As much as I love to cook, it is sometimes very nice to have your boyfriend say, on a lazy Sunday afternoon : “you know, I think I’d like to make dinner tonight”. Though usually more of a whip-it-up-by-instinct kind of cook, on this occasion he takes out the Japanese cookbook he bought in London, picks a recipe, makes a list, goes shopping, comes back and starts working.

Very much aware of my slight tendency to meddle, I steer clear from the kitchen as he cooks, comfortably cross-legged on the couch with my laptop, but oh-so-happy to offer advice when sollicited.

We invite our neighbor-friends over, and Maxence graces us with this perfect dish : beef strips in a ginger sake and soy marinade, stir-fried with cabbage, served on a bed of sticky rice. Everybody loves it, the meat is moist and infused with flavor, and the sauce is deliciously tasty over the rice and cabbage.

Maxence glows, and reflects that there is indeed something to be said for following recipes, every once in a while…

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[Chocolate and Orange Palm Leaf Cookies]

If you browse through the row of cookbooks lined up on top of our fridge, you might notice one, called “Moi, je cuisine solo ou duo” by Brigitte Namour. The title roughly means “I cook for one or two”, and this book is filled to the brim with quick and ingenious recipes, scaled for a couple of servings. Originally, I had bought it as a gift for my dear friend Marion, who’s an enthusiastic cook too. I borrowed it from her (after the minimum length of time that basic manners require) and found myself wanting to write down so many of the recipes, that it was just as simple to get my own copy. So I did, and have been thoroughly happy with it ever since.

One of the recipes I have made again and again from that book is a recipe for little savory palmiers. Palmier (pal-mee-ay) is the French word for a palm tree, but it is also the name of a large cookie commonly found in French bakeries, made with puff pastry and sprinkled with sugar. The puff pastry is rolled into two concentric circles from both sides, creating the special palmier shape I am hard-pressed to describe better than this. (Believe me, I tried.) I don’t buy palmiers very often, but now that I think about it I should, because they are a real treat : the layers of sugar on the top and the bottom are slightly caramelized, the outer rim of the dough is flaky and crisp, and the closer you bite into the center of each circle, the moister and chewier the dough gets. You can also find packages of those cookies in a mini version at grocery stores (by Lu or Belin for instance) and then they are called “Palmitos” and are crispier.

To tell you the truth, I don’t really see the connection between this shape and a palm tree. A little research revealed that this is quite the stealthy cookie, also going by the aliases of Palm Leaf, Elephant Ear, Butterfly and Angel’s Wing, which are cute enough though they don’t make much sense either. But hey, who am I to question the etymology of such a lovely confection?

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And here we are, back from a fabulous week-end in London! Our friends Zoe and Richard (wonderful and kind and funny and smart) had invited us to stay at their house in Lightwater (lovely and bright and cosy and welcoming). We spent two fun-filled days together, walking and shopping, talking and joking, eating and drinking, and just generally having a grand time. And! and! and! I got to meet a food blog friend in real life!

Here is an account, as food-focused as truly yours!

# of Restaurant meals eaten : 3
– At Felicitous in Notting Hill, a delightful picnic of antipasti and bagels in their tiny downstairs seating area (sprouted beans salad, marinated artichokes, roasted asparagus, smoked kalamata olives, herb sausages with relish).
– At The Red Fort in Soho, a hip yet delicious take on Indian food (venison in mango sauce, baby aubergines with coriander and tomato).
– At The Wolseley in Piccadilly, my first ever “high tea” (a feast of assorted finger sandwiches, fruit scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam, assorted pastries and a pot of Assam tea served with an tiny hourglass to time perfect infusion) in a beautiful and impressive 1920’s décor.

# of Cool bars visited : 2
– The Criterion (where they have awesome bottles of Pouilly Fumé)
– The American Bar at the Savoy (where they serve the world’s tiniest bottles of Diet Coke)

# of World’s tiniest bottles of Diet Coke brought back so my friends won’t think I’m making it up : 1

# of Delicious home made food items sampled : 5
– Zoe’s lasagna, the best I’ve ever had
– Zoe’s scrumptious puffed apple pancake
– Zoe’s family nut bread, one of the 14 loaves baked by Zoe and her grandmother for Christmas in Seattle
– Richard’s grandmother’s strawberry jam and orange ginger marmelade, made for her church fund raising

# of Recipes shared by Zoe the amazingly talented cook : 2
– Zoe’s best lasagna ever
– Zoe’s scrumptious puffed apple pancake

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This is a recipe I first made years ago for a Sunday afternoon tea with my parents and Maxence’s mother. I had clipped the recipe from the (now defunct) magazine Biba, and followed it pretty closely, apart from the glaze. The original recipe called for brushing the cookies with a beaten egg, and this sounded drab, so I used my mother’s perfect, sweet and tart lemon glaze instead.

The resulting cookie is crisp at the edges and a little crumbly in the center, with a nice lemon flavor made complex by the use of both juice and zest, and the hint of fleur de sel gives it a very nice tang.

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