When I was nineteen I went to live in a Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico. As the monastery was semi cloistered each community member was assigned a task to do when they arrived to help maintain the monastery and partake…

                                Vegetable soup: One onion, two turnips, a bunch of carrots, two leeks, a few collard leaves, one potato, the heart of the celery, two cups of white wine (one to drink and one…

                Layers of sinful heaven, shared by two, taste better. What is your downfall? Photo: Trio of chocolate on a thin meringue crust, sits happily on a flow blue antique dessert plate.

                Walk to the Boulangerie Buy a freshly baked baguette… tear the end off, and eat it on the way home, save the rest for later. photo: Baguettes from around the corner.

                HOW TO MAKE MACAROONS Ingredients: Macaroons: 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 3/4 cup almond powder 3 egg whites 2 Tbsp. sugarPink food coloring. Raspberry filling: 1/2 cup fresh thick cream 1 tbsp. raspberry jam…

                I met Cynthia years ago in Paris. We were Americans living abroad; she had a bakery close to my apartment where she whipped up American favorites. Cynthia was a rising star in the pastry…