Ann Mah's newsletter / May 2020
May 2020 newsletter
Hello
My 6 year old and I enjoy baking together, but we've started making half batches of recipes to save on ingredients (and so that we don't have massive amounts of sweets around all the time). I made a half chocolate birthday cake that was the perfect size, and last week we tried a batch of chocolate chip cookies made from my secret family recipe (the one on the back of the Toll House chips bag). To my shock, the first batch turned out horribly – hard, thin disks that stuck to our teeth like sugary chocolate chip toffee. It took me a while to figure out what had gone wrong: I had halved all the ingredients EXCEPT the sugar. In the end, I managed to salvage the dough by adding the full amounts of butter and flour – so much for my frugal baking!
Here's what else I've been up to...
What I've been eating
–I hosted a gougère cheese puff bake-along on Instagram Live and it was so much fun to bake together! A lot of people sent me notes to say they really felt a sense of community and I couldn't agree more. If you were able to join, thank you for coming and for all your questions. If you missed the event, you can find my gougère recipe here. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to archive the live video to my profile, but perhaps we'll do another one soon. (And if there's a recipe you'd like to see me demonstrate, drop me an email and let me know!)
–If you're baking with sourdough, these buttery pull-apart buns from King Arthur's flour are a joy.
–I watched Mallika Basu's dal videos obsessively before creating a delicious pot of my own. Spooned over basmati rice, it's perfect comfort food.
–Tired of sandwiches? Try peanut butter with sriracha, pickles and soy sauce. (New York Times)
–Elizabeth Minchilli's torta rustica – a savory tart with ricotta – was the perfect way to clean the old vegges out of the fridge. I made my own pastry because homemade crust is life.
–Tonight I'm giving the viral NYT recipe "cheesy white bean-tomato bake" a whirl. But will my kid eat it? STAY TUNED.
What I've been reading
–I mentioned my friend Danielle's new book, The Ancestor, last month but I forgot to include a photo. And now that I've read it, I had to come back and gush about it – this is my favorite new novel of the season. Set in the icy beauty of the Italian Alps, this is a twisted fairy tale featuring a sharp, dry narrator named Alberta who unexpectedly inherits an enormous fortune and château. But along with her new wealth comes the ominous secrets of her previously estranged Montebianco family. It's Cinderella meets Bluebeard meets Mary Shelley, a dark story brilliantly imagined and filled with unexpected turns.
–Now I'm reading Love, Nina: A nanny writes home by Nina Stibbe – the letters of a young woman working as a nanny for a literary family in 1980s London. They're funny, biting, and a little bit profane. For some bizarre reason her descriptions of the horrible food they eat ("Florida coleslaw" – cabbage, tinned mandarin oranges, salad cream – cups of tea like steeped tree bark) has made me miss the UK very, very much.
–Celebrities are doing Zoom interviews from home, and their revealed bookshelves are being analyzed. This New York Times article is outrageously voyeuristic and I read every word.
– France Today and Taste of Toulouse rounded up their lists of France-themed books and I'm honored to be included.
–The ballet dancers of the Opéra Garnier are practicing at home and the video is breathtaking.
–I think of Paris every day. This is what it looks like now without people (New York Times).
*VIRTUAL EVENT!* I'll be interviewing author Aimee Agresti about her new novel, The Summer Set, next Saturday, May 16 at 6pm (EDT). The event is hosted by DC indie, Loyalty Books, and it's free and open to the public. Find out more details and/or RSVP here.
A bientôt
When we first entered confinement, I wasn't writing much because it seemed impossible. But I started doing a little every day, and though it's still impossible, I have to admit that there is pleasure in immersing myself in this other world of post-war Paris. This photo above shows what the buses used to look like, open in the back so people could hop on and off. And look at the grime on the buildings!
Thank you so much for reading – I'm grateful. Please take good care of yourselves. I'll see you next month –
XO,
Ann