Odd things have been afoot in my kitchen.
Over the past two weeks, while my Lover was in town, I changed beyond all recognition. First, I started cooking proper meals (on the nights when Lover didn’t cook for me, I hasten to add, although I never managed to persuade him to cook only wearing an apron, despite much pleading), as opposed to scoffing Tadpole’s spurned fish fingers and sweetcorn, followed by a few crisps or other unhealthy snacks, and washed down with a glass of wine in front of the computer, which is what my diet habitually consists of.
Mr Frog and I didn’t tend to eat together, so I had abandoned my non-wifely kitchen duties long, long ago. Largely because I ate hours earlier, unable to stave off the hunger pangs until he arrived home from work around 10 pm.
But, not only did I cook proper dinners for the past fortnight, but I also found myself baking. Custart tart. Scones. A rather tasty quiche. Carrot cake with cream cheese topping. All very English. In keeping with the extraordinary volume of tea which I was drinking.
Now, I’ve always been a firm believer in the old adage that the surest route to a man’s heart is through his trousers, and emphatically not via his stomach, so I simply don’t know where all of this domestic goddesshood has welled up from.
The bakefest will have to cease, as my waistline is already suffering, but before I turn the page on this worrying episode, I just wanted to share the fruits of my labour with the internet.
I made shortbread biscuits, in honour of Tadpole’s return. We decorated them together.
Do be careful not to drool on your keyboards.
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petite anglaise 
And all this time I just thought it was your brilliance and appearence that made you so fabulous – now we see it’s your oven work as well.
Looks good.
Comment by joeinvegas — August 9, 2005 @ 9:46 pm
Too awesome, Petite! Scones sound delicious right about now.
Comment by ludivine — August 9, 2005 @ 9:52 pm
Soooo cute….
Comment by Anne — August 9, 2005 @ 10:03 pm
Nice work!
Comment by yayaempress — August 9, 2005 @ 10:16 pm
If you’d like to keep baking, I’m sure you can set up a little Internet business and sell the proceeds to your faithful readers. Though I suppose that the cost of overnight shipping to the U.S. would be rather prohibitive.
Comment by Bluegrass Mama — August 9, 2005 @ 10:17 pm
they look adorable and yummy… well done you!! love brings out strange things in you.. enjoy it!
Comment by trine — August 9, 2005 @ 11:00 pm
Yum. Do you ship? ;)
And the baking thing… I’d say that has to do with a subliminal (or not) desire to make a home with the Lover.
Comment by theinsider — August 9, 2005 @ 11:11 pm
Adorable!
Comment by Sarah — August 9, 2005 @ 11:13 pm
Love at its finest.
Comment by Cellounge Admin — August 9, 2005 @ 11:22 pm
*pets keyboard* I do not doubt that those are awesome. I still am dreaming about the savory quiche you made for the blogger picnic.
Comment by Coquette — August 9, 2005 @ 11:44 pm
Being in love can do that to a person. :-)
Fabulous cookies/biscuits.
Comment by christina — August 10, 2005 @ 12:30 am
thanks so much! now I have to rush next door to the cafe and buy a chocky bikkie! or two!
They do look cute though :) … were you a baker in a past life ie before Frog? I often head into baking when content ….
Comment by Miss Lisa — August 10, 2005 @ 1:13 am
BAGSIE THE SMILEY FACE!
Comment by Mr. Andrew — August 10, 2005 @ 2:03 am
Kawaaiii seriously, you have to teach me how you do that…
Comment by Miss Pink — August 10, 2005 @ 3:30 am
Yeah, being in love does do that to you. You’re cookies (biscuits) look delicious!
::drool::
Comment by juliana — August 10, 2005 @ 4:25 am
The cookies look amazing!
