Daily ritual for me includes at least eight hours of sleep and several cups of the most perfect tea from Harney & Sons — Green Tea with Thai Flavors, also called Bangkok. A family owned business for three generations, Harney & Sons blends the most exquisite teas and creates quite gorgeous packaging as well. If you find yourself in Soho this summer check out their tasting room for some of the best tea in the city and far, far beyond.
Harney & Sons, 433 Broome Street, New York City, www.harney.com
We have just made our summer travel plans to Maine which now always include dinner at one of our favorite restaurants — Petite Jacqueline in Portland. Named after owner Michelle Corry’s grandmother, Petite Jacqueline is my kind of perfect. The casual, light-filled space seems always lively, the carafe wine is exactly right and the food is outstanding. In fact, I have had the best escargots of my life at Petite Jacqueline. Not in Paris, but in Portland. I so wish this was my neighborhood bistro and, the truth is, I think about it all year long. If you find yourself in the great city of Portland, you must give a try.
www.bistropj.com
I finally picked up a copy of How To Boil An Egg, Rose Carrarini’s newest cookbook just published in February! I love Rose Bakery in Paris and I love her first book, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea. How To Boil An Egg too has that simple, stylish design and is full of gorgeous recipes and exudes the freshness and particular sensibility that is Rose Bakery. And instead of photographs, this cookbook is illustrated with original paintings by botanical artist Fiona Strickland. Check out this lovely video about this lovely book.
How To Boil An Egg by Rose Carrarini (Phaidon, 2013)
We were down at Battery Park all day on Monday — arguably the most beautiful spring day we have had yet — working on the Soho Rep Spring Gala. Adjacent to the event venue is the Battery Urban Farm, a very cool and very magnificent one acre community garden. Shaped like a turkey (a nod to Zelda who has called Battery Park home for the last decade) it is surrounded by a tremendous bamboo fence designed by Scott Dougan who also conceived and created the farm itself. Best of all, the bamboo poles were donated by artists Doug and Mike Starn and repurposed from their 2010 installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden: Big Bambú. In their second growing season last year, Battery Urban Farm educated over 600 volunteers and 1,800 students from 30 schools on sustainable and organic farming, more than doubling their outreach from the first season, and supplied produce to 2 downtown public school cafeterias. And they continue to grow!
A great Earth Day celebration is planned at the Battery Urban Farm next Saturday, April 20 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Check out their website for more information about the farm and ways to get involved: http://www.thebattery.org/projects/battery-urban-farm/
A few years back, just about this time in the deep of winter, I received as a birthday gift Stéphane Reynaud’s French Feasts. It was love at first sight. I will admit that I love all things French. And, I have a particular weakness for great design, heavy paper, beautiful photographs of food, charming illustrations, simple recipes using minimal ingredients, and the importance of knowing where and from whom your food comes. This collection of 299 traditional recipes continues to surprise and delight. I have only scratched the surface here because I just can’t stop going back to my favorites which include moules marinières, tarte aux oignons and crème brûlée, among many delicious others — not a bad thing, of course.
French Feasts by Stéphane Reynaud (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009)
On a recent venue scouting trip on the lower east side, we happily found ourselves stepping inside Doughnut Plant. If you haven’t been we suggest moving this to the top of your ‘MUST DO LIST’! To call these tasties just a ‘doughnut’ would be doing a great disservice- this is breakfast reinvented! Starting with the top right photo we sampled: Pistachio, Hazelnut, Tres Leches, Creme Brulee and the Vanilla Bean & Blackberry Jam. They were all divine, but our hearts belong to the Tres Leches perfection each and every time. www.doughnutplant.com
DO YOU HAVE A SINGLE FAVORITE CAKE THAT YOU HAVE CREATED TO DATE OR IS THAT CLASSIFIED INFORMATION?
