Beware of the caramel sauce
+ Tahini chocolate chip cookies, a somewhat unusual bolognese, marinated peppers, and pretty pink raspberry cupcakes
Welcome to Let’s Get Lost! I’m Rebecca, a recipe developer, food photographer, passionate people watcher, and chaser of new experiences. You might know me from my recipe websites, Of Batter and Dough and A Little and A Lot.
My husband and I are nomads without a home base but with many modes of transportation, namely an RV, a motorcycle, and a sailboat. I write recipes and stories for curious people who believe experiences are more important than things and who want more adventure.
Get every issue and recipe directly on rebeccablackwell.com.
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Last month, Steve and I went to Paris with two of our favorite people, all of us there for the first time.
As you are supposed to do in Paris, we ate.
We sat at cafe tables, chairs facing out towards the street, perfectly positioned for people watching while nibbling on pastries. We ate bread and cheese in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.
One night, we got dressed up and splurged on a fancy dinner at a fine dining restaurant to celebrate my friend Charlene’s birthday (pictured above, holding Parisian picnic essentials).
After a delicious meal, we topped the night off with bowls of chocolate mousse and warm chocolate chip cookies topped with ice cream.
And as we dug in, we noticed something unusual... it all tasted of sesame. Or maybe soy sauce? We weren’t exactly sure, but what we did know is that our desserts were laced with a peculiar savory Asian flavor.
We asked our server about it... Is there soy or sesame in our desserts? No, he reassured us. No soy. No sesame. Just chocolate mousse and chocolate chip cookies with caramel sauce.
Are you certain? we asked.
Absolutely! he replied.
Conspiratorially, I whispered to our table that obviously our server didn’t know what he was talking about because there was absolutely sesame in there. And maybe soy sauce.
Suddenly my husband exclaimed: “It’s the caramel sauce!” We dipped our fingers into the caramel sauce on the edge of his plate to discover that it was, in fact... sesame dressing. Like the kind of sesame dressing you’d drizzle over salad or roasted veggies.
Like... not caramel sauce.
We called our server back over. After listening to our assessment, he turned to the open-concept kitchen (which was right next to our table) and asked a question, in French of course. The young pastry chef picked up the bottle of caramel sauce and gave it a shake. We watched the horrified expression on her face as she realized what we already knew: the caramel sauce was not caramel sauce.
The entire kitchen erupted in laughter as she rushed to our table to apologize. But you know what? It kind of worked.
I mean… not quite. But almost.
Sesame and chocolate are a delightful combination and while I would never suggest that you start dipping your chocolate chip cookies in sesame vinaigrette, a healthy dose of tahini is a different story.
So that’s what we have here, my friends: Gooey, chewy, soft-in-the-middle cookies studded with melty chocolate and infused with the warm, nutty flavor of ground sesame seeds. Think of these as the more sophisticated version of chocolate chip peanut butter cookies with creamy ground sesame seeds stepping in for peanuts.
I knew I was going to create this recipe the moment we walked out of the restaurant onto the streets of Paris if only for the excuse to tell you this story. But can I just say that good stories and warm tahini flavored chocolate chip cookies are an exceptional combination. Just save the dressing for your salad.
Small luxuries
Some of my favorite things.
I am a notorious over-packer. You might think that I’d be great at it since I live in a tiny home with wheels with a very small closet. But no.
Perhaps taking my entire home with me everywhere has confounded my ability to pack light. I don’t know. I like to be prepared for every situation and don’t know how to do that without packing entirely too much stuff.
Regardless, I was determined to do a better job of packing light on my recent trip to Europe.
I thought that a “capsule wardrobe” approach was probably the way to go but had no idea how to create such a thing. So, I did some googling and learned that the whole idea of a capsule wardrobe is something that I’ve kind of been doing already, just not very well.
As you might imagine, my closet space is small. This doesn’t bother me because I’m really only interested in wearing the same 5 things over and over and over again. The 5 things are somewhat threadbare, not particularly put together, but they ARE comfortable and, honestly, that’s the most important thing to me these days.
But still, I wanted to up my game for our trip (we were going to Paris for goodness sake), so I started plotting my packing choices early.
The idea of a capsule wardrobe is simple:
Some basic bottoms and tops and maybe a jacket or two.
Everything goes with everything.
Got it.
Because I don’t like to shop, I stuck to ordering clothing from the two places where I know exactly what size to order and there is a reasonable expectation that if I stick to that size it will fit: Loft and Quince. This strategy worked reasonably well and I managed to create a small collection that fit in a small-ish suitcase AND lasted me through 2 weeks in Europe.
Here’s the gist of what was in there:
5 pairs of pants: blue jeans, ivory jeans, olive cargo pants, Loft Petite Parker Straight Pants in Black and Brown
Quince ultra stretch ponte pencil skirt (mygod I love this skirt so much!)
3 Quince poplin long sleeve button-down shirts: The same shirt in 3 different colors - white, black, and blue striped. (Because when you find something you like, get it in every color.)