I used to be very proud of all the various dishes I could produce using chicken; that is, until my fiance stated that if I fed him chicken one more time, he’d fly off to the nearest barn and yell “cockadoodledoo”…
Comment by Alex — August 10, 2005 @ 7:40 am
Eating with your loved one is one of the most important things, I’m so pleased you’re able to do that again. And I bet Tadpole loved her cookies, kids adore that sort of thing. (flashbacks to my niece covered from head to toe in flour, but with a big smile on her face)
Comment by Claypot — August 10, 2005 @ 7:51 am
shortbread! why do i always follow the rules and wait till christmas to make these? that’s why i like visiting here – you’re always having fun and breaking rules!
Comment by jan — August 10, 2005 @ 9:12 am
Speaking as a man…..no I won’t go there, but the biscuits look yummy, I suspect they are already gone, otherwise I might be tempted to ask for a postal delivery of a few.
It’s nice to see that you are enjoying life.
Comment by Alan — August 10, 2005 @ 9:22 am
I can remember that when I first met my boyfriend, we’d spend many evenings curled up in front of the telly after having eaten a fine meal, over which I had slaved for hours.
‘You know that they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach?’ he asked me once. ‘Well it’s true’, he said.
Seven years and twice as many pounds gained later, we no longer bond over delicious meals but concern over calorie counting and carb intake. Sigh.
Comment by stressqueen — August 10, 2005 @ 10:56 am
Yeah, Top Bloke put on ten pounds in our first six months together. I’m inclined to think that food is the music of love, rather than the other way around.
Comment by Zinnia Cyclamen — August 10, 2005 @ 11:33 am
You had me at “spurned fish fingers”…
Comment by Huw — August 10, 2005 @ 11:42 am
Will you share your recipe for the carrot cake with topping with us ?
Comment by Jany — August 10, 2005 @ 12:33 pm
Oh,yes! Please share some of your recipes. I would like the quiche recipe and the one for biscuits and scones, too.
Elle
Comment by Elle — August 10, 2005 @ 12:42 pm
Sounds good.
Any suggestions for making tea taste like it should over here? No matter how good the tea, I find that French milk (fresh, or worse, UHT) just kills it. Or maybe it’s the water.
Call me obsessed if you want…
Comment by Teebee — August 10, 2005 @ 1:31 pm
A teaching friend gave Anglophone recipes to her kids at school to make for their end of term party in their English class – one French Mum refused to make carrot cake saying that it was an insult to the carrots and to what a cake should be! But mmm carrot cake and philidelphia topping .. off to find my English recipe book right this moment!
Comment by Loopy — August 10, 2005 @ 2:34 pm
:) I do the whole baking thing too, but so far I haven’t managed to find an appreciative man – they’ve all turned out to prefer savoury food and so the baked stuff ends up being eaten by my (very appreciative) brother. ho hum.
Comment by hannahish — August 10, 2005 @ 3:26 pm
Those biscuits look great – I’ve done the biscuit decorating thing with a friends toddler – much mess and much giggling.
Might have to make some brownies now…….
Comment by birdy — August 10, 2005 @ 6:17 pm
All this baking is ‘nesting’, it happens when you’re happy and content. It happened to me and I am still trying to flush it out of me with copious amounts of wine… Embrace it, I’m sure there will be times you wish you got any joy from cooking!!
Amy
Comment by Amy — August 10, 2005 @ 6:21 pm
Petite, aren’t you afraid of Nardac’s wrath about you becoming a housewife ? ;)
Hey when I had the privilege of dropping by your place, all I got was a beer ? Oh well, that was nice anyway :)
Comment by schuey — August 10, 2005 @ 7:21 pm
Bring it on nardac!
However I do draw the line at sharing recipes on the internet. This is NOT a cooking blog.
Comment by petite — August 10, 2005 @ 8:05 pm
Trousers over stomach any day!
Hang on – that was in no way supposed to suggest that trousers should be worn in a M&S ‘Classic Collection’ style but I do think Mr Prawn would agree with you!
