Make each day special - start with the BREAKFAST

Breakfast is and will always be my favorite meal of the day. I absolutely love to wake up early, very early...as maybe 6 or 7 am, and cook a scrumptious breakfast, so that I feel like my day will be great, even amazing, because my happiness level is high from very early moments of the day, and hence will attract only ..positive vibes around, doesn't sound good ?yes it does !!!

The perfect eclair

The eclairs are one of the most classic and representative french desserts. There are so many recipes for, and each of them seems perfect until the next one.

Discovering Frangipane

I have spent one month in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The place has many bakeries and cafes, therefore I used the time I had to explore, test and inspire myself with the baked goods in Asia.

We found one particular bakery, a very simple one, run by a Japanese family and selling only french pastries (called Viennoiseries). I am a huge fan of french pastries, and in this way I have fully enjoyed the existence of this place in Chiang Mai. I invested my money into their products, and it was all worth it. Especially because I discovered the special filling called : Frangipane. I never knew about it, and since the lady from the bakery could not tell me the name, I had to research the internet for many days, looking thru hundreds of pictures and recipes  trying to find something similar. And there it was...I found it in the recipe of Gallete de Rois or King's cake.

Frangipane is an almond based filling, used for different cakes and pastries. It is normally made from sugar, butter, eggs and ground almonds. Of course you can make some varieties and instead of the ground almonds you can use ground hazelnuts or pistachios. You can add vanilla essence to it, or rum or any other essence which you feel like using. Be creative :)

I am truly happy to have discovered the secret to the delicious pastry I was having nearly every morning, and I will create it myself and make it available on the cake market stall. Oh, and I have just received yesterday and email from the big department of food safety with a HUGE list of laws and instructions on how to set up my home based cooking business...yupi !! lucky me :)) Now I have something to read :)

P.S. The picture is courtesy to http://www.jeveuxlarecette.fr

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Well I do. And this is how the story of the Chouquettes starts.

I went once to Paris, during Christmas time. And Paris is cold and humid in winter, and the first morning I arrived to Paris I went with my friend for a small walk around the Notre Dame. The first thing to do before you start your walk, he told me, is to enter a boulangerie and get yourself a bag of chouguettes.It makes you forget about the cold and simply get to understand why Parisians need to have a boulangerie around every corner.

And so I did. I entered the boulangerie and got myself a bag of this fabulous little angels. It was love at first ..bite. They are the perfect treat for a sight seeing day, you munch on them so easily and with every bite you get to see more and more of the beautiful architecture.

They do not exist in Prague, and it is one of those things that I really think people should just be able to get anywhere. A bag of chouquettes on your way to work, while walking in the park, on the train ride to visit your family. It is just the perfect combination of small, sweet and soft.

The chouquettes were one of the first products I have been set of making from the begining of my decision to make my own baking business.  So they will become available in Prague, once I am all set and business has started. I just have to figure out how to produce them in a bigger quantity, because once you have tasted them...you will want more :)