April in Paris ~ The Darling Bakers and Foodie Friday ~

Welcome to The Darling Bakers "April in Paris" event, in honor of our Darling Baker,

Cathy from Wives with Knives

~ who will be leaving for Paris shortly!

AND FOODIE FRIDAY ~

Hosted by our Darling Baker, Michael Lee West, on her delightful blog Designs By Gollum!

(Please click on the link to see Michael's post and the other Foodie Friday participants.)

The Darling Bakers decided to have a French Bistro menu at my house ~ please pull up a chair and enjoy!

For starters, (store bought) Pâté.

Served with the traditional cornichon pickles, and toasted baguette slices.

Next an amuse-bouche; a highly flavored French Onion Soup.

Followed by a take on the traditional salad Salade Tiède aux Oeuf; comprised of frisée, a warm poached egg, lardons (crisp bacon), and toasted croutons.

Instead of serving the egg on the croutons, I sprinkled them over, and used baby Spring greens.

For color, some fresh pansies, violas and snipped chives from the garden.

And for dessert ~ Crêpes à l'orange.

For a snack later, with coffee ~ a GIANT Eiffel Tower cookie to share. I bought the copper cookie cutter from Sur la Table some years ago as a decorative piece for my kitchen, but this seemed like the perfect time to use it.

I would like to thank, Jain (Once in a Blue Moon) for hosting our event!

And I would also like to wish Cathy Bon Voyage, and a wonderful and enjoyable, long visit to the City of Lights!

And thank YOU so very much, for stopping by!

xo~m.

Fresh Strawberry Crêpes ~ Foodie Friday

One of my favorite treats when Strawberries come into the market!With a huge thank you going out to our host and creator of Foodie Friday Designs by GollumPlease click above to find links to all of this weeks participants, and check out Michael's SCRUMPTIOUS looking delicacies!~~~~~~~I love berries! Though the strawberries in my garden won't be ripe until summer; we've been able to get some surprisingly sweet strawberries from California lately.They can be filled with most any kind of cheese filling you like; ricotta, cottage cheese, or a cream cheese blintz-type filling (of course, if you use a blintz filling with raw eggs, you will want to bake the crepes to cook the eggs.Since I usually always have cottage cheese on hand, that is what I use. Simple and good!For the sauce I heat strawberry jam or preserves in a small saucepan, along with some sliced strawberries and a squeeze of lemon or orange, then boil slowly until the desired consistency is reached. I like to serve the hot sauce over the cool cheese crepes, but if hot filling is preferred the assembled, sauced crepes can be heated in the oven.The sliced fresh berries and sprinkled over, as generously as you like.A dollop of softly whipped, slightly sweeted cream is the finishing touch, along with a dusting of confectioner's sugar. Yum! One of the many reasons I like Spring. :)The recipe I frequently use for crêpes is one of Julia Child's, mixed in the blender,and can be found HERE, on my recipe blog. .