2 Quince washable stretch silk blouses: the same blouse in 2 different colors - navy and black (I know the model is wearing white in the photo but I cannot be trusted to wear white silk. It would be stained in about 5 minutes.)
1 Quince cashmere sweater in black (Soft and cozy and not too warm. Good for layering.)
3 jackets: Loft herringbone relaxed blazer, a basic jean jacket, and a rain jacket
2 black t-shirts: one long sleeve and one short sleeve
A pair of white converse chucks, sandals, and a very comfy pair of low black heels that I’ve had for at least a decade.
A new suitcase, also from Quince.
The whole system worked better than I thought it would but my absolute favorite pieces are those cargo barrel pants (I’ve basically been wearing them every day), that stretchy black pencil skirt (SO comfortable) and the three very basic button down shirts.
And now I’m thinking about how to revamp my normal summer wardrobe around the same concept because the beauty of a capsule wardrobe is you don’t really have to think about what goes with what and I LOVE that.
Who among you does this capsule wardrobe thing? I’m hooked but a little bit stumped on summer… I mean t-shirts and linen pants, obviously. But, what else? Leave a comment with your recommendations of things that are not pricey, not high maintenance, and easy to care for. Also, everything must be able to be worn on a sailboat.
Yes, I know. I’m high maintenance about my low maintenance requests. We are who we are.
This week’s menu
Pasta bolognese, Salad with marinated peppers, Raspberry cupcakes
Pasta Bolognese
Bowls of pasta covered in bolognese sauce were not in the meal plan for this week and yet, there’s a container of leftover sauce in my refrigerator at this very moment.
In this week’s Mastermind for Food Writers meeting I mentioned that my Bolognese sauce is a blasphemous interpretation with red wine, bacon instead of pancetta, and no milk.
When the meeting was over I could not shake the craving and honestly, why should I even try? One of life’s greatest joys is the good fortune to discover that you have the ingredients in your kitchen for exactly the thing you’re craving AND the time to make it. Kismet.
And by the way, blasphemy is delicious.
Marinated Peppers
If you have some marinated peppers in the fridge and any kind of greens, you have a salad. Use a drizzle of the marinade as the dressing, and then top the salad with a few shavings of pecorino, romano, or parmesan cheese. And maybe the crunch of ground roasted almonds. YUM!
Raspberry Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Buttercream
Honestly, my biggest challenge with this recipe was the raspberries. I tried several variations using whole fresh or frozen raspberries folded into the batter and no matter what I did the berries seemed to weigh down the texture of the cake creating a slightly heavy cobbler-like texture.
This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, a rich cobbler-like texture is exactly what I was going for when I created this buttery crumb-topped raspberry bread recipe. But I wanted these cupcakes to have a light, fluffy, and delicate texture.
The trick was to chop frozen raspberries into tiny pieces and then fold the frozen pieces into the batter right before baking. This allowed me to evenly distribute the raspberries throughout the batter and the tiny pieces of chopped berries did not interfere with the light and fluffy texture of the cake. 👏
Links you might like
Really good reads:
My daughter Kate got me Witchcraft for Wayward Girls as a birthday gift and it’s honestly one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s in the horror category, which is not my favorite genre (risky choice, Kate). Had it not been given to me as a gift, I wouldn’t have given it a second glance, and that would have been SUCH A SHAME because it’s so, so good. 5 stars, highly recommend, even if you don’t like horror.
Will This Make You Happy by Tanya Bush is my latest cookbook obsession. It’s come up in conversation several times this week and it occurs to me that I haven’t yet shared it with you. A gross misstep that I am correcting now.
What I Learned Selling Fireworks in Rural Texas and What I Heard When My Mother Was Dying by Kelsey Erin Shipman: If we (humans) decide to save ourselves instead of the alternative, it will be because we tell the truth like Kelsey manages to do every single time she presses “publish”.
Sumac is one of my favorite things but I’ve never once thought to add it to cake… unlike Sophia Real | Real Simple Food who published a recipe this week for Sumac Drizzle Loaf Cake that has just moved it’s way up my must-bake list.
My friend Kerry Faber tells a story about me and one of the worst (and most hilarious) comments I ever received on a recipe, “Rebecca is a liar and cannot bake.” True story. And also, she makes some really great points about why the comment section might be the most valuable part of a recipe.
If you’re a food writer:
Please join us over on Mastermind for Food Writers where you’ll find a ton of education, connection, and resources, for food writers by food writers.
Check out the line up of free classes and in-depth workshops in The Food Writers Business Lab, an online learning hub created specifically for food writers who want practical, affordable support for growing their businesses and expanding their reach.
Liza Debevec and I had a Substack LIVE conversation this week about how to create a Values-Led Brand. Amongst other things, we talked about the difference between values and virtue and how showing up as you are is the key to creating a business that’s sustainable.
The Lost Supper Club
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That cupcake photo is just perfect!!
Love that your sesame mishap in Paris inspired a new recipe! My kids and I adore tahini in chocolate chip cookies (since my son got home from college, I’ve made two different versions already in less than 2 weeks!). I’m very excited to try yours next!