A few of my favorite finds and reads for October:

~ Paris’ very first food coop needs your help.

~ Tempted by these coconut and potimarron squares.

~ Luisa featured my tomato mustard tart on The Wednesday Chef.

~ A behind-the-scenes look at Bones, one of my current favorite dining spots in Paris (see my post about it).

~ Medieval Paris, a before and after.

~ I was a guest on Adam Robert’s Clean Plate Club podcast.

~ Do you fantasize about writing your own French novel? Here’s a cover to get you started.

~ Using whey to extend the life of homemade condiments.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of C&Z, I am hosting 10 giveaways throughout the month of October. Keep checking back for chances to win wonderful products I’ve discovered and loved over the past decade!

Our ninth giveaway prize is the game-changing brownie pan from Baker’s Edge.

It is a high-quality nonstick pan with a maze-like pattern, designed to optimize the crust-to-center ratio so you will never again have to choose between a center brownie and an edge brownie.

The sidewalls also make for better heat distribution, which ensures a more even baking. This innovative pan was invented by Matthew Griffin, a passionate entrepreneur who first had this idea in the late 1990’s, and launched it in 2006 to high acclaim. (Read more about Matt’s story.)

I’ve been a happy user of the Edge Brownie Pan for years now*, and longtime readers of C&Z may remember I first featured it when I shared my recipe for pistachio pound cake back in 2006. Matt has since added more cool products to the Baker’s Edge range, including a Better Muffin Pan I’m excited to test-drive very soon.

For this giveaway, Matt is offering the combo pack that includes:
– a 9″ x 12″ x 2″ Edge Brownie Pan, entirely manufactured, packaged, and warehoused in the USA,
– a nylon spatula (wooden utensils may also be used),
– a snug cover for the brownie pan (see above),
– and a clever “Edge Wedge” that turns the pan into an 8″ x 8″ baking pan (see below).

To participate, leave a comment below (in English or in French) telling me about the best brownies you ever had, and what made them special — mine would have to be the Luxury Brownies and their intense chocolate flavor. And please consider following Baker’s Edge on Facebook and on Twitter!

You have until Monday, November 4, midnight Paris time to enter; I will then draw one entry randomly and announce it here. Matt has generously agreed to ship internationally, so you’re welcome to play regardless of your location; please make sure you enter your email address correctly so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck, and check back on Thursday for our very last giveaway!

WE GOT A WINNER!

I have drawn an entry at random using random.org (see screen capture below), and I am pleased to announce the winner is Margaret H., who wrote, “The best brownie in my memory will always be the first one I tried, from an old fashioned burger place called Fuddruckers, on a trip from Scotland (where I grew up) to America. I was only about 6 years old, and still remember it vividly. I’m sure it was enormous, dark, chocolatey, fudgy, squidgy in the middle and quite unlike anything I had ever tasted before.”

Congratulations Margaret, and thank you all for entering! It’s been gratifying and fascinating to hear about all of your favorites.

* Disclosure: Matthew Griffin sent me samples of his bakeware to try, with no obligation to write about them. All opinions expressed are my own.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of C&Z, I am hosting 10 giveaways throughout the month of October. Keep checking back for chances to win wonderful products I’ve discovered and loved over the past decade!

Our eighth giveaway prize is a gorgeous set of personalized illustrated stationery from Felix Doolittle, which also happens to be turning ten this year!

I have written about Felix Doolittle before, this small Massachusetts company that offers unique stationery, whimsically designed by Hong Kong-born artist Felix Fu. They use premium materials and print, cut, and package everything by hand. Theirs are stupendously well-made, high-quality items designed and sold with love, and a rare attention to detail.

For this giveaway, Loren Sklar of Felix Doolittle is offering a shockingly generous assortment (a $355 value) that includes :

– 2 sets of Personalized Recipe Cards (24 in each set, 48 total, 5 x 7″), along with a substitutions, conversions, and equivalents reference card
– 1 set of Chef Medallions (20 stickers, 1.25″ in diameter)
– 1 set of Oval Kitchen Labels (15 stickers, 2.3 x 3.3″)
– 1 set of Canning Labels (20 stickers, 2.03 x 2.85″)
– 1 very special set of not-yet-launched-to-the-public personalized bookplates for cookbooks called Culinary Arts Bookplates (2.75 x 4″, 2 each of 12 different illustrations)
– 1 set of personalized Note Cards (5 x 7″)

The winner will be able to choose the imagery from each category, except for the Recipe Cards and Culinary Arts Bookplates, which are a fixed set.

To participate, leave a comment below (in English or in French) telling me about the homemade food gift you best love to make. And please consider following Felix Doolittle on Facebook and on Twitter!

You have until Thursday, October 31, midnight Paris time to enter; I will then draw one entry randomly and announce it here. Loren has generously agreed to ship internationally, so you’re welcome to play regardless of your location; please make sure you enter your email address correctly so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck! And check back on Monday for a new giveaway.

WE GOT A WINNER!

I have drawn an entry at random using random.org (see screen capture below), and I am pleased to announce the winner is the Jackie who wrote, “I love making a food basket with homemade muffins, homemade toffee, cookies, with a bottle of wine and some other goodies I think they’ll like!”

Congratulations Jackie, and thank you all for entering with such inspiring edible gift ideas!

Lucy Baluteig-Gomes is the French designer behind Rose la Biche, a poetic line of handmade clothing that’s both easy to wear and one-of-a-kind — think petals cascading from collars, ruffled hoodies, and tulle neckpieces.

Lucy and I have known each other for years — we first met at a C&Z get-together in San Francisco in 2006 — and I have followed her adventures excitedly as she moved from San Francisco back to Paris, before relocating to Barcelona where she lives now. Lucy is a mother of two, and I am delighted to have her as my new guest on the Parents who Cook series.

Can you tell us a few words about your children? Ages, names, temperaments?

I have two kids: my son Oscar is 6 years old, and my daughter Brune is 3. While they have two very different personalities, they get along very well and are very protective one of another.

Oscar is sweet and sensitive, calm and responsible. He’s sociable and like to make people laugh. He cannot stand injustice. We like to joke that he’ll win the Nobel Prize for Peace one day.

Brune is a lively little girl, playful and full of energy, with a strong personality. She has quickly understood that a smile can get her almost anything she wants, and she uses this trick as much as she needs!

Did having a child change the way you cook?

Not really. Once the baby phase was over, I quickly made a point of cooking the same meal for the whole family. First because it’s more practical, but also because I cherish mealtimes very much — that’s my conservative side.

We talk about the meal, the vegetables or spices we’re eating, we comment on whether we like them or not, and then we chat about everyone’s day. I like that time when we’re all gathered around the table, and my husband and I try our best to make it happen on weekdays, even if it means eating late.

Plus, I come from the Southwest of France, a region where food is taken very seriously, and in my family, cooking is almost a religion. In the end, I might have slightly modified some of my recipes to make them more kid-friendly (like preparing fish into fishballs) or quicker (like a great 9-minute risotto in the pressure cooker). But all in all, I didn’t really change the way I cook.

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