The Wild Rose

The storm clouds rolled in yesterday morning and gently rained for the entire day, then some darker clouds rolled in last night making it the darkest night we’ve had in weeks! We could still see everything outside, but it was dark enough for the street lights to come on. As soon as we realized this, we quickly hopped in bed and for the first time in over a month fell asleep without something covering our eyes!

It’s still cloudy and raining today, and the temperature has dropped back into the 50’s. Since the weather is keeping me indoors, I thought I would post about the pastries that we’ve come across here. As some of you know, back home I baked at my family’s bagel shop, so I’m always keeping my eyes out for new cupcake/muffin/cookie/pastry ideas, not to mention the smell of a bakery makes me feel at home so we frequent as many as possible. A reoccurring ingredient that you can smell in any bakery here is cardamom. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we visited (and loved) Cafe Art, and that is where we had this particular cardamom roll (see below). I’ve had a couple of things back home with cardamom, and I’ve even baked with it, but the way that they pack this spice into these pastries is unlike anything I’ve ever had. Cardamom on it’s own is very strong, and with the amount that they use here it took me a while to acquire a taste for it.  Not only do they pack it in, but they pack it in a lot of things; coffee cakes, rolls, breads, pastries, etc. etc. I have no doubt that when we leave here in September/October I’ll have a strong preference for the spice, and use loads of it in my baking. Perhaps a cardamom bagel is in the making!