I would have to say the Honeycomb cake we did for the NY Magazine Spring/Summer ’12 issue, it was to use the “ombre” theme and create a cake. It’s a very graphic and modern cake but had really soft and beautiful groupings of white and yellow flowers. My husband jokes that it’s a blend of my interior design/architecture background and cake design…he thinks the hexagon pattern looks like floor tile.
WHAT IS THE BEST BUSINESS ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN AND WHAT IS THE BEST BAKING ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
The best business advice I was given when I first started in interiors and architecture is that everything you send out the door and every conversation you have is a representation of your company/brand, meaning stop and review and pay attention to the details. The best baking advice I’ve been given is when you are starting out, say yes to everything you can and then work your tail off. Nothing wins the heart of a client more than being able to take on a last minute order for them in an emergency.
IF YOU COULD BAKE A CAKE FOR ANYONE — IN PRESENT DAY OR THROUGHOUT HISTORY, REAL LIFE OR FICTIONAL — WHO WOULD IT BE, FOR WHAT OCCASION AND WHAT TYPE OF CAKE?
It would be for Forrest Church, who sadly passed away the fall of 2009. I only knew him through being a member of his congregation at All Souls and through his books. The occasion would be a long lunch to chat, share ideas and thank him for his inspiration and courage. It would be the dark chocolate cake with the triberry compote filling served with a bit of vanilla ice cream and a great cup of coffee. In the mantra of Forrest, do what you can, want what you have and be who you are.
WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY?Having a dance party with my twin nieces.
COMB OR BRUSH?
Neither. The curse of having very curly hair as a child made me dislike brushes and combs.
DO YOU LIKE YOUR NAME?
Yes. My last name is fairly unique and there weren’t too many Lauren’s. I’m getting used to the new addition to my last name…White.
FINISH THIS SENTENCE: MY AGE IS…………….32.
WHAT’S FOR DINNER TONIGHT?
Appetizers, we’re heading to a friend’s “Stock the Office” party for his newly launched interior design firm, hopefully there might be a late dinner afterwards!
We here at THE BATON are avid collectors of vintage books. My favorite are vintage travel guides. Not limited at all to your standard Blue Guide or Fodor’s, titles in my growing collection include Paris is a Woman’s Town(1929) and Where Paris Dines (1929). I have found these books to be not only relevant historical documents of a city and its culture at the very moment they were written and published — a true representation of the zeitgeist — but also just really great reads.
In Where Paris Dines, Julian Street wittily described Le Select in Montparnasse as follows: “Of the four large cafés on the block this one is perhaps the sanest, though I did encounter there one evening an astrologer girl from Nebraska who was busy being a bohemian. Those things are, however, bound to happen, and I know, on the other hand, that the Select has among its patrons some painters who can really paint. Like its neighbors, this café has an American bar and serves cold suppers, Welsh rarebit, cheese fondue and special dishes. It is a pleasant place, not so exciting as the jazzed-up Coupole, across the way, but with better service and a more friendly air. An advertisement tells me it is open all night. I suppose the others are, too, but I never sat up to find out.” LOVE IT.
There is no food more photographed in my family than Gramma’s Rum Cake. Every birthday, holiday and get together it appears on the table. A perfect balance of flavors that starts with a generous topping of walnuts, a moist cake in the middle and ends with a rum soaked bottom. This tasty bite pairs as nicely with a cup of coffee as with a flute of champagne.
In all of our freezers you can find the cakes packaged in unassuming aluminum foil with a sharpie written note on the outside; nuts, extra nuts and no nuts. My cakes all say ‘for my #1’. Those lucky enough to have tasted this bit of heaven have begged for the recipe.
I suspect the special ingredient is 87 years worth of love.
We had the pleasure to meet Deb Perelman at her book signing on Tuesday night. She was just as warm as we imagined she would be from reading her blog. Her new cookbook is a collection of all the delicious creations for all of us obsessive home cooks! The Smitten Kitchen, in Deb’s words, is a place where you’ll see a lot of comfort foods and lovely side dishes that take less than five minutes to make. We have images of the Pear-Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble dancing in our heads! www.smittenkitchen.com
