Keeping with the bizarre Japanese theme of my life in Dijon I celebrated my birthday two weeks ago. I baked cookies in an attempt to bring the festivities to my French class. I may not want my classmates in my apartment but I still wanted them to feel a bit of the fun. Double chocolate chunk cookies were the only option. I first made them when Leslie visited back in October. They are adapted from a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa for White Chocolate Chunk cookies. I don’t know a single person who will admit to enjoying white chocolate. Leslie and I made the cookies with milk chocolate, 90% cacao dark chocolate and Van Houten Cacao powder. The recipe calls for a teaspoon of salt. I cut this down by a third. The dough is a thick, almost dry, delicacy. It was all we could do to get the cookies in the oven. The turned out perfectly round, slightly chewy, the sweetness cut by the salt. Perfect.
I repeated the process with Monica on the eve of my birthday. I didn’t have any light brown sugar and thus substituted with ¾ cup dark brown sugar and a ¼ of a cup granulated sugar. This gave the cookies a rich molasses flavor that I found more interesting and sophisticated than the first batch.
I didn’t have tin to transport them to school. I am so spoiled by my mother’s endless collection of everything tasteful and necessary. I had to make do with a Ferrigamo shoe box lined with tissue paper. The deep red color of the box was striking and, as the recipe makes a great deal of cookies, the size was appropriate. The cookies were a hit and the “at school” portion of my birthday went wonderfully. How very elementary school of me! I even wore a cable knit sweater and colored tights.
The Japanese element came into play that evening. I wanted to eat at a sushi restaurant near J.J. Rousseau since I first discovered it this summer. I finally made it on my birthday. I’m glad I waited. It was one of those times I have remind myself I am in Dijon. The last time I felt that way was this past summer. Jim and I gave Cote de Terrace a try. It was a then new restaurant in Place du Republic that was a bit too chic for Dijon. The ambiance is wonderful for a before dinner drink but the food was terrible. Successfully bringing big city décor to our small city didn’t pay off for our snobby bourgodian palates. Luckily Bento, the sushi restaurant, was a hit in both the color palate and flavor palate. The French do love their modern style notes. Modular lighting, gray, green and black accents, and Swedish tables work in Bento. I didn’t find it at all pretentious. Monica later reminded me that the bottle of champagne we imbued before going to dinner may have made everything sparkle. I’ll have to give it a second go.
I repeated the process with Monica on the eve of my birthday. I didn’t have any light brown sugar and thus substituted with ¾ cup dark brown sugar and a ¼ of a cup granulated sugar. This gave the cookies a rich molasses flavor that I found more interesting and sophisticated than the first batch.
I didn’t have tin to transport them to school. I am so spoiled by my mother’s endless collection of everything tasteful and necessary. I had to make do with a Ferrigamo shoe box lined with tissue paper. The deep red color of the box was striking and, as the recipe makes a great deal of cookies, the size was appropriate. The cookies were a hit and the “at school” portion of my birthday went wonderfully. How very elementary school of me! I even wore a cable knit sweater and colored tights.
The Japanese element came into play that evening. I wanted to eat at a sushi restaurant near J.J. Rousseau since I first discovered it this summer. I finally made it on my birthday. I’m glad I waited. It was one of those times I have remind myself I am in Dijon. The last time I felt that way was this past summer. Jim and I gave Cote de Terrace a try. It was a then new restaurant in Place du Republic that was a bit too chic for Dijon. The ambiance is wonderful for a before dinner drink but the food was terrible. Successfully bringing big city décor to our small city didn’t pay off for our snobby bourgodian palates. Luckily Bento, the sushi restaurant, was a hit in both the color palate and flavor palate. The French do love their modern style notes. Modular lighting, gray, green and black accents, and Swedish tables work in Bento. I didn’t find it at all pretentious. Monica later reminded me that the bottle of champagne we imbued before going to dinner may have made everything sparkle. I’ll have to give it a second go.
