Yes, I am welcoming myself back! I cannot believe that the last real post I made was four months ago... I feel a little ashamed, to be honest. I've been so busy since I left Pittsburgh in April - I was traveling all over Europe for five weeks, then hiking various jungles and volcanoes in Hawaii for two weeks, I also started a new job as a pastry apprentice at the Pluckemin Inn, a fine dining restaurant near my hometown; it's a fantastic opportunity that pretty much just fell into my lap and I'm enjoying the time I've been spending there so far, and learning many things. It has been difficult to get back onto a regular work schedule, but I'm slowly getting there.

I am still baking at home though, about as often as I was before; so assuming I can get you readers all caught up on the past few months, I should start posting with more regularity again soon! So, without further ado, here are some pictures that have been accumulating since April: (and just like in any other post, you can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

This picture was taken at my aunt and uncle's restaurant in France; I came in to observe what goes on behind the scenes for a day; they gave me a jacket and put me to work! I am in the middle and the two girls I am standing between are both apprentices there.

This is a coconut flan I made with my aunt while I was staying with her in France. I have recipes for everything I made there, but they're all in French so if you really want a recipe let me know and I can try to translate it for you.

A tiramisu I made with the same aunt. Tiramisu looks so complicated but it's actually pretty simple to make! The picture isn't so great but I was proud of the final result, and so was my cousin, whom I gave it to.

These are chocolate madeleines I made with another aunt I stayed with. She hosted a block party while I was there so I made a big batch of these for everyone; they seemed to be a big hit!

My very first tart: a chocolate almond pear tart; they were making one at my aunt and uncle's restaurant and I was able to snatch the recipe. This was delicious and I may translate the recipe for you at a later date because this is a tart that needs to be shared with everyone!

My very first cheesecake! (June was a month of many firsts for me.) I am not actually a big fan of cheesecake (I feel like I may be the only person in the world who dislikes the Cheesecake Factory...) but I bought some springform pans months ago and wanted to test them out. I used low fat cream cheese at my family's request, and it came out fantastically; I don't like cheesecakes that are too elaborate. The crumbs you see are graham cracker crumbs.

Chocolate and vanilla swirl cookies! I found Cookies Galore on sale at Costco one day so I jumped at the chance to buy it; this is one of the many cookie recipes the book contains. These cookies were a little bland and disappointing, actually. If I make them again I'll add more chocolate flavor.

Hamburger buns! My family makes delicious hamburgers and I thought I'd bring it up a notch with some home-made buns. They turned out a little smaller than I hoped but they still tasted amazing; a little time-consuming, but definitely worth the effort. I topped half with sesame seeds and half with poppy seeds. I will post a recipe for these soon too!

This is from a batch of cookies and cream cupcakes I made while I was still living in Pittsburgh, actually. I believe I used the chocolate cake recipe from the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World book, and possibly a frosting recipe from there too. All I really remember about these is that I baked half of an oreo into the base of each cupcake to add an extra something.


Those are all the photos I have; whew! It feels good to finally update again. I promise not to go another four months before updating again; I don't think I could handle another long post like this! So, my next order of business is to spiff up the look of the blog a little bit... that might take another four months, on the other hand!