Amsterdam: On New Directions, the New Year, and Nostalgia

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A year ago today, I was heading to Food Blog Camp and starting a course in Genetics at the alma mater. I went back to school for six months, spent the summer applying, spent the fall freaking out, went to Paris, and now 2011 is over.

The most telling sign that I have no idea about what happened to 2011 is when my day job had some recent major breakdowns. It involved a lot of backtracking and reviewing data. In a discussion, I remarked that one of our molecules was made recently, in June.

Everyone stared at me. Turns out it was June 2010. Wow.

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On Resolutions: Guest Posting at Kitchen Corners

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Happy New Year.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I don't have my act together enough to post on this blog. I have a post in progress, but catch my first post of the year: a guest post on my favorite salad ingredients over at Kitchen Corners.

Damaris and I met at Food Blog Camp and I was so glad to spend a little time with her this summer before she moved to Brazil. She's an amazing person to chat with and has a great eye for food and design. Check out her beautiful blog and say hello!

Oh, and the anecdote about the maternity pants? Totally true. I definitely need to stick to a diet resolution.

Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Meyer Lemon Sables

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The package was coming together nicely, but as I almost finished putting them together, I realized that my lovely little chocolate macarons had started to split. Their cajeta middles were oozing everywhere. It was clear that these wouldn't survive shipping without refrigeration. Baking them was a moment of overambition borne out of our recent trip to Paris. I'd wanted to bake a cookie that was undeniably French. The cookies were baked and filled, but the cajeta filling was just a little too soft at room temperature.

It was the day the cookies were to be shipped. Out went couple of panicked emails to Lindsay and Julie notifying them of the delay and then I had to figure out my Plan B. I still wanted to do something French, but it had to be fast and delicious.

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