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asparagus cake
i recently watched whiplash and black swan. one is about andrew, a jazz drummer, and one is about nina, a ballerina. the movies are very similar; both are about dedicated artists driven to madness by their abusive mentors and their own ambitions to achieve greatness. i see myself in both characters, mainly through andrew’s desire to attain musical perfection…
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chocolate chip scones with devonshire cream
i wish we had tea in the u.s. i’m not talking about a cup of chamomile, i’m talking about afternoon tea. with crumpets and scones and cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off. our fast-paced culture lends itself to an on-the-go espresso much better than it does to a sit-down afternoon meal, but i think it’s something we should start doing. a…
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coffee religieuses
traditionally, religieuses are filled with crème pâtissière (pastry cream) and dipped in chocolate ganache. the chocolate coating is thought to resemble a nun’s habit, hence the name religieuse, which means nun in french. these look more like a courtesan au chocolat — a fictional pastry from mendl’s bakery in wes anderson’s the grand budapest hotel…
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red rose cake
i got accepted into the university of edinburgh! in scotland! yay! i’m so happy to have gotten into one of my top choice schools. my other top choices are tufts and northwestern, which i won’t hear from until april, so it will be a long time until i make a final decision. but i’d really love…
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otomi embroidery cake
scroll through the pictures again, but this time imagine that the frosting is stitched thread. it could totally pass for embroidery, right?! especially the bird with both of its wings spread (fourth from the top). otomi-style patterns come from the otomi people, who live in the sierra madre oriental mountains in hidalgo, mexico. the prints’ figures are said…
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sage derby orzotto
isn’t that cheese beautiful? i love the mottled green coloring. i think it looks like marbled granite. the cheese, sage derby, is semi-hard and has a mild sage flavor. it adds creaminess and depth to the dish. i created this at my friend margot’s house. we were too lazy to go out and buy proper…
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honeycomb cake
i’ve talked about having trypophobia before (the fear of clusters of holes), so this cake was the ultimate test. it was totally worth the struggle, though — i love how it turned out. the cake layers are my (award winning!) honey spice cake. instead of using boring old costco honey, i used wedderspoon‘s amazing manuka…
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death by pumpkin cake
i’ve had a taste aversion to cinnamon ever since i tried the cinnamon challenge at a middle school sleepover. would NOT recommend. i’m okay if there’s a pinch of it in my coffee, but any more than that makes me want to gag. every single component of this cake has cinnamon, so i haven’t tried it,…
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chocolate cake with rosemary caramel
i officially have The Best spice cake in north carolina! and the best sweet potato biscuits, too! i entered a bunch of different cakes and baked goods into the competition at the fair, and i won first place ribbons for both of those items. i also won second place for my white chocolate chip cookies and two…
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spicy breakfast pizza
i tried making cured egg yolks a few weeks ago. it’s a lengthy process; the yolks have to sit submerged in salt and sugar for four days, then once they’re firm and weird-smelling, they get rinsed off and baked for 2 hours. the end result has the appearance and texture of a dried apricot. they…
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LENA'S LUNCHBOX 