A Perfect Kitchen Companion

 Do any of you repeatedly check out the same book from the library over and over again?  Perhaps especially, in my case, when it is a collection of recipes?  Oh good, I’m glad I’m not the only one 😉  Well the book Breakfast, Lunch, Tea from the Rose Bakery in Paris France was that repeated check out for me four years back while living in Minneapolis.  Minneapolis is one of those cities flooded with some of the best neighborhood cafes that you want to sit in all day and eat every meal in.   Rose Bakery seems like one of those places.  The beautiful photo-filled book is personal and intimate as it shares tried and perfected recipes by Rose Carrarini.  Breakfast Lunch Tea is not just an ordinary cookbook but rather the story of a quaint and popular cafe with its bakers, workers, and regulars.  Rose really encourages to use fresh ingredients with quality.  Rose (I kind of feel like were friends) was the first person to ever suggest to me that there is a difference in the type of butters.  Having experimented, I can really see the difference.  Honestly butter is now a bit of an obsession.  

During the time of receiving this absolutely perfect book, I was hosting a regular Saturday morning ladies brunch in my darling kitchen in Minneapolis.  Joe and Cassius would have their Saturday morning “papa/boy” time either riding the train to IKEA for breakfast cinnamon rolls or on nice days they would make their way to the free Como Park Zoo in St. Paul.  I would lay a table cloth and set out  precious mismatched teacups my friends had  picked up at thrift stores, and if it were my turn to make food, I would start thumbing through Breakfast Lunch Tea.  The recipes would fill the house with the scent of warm maple syrup from Rose’s scone recipe that I couldn’t resist to make.  My dearest friends would come on bikes, or just down the steps from the upper level of our duplex and share our lives together.  How sweet that time was and sweet the memories submerge every time I cook something up from this book.  The routine was always the same.  I would turn on some music from Beirut and retrieve the cold butter from the fridge and begin.

Rose Bakery doesn’t just share a great scone recipe but some unusual dishes as