Ann Arbor

Bell and clock tower at the University of Michigan

Random University of Michigan buildings

State and Michigan theatres

Around Ann Arbor

Drinks!

This past march I spent three weeks at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Very very unexpectedly the weather was really nice and warm and by the time I left the folders were blooming and it really felt like spring. Here are some pictures that I took while wondering around the city in those three weeks.

Boston

Boston!

Really good cupcakes at Sweet.

Shabu-shabu

Brunch at the Island Creek Oyster Bar

A few weeks ago I was in Boston. I hadn't been there in 10 years or so. I really enjoyed the city. Didn't really do much. Just walked around and tried not to get to wet (the weather is not great in March). As always food was one of the highlights of the trip. First we stumbled upon a cupcake bakery called Sweet. The red velvet cupcake was really really good, and it inspired me to bake cupcakes when I get back to Paris. Let's see if they will be as good...

Then we had dinner in Chinatown at a hotpot restaurant. Shabu-shabu is what the japanese call it, but I think this restaurant was more Taiwanese. Of the two broths that we tried I like the spicy one (can't remember what it was).

The last morning right before I went to take a plane for Ann Arbor, Michigan, we had brunch at the Island Creek Oyster Bar. Oh it was tasty. Started with some oysters and a Bloody Mary then I had the lobster omelette while PT had the crab cake with a poached egg. Accompanying this we had a honey lemon biscuit and a blueberry muffin. What can I say it was an excellent way to end a really nice weekend.

Baking experiment

It's been a long time since I posted something (I've been really busy with a new job). We receive a blender for Christmas, so the other day I decided to try out the blender not for smoothies but to make a cake mix! Feeling lazy and not really wanting to follow a recipe I made up the following:

To a blender the following ingredients were added and blended together:

1 banana (not really ripe)

5 tbsp of flower

5 tbsp of sugar

~ 50 g of room temperature butter

some milk (may a cup)

1 pack of instant baking yeast

After mixing all the ingredients the batter was poured into a cupcake mould and a madeleine mould and it was baked for approximately 20 minutes at 200 oC.

It was an interesting experiment. The final result was actually quite good. Next time I am going to use a banana that is a bit more ripe and add some vanilla.