and friendly citizens!). More importantly, I'm having a great time hanging out with one of my oldest friends, my fellow University of Kansas alum Diane. She's a great hostess and doing this city proud by showing me around.

But on to the food. My first dessert was tasted at Rose's Restaurant. According to the menu, Rose Naftalin, a widow from Ohio, moved to Portland in 1956 and opened a tiny restaurant where over the next 10 years she worked in the kitchen preparing many of the dishes herself, including the desserts.

In 1966, Rose became a cookbook author and retired. The restaurant was sold to Max Birnbach who kept up the tradition for another 24 years. He was over 80 years old at that time!

The meal was typical diner fare - it was good, but then again, I ordered the typical burger and fries. However it was the case of desserts I was interested in.


From the Banana Bavarian, French Chocolate, Raspberry Poppyseed, or Coconut Cake, that dessert display case was a sight for my sore eyes that had spent the previous day trying to find a decent sweet snack in various airports across North America. One unique cake that I had never seen before was Rose's Orange Creamcicle Cake. It sounded delicious, but I decided on an old standard and childhood favorite - coconut cake.

Because I was so stuffed from lunch, I opted to take the cake to go. Granted, I only made it about 30 minutes after we left the restaurant before I took my first bite, but at least I made the effort to not overeat.

The cake itself was delicious - delicate double-layered angel food with some of the sweetest coconut flakes I've ever tasted spread throughout the middle. I would have preferred buttercream icing, but I generally prefer buttercream on all my cake-based sweets. I believe the icing was some sort of whipped mousse concoction, but regardless, it was still tasty. Overall, I would give Rose's Coconut Cake an 8 out of 10.

And although this isn't pastry-related, I have to mention an awesome little Portland spot called the Kennedy School that I visited for a pre-dinner beer. This is such a quirky little place that I had to write something about it.

Originally opened in 1915, this elementary school has hosted thousands of students throughout the years. According to the website, when school was not in session the Kennedy served the community as a public meeting hall, polling place, Red Cross blood drawing center, collection site for paper & tin can drives, weekend playground, and even flood-relief shelter.

Sadly, at the end of the 1974-75 school year, the school was closed due to poor enrollment numbers (something the entire city was facing), as well as a deteriating building too costly to repair.

However, the local Portland community was stronger than any demolition order that tried to destroy the beloved community center. Neighbors, former students, past PTA presidents, and the Portland Development Commission fought successfully to save the Kennedy School and won.

Today, the "school" continues to serve as a community meeting place. There are several bars, a restaurant, movie theater and meeting rooms on site. The building is also a hotel! It's probably the quirkiest little place I've ever visited ANYWHERE in the world. My favorite part was hands down all the artwork adorning the hallways. It does a great job of telling the history of the building through the eyes of former students and teachers.

My other favorite part of the Kennedy School is the hand-crafted McMenamins' Rube Ale. In 1985, McMenamins became the first brewery in the U.S.A. to legally use fruit in the creation of ales. As I've mentioned before, my favorite berry (and probably favorite fruit) is the raspberry, so you better believe I was stoked to find out that 42 pounds of Oregon-grown and processed raspberry puree are used in every batch of this ale!


McMenamin's Ruby Ale is, hands down, the best ale I've ever tasted. I plan on drinking at least one more pint of this brew before I head back East.

Hello Portland - feed me!

I arrived in Portland, Oregon late last night, welcomed to this new city by my very dear friend Diane. She's promised to show me some deliciously awesome Portland food spots, so get ready readers - a little Northwest action is comin' atcha this week!

Get ready Portland, OR - I'm on my way to test our your pastry offerings!

Hello readers! I'm about to jet off to the West Coast - I'm going to visit one of my dearest friends, Diane, for five days of Oregon fun, which obviously includes lots of sweets!

I've already received some great recommendations from friends about places I have to visit, such as Voodoo Doughnuts, but if you have any other spots I should check out, leave them in the comments section.

I'll be blogging from Portland until Monday morning when I'll be back in New York, most likely 20 pounds heavier!

Delicious Dessert Wine, courtesy of the great state of Maine

Over Presidents Day weekend, I took a journey north to Portland, Maine with my pals Erikka and Jessica to have our hand at dog sledding and snow shoeing. The trip was a great success - friendly locals, delicious food at Fore Street and lobster-shaped cookie cutters. Also, I discovered this great dessert wine from a Maine winery called Blacksmiths.

Although we didn't have a chance to visit the winery itself, I did pick up a bottle of their Roughshod which is comprised of 85% Wild Maine Blueberry and 15% 151 proof Oregon Brandy.

Here is the description from the folks at Blacksmiths:
"This is Blacksmiths' original fortified blueberry wine, delicious as an aperitif and hearty enough to use in a unique Roughshod cocktail. The wine is made in a similar manner as our classic blueberry wine, but the fermentation is halted by addition of brandy to preserve the appropriate level of sugar. This provides the balance of alcohol and sugar which is important in producing an enjoyable dessert wine."

My roommate Peter and I cracked open the bottle for the first time last night, and we both agreed that the taste was unusual, but delicious. We suggest small servings as this is definitely a dessert wine meant to be sipped with a potent aftertaste. Also, we're toying around with the idea of pouring it over vanilla ice cream - we'll let you know how that turns out.