a chocolate chip cookie celebration | happy birthday to my husband

Last week I hosted a chocolate chip cookie taste off in honor of Matt's 28th birthday. It was quite possibly the best birthday party I've ever hosted. I got the idea from You Are My Fave and used the invitations from there, too.

We had eight entrants into the taste off and almost all of them were classic versions of the chocolate chip cookie. My favorite part about being the host was the questions I got to answer, like this one from my friend Karissa: So if I bring slice and bakes, should I send you the ingredients list and cooking instructions? That was a joke that I didn't get (Matt is vehemently opposed to any and all forms of store bought cookies and Karissa knows it); thankfully no slice and bake cookies were entered in the contest. Another good question: Are we limited to one batch per couple or can we each enter a recipe? There's a back story to that one - my friends Keri and Josh had a dispute about whose recipe to use (they're married) - Keri's famous "Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies" or Josh's "Sweet and Salty Chocolate Chip Cookies" (or, as Keri called them, "Variation on Toll House Because My Wife Wouldn’t Let Me Copy the Recipe Cookies"). Here's a quote from Keri: "I'm glad there can be spousal competition, because I thought marriage counseling was going to be necessary if we had to narrow it down to one recipe."  This is the kind of dedication our friends brought to the party. It was awesome. And Keri won, by the way. Here's her winning batch of cookies...

I highly recommend having your own chocolate chip cookie taste off. Soon. In fact, I may need to have another one.

P.S. I made this for Matt's birthday cake, but doesn't  this one look incredible?

croissants and baguettes | where to eat in Paris

Tell people you went to Paris and the first thing they ask you about it the food. We didn't do too much fine dining, but we enjoyed plenty of bakery type meals. Give me a chocolate croissant for breakfast and a sliced baguette with brie and veggies for lunch and I'm a happy girl.

Here are some of our favorite bakeries...
Paul, 77 rue de Seine - expect a line out the door, but for good reason. Delicious brioche sucre, croissants, palmiers, and macarons.
bread & roses, 7 rue Fleurus - organic breads made with whole grains, nuts, and seeds
Banette, 2 rue de ces Commines - a chain, but I had the most perfect little chocolate and raspberry tart here
Arnaud Delmontel, 39 rue des Martyrs - beautiful styling, and our breakfast treats were still warm!
Le Grenier de Félix, 64 avenue Félix Faure - our neighborhood bakery, perfect for a quick snack any time of day

For lunch or a light dinner...
Pink Flamingo, 105 rue du Vieille du Temple -  a funky pizza parlor serving up unique topping combinations like fresh fig, honey, and goat cheese called the Brangelina (and it was fantastic!)
Le Pain Quotidien, 2 rue des Petits Carreaux - I had such a delicious artichoke heart and white bean salad here
L'Ebouillanté, 6 rue de Barres - cute patio seating outside an old church on a cobblestone path; we had crêpes, quiche, and fresh juice.
La Ferme, 55-57 rue Saint Roch - order your meal at the counter, choose a drink from the cooler, and sit where you like. We liked the laid back atmosphere, and everything is made in house!

For sweets...
Ladurée, 75 avenue des Champs Elysées - macarons, of course. 
La Maison du Chocolat, 8 boulevard de la Madeleine - we bought a teeny box of chocolates, but they'll offer you a sample! Seriously, it's worth checking out for the sample alone.
And get a palmier at every boulangerie you walk by. I did.

sweet treats by the fireside | desserts to make while camping

One of my favorite parts of camping is making dessert over the fire. Of course there's the classic s'more, and I've probably had more than my fair share over the years. This time I want to broaden my campfire baking skills. Here are a few sweets that might be roasting over the fire this weekend...

campfire cones / Dutch oven peach cobbler / chocolate stuffed bananas / baked apples / campfire cakes

What's your favorite campfire food?

P.S. More posts on camping right here.

image via etsy

brownies and bananagrams | date night at home

Hello all! How was your weekend? Ours was nice - not too hot like last week, but now we're getting hit with a major thunderstorm. Matt was supposed to shoot an engagement session but it has to be rescheduled, so I'm thinking an indoor date night is just the thing for us to do tonight. Here's what we'll need...

a candle for mood lighting / cream soda / music, preferably Little Broken Hearts 

bananagrams / brownies, the most important thing of all (besides Matt)

How do you make a night at home special?

cupcake love

{chocolate coconut crunch}

The Bakery Boutique is located in Smithfield, RI near church. That means it's easily accessible on Sundays and Wednesdays if I can convince Matt to drive in the opposite direction of home for a couple of miles.  The Bakery Boutique is home to these yummy creations, but the good news is that they can go home with you.  That is, if you can manage to not eat them in the car.

 

{classic white wedding cake}

{Nutella swirl} 

{key lime pie}

{red velvet}

What cupcakes would you want to try?  Any cupcake bakery recommendations?

I heart Sundaes

 Top three reasons why Sundaes is my favorite ice cream shop:
1. It's 1.2 miles from our house so we can walk there.
2. You can print coupons directly from the website like this one which allowed us to buy one cone & get one cone free on Friday night.
3. Most importantly, they have the best selection of flavors in the free world.  My favorite is chocolate peanut butter cup.  It's the only flavor of ice cream I have ordered since the summer of 2009.  Really.  It's that good.  (Side note: it started out as a joke between our friend Matt (who is not to be confused with Matt) and me... we each had a "flavor of the year" in 2008.  Coffee oreo for me and chocolate peanut butter cup for him.  In 2009 I became jealous of his chocolate cone of peanut buttery goodness and a new flavor of the year was born.  Chocolate peanut butter cup is so delicious that it became the flavor of the year in 2010 as well, and it looks as though 2011 will bring more of the same.  And I couldn't be more satisfied.  Thanks for the tip, Matt!)

And three more reasons why Sundaes is my favorite.  Because I realized the first three reasons weren't enough.
4. They have pink jimmies!  They also have Falcon jimmies for all you Falcons out there.  I'm looking at you, Western Cranston.
5. It's conveniently located right on the bike path so when Matt and I are out for a Saturday afternoon spin we can stop and get a cone.  
6. You can carry a Sundaes card which gets stamped every time you make a purchase.  Trade your stamps in for free jimmies, a Sundaes tee shirt, a gift card to Sundaes, or my favorite, a free kiddie cone.  Get two stamps if you're there when it's raining!  That's right... it was raining on Friday so we started the season off with two stamps.
All this talk about ice cream is making me want a cone right now.  Lucky for me, Sundaes is just over a mile away...

how to make sugar cookies & a mess

A visual guide to making sugar cookies - 

Thanks to Brooke for the recipe.

ming makes cupcakes

Have you seen these amazing cupcakes?  Ming wanted to have some go-to cake recipes and baking cupcakes was the perfect way for her to experiment.  I would like to begin a similar project, maybe when Ezra is a little older and can join in the fun.  What do you think?  Should we tackle cake, too?  Or would cookies be a better option?  I can't decide now, that image of the peanut butter cupcake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate ganache is too distracting.