Just wondering if I could make any cash from flogging your carrot cake recipe – I’ve still got it scribbled in an old school text book and have extremely fond memories of the ‘topping’ never reaching the ‘top’ … a very sophisticated carrot cake finger buffet in a spaghetti-clad kitchen!
Comment by prawn cocktail crisps — August 11, 2005 @ 12:23 am
I think the domestic goddess is a recessive gene in me. When I find myself nesting, I usually stop right in the middle of vacuuming or cooking or rearraging to look around and say to myself,”I feel weird.” I think everyone goes through a phase like that. It usually happens when you are happy. I dated a man recently who had two kids and when we would go to the grocery store people would look at all of us and smile like we were a family. It was a strange feeling, but I liked that warm feeling of belonging while it lasted.
I’m drooling over those biscuits, by the way.
Comment by Taarna — August 11, 2005 @ 7:20 am
Many years ago when my best friend got married, I was surprised to see a sign arrive in their kitchen:-
Kissing Don’t Last, Cooking Do.
They are still married 30 years on. I am not, so perhaps there is something in it.
Comment by Keith — August 11, 2005 @ 8:45 am
OK! I’d like you to become a domestic goddess à la Nigella Lawson, that way I’d have extra reasons to pop over for high tea… though it’s hard to imagine you in a pink polka-dotted 50s housewife dress. Being Miss Fancypants in the kitchen is probably as close as I’ll come to a real dayjob so I have no idea what Schuey is on…
Comment by nardac — August 11, 2005 @ 10:33 am
It’s natural roles taking over… the female urge to keep her man healthy and always ready for action! :)
Teebee – have same problem with tea here. What do they do to the teabags? One of the most annoying things in France: buying a box of 50 teabags and *they’re all in little weeny paper sachets*. What a waste of natural resources. And the milk? They don’t know what real milk from a real cow tastes like anymore…
Comment by Lucy-Jane in Rennes — August 11, 2005 @ 11:18 am
Lucy Jane,
Here in in the Vienne at Super U, I can get the horrible homgenised emulsion they call fresh milk in the UK, and also fresh TT tested unpasturised full cream milk like I remember as a kid. The cream rises to the top ready for the corn flakes!! Can’t get that in the UK any more as far as I know. Makes a great cup of tea with Super U English Breakfast T bags.
Comment by Keith — August 11, 2005 @ 12:29 pm
Can’t get real milk in UK? I’ve been away too long…
Comment by Lucy-Jane in Rennes — August 11, 2005 @ 1:27 pm
Lucy-Jane. No excuse. Behind the France Telecom/La Poste building in Rennes, you will find a row of shops including a Turkish one and, more pertinently, an Indian one, called – pertinently – India Shop. This sells PG Tips pyramid tea bags in quantities up to and including 240. For 12 euros if memory serves. Nowt wrong with *my* tea! They also sell ginger beer (a first for me over here), which you can combine with Roses’ Lime Juice cordial from the Comptoir Irlandais on rue de Dinan and vodka from any good alcoholery for a Moscow Mule. This will relieve you of the cares of unavailable “proper” milk. Which – incidentally – you can get in the Bio aisle at Géant. Or at the Marché des Lices, where they even sell (no, really) DOUBLE CREAM.
Anyway, must go and exercise. Trousers seem a little tight just now…
Comment by Jim in Rennes — August 11, 2005 @ 2:03 pm
Hmmm, yes. The best milk I have found in Paris so far is Monoprix “gourmet” filtered milk. Not quite Cravendale, but it comes close! Doesn’t last as long in the fridge though.
Milk-related joke from Red Dwarf (the book):
Q: What’s the longest-lasting milk you can get?
A: Dog’s milk.
Q: How come?
A: Cos no bugger’ll drink it.
Comment by Teebee — August 12, 2005 @ 3:33 pm
We always made tea with bottled (still!!)water in Paris. Extravagant? well husband likes his tea too much to use Paris tap water…
Comment by Joy — August 12, 2005 @ 5:31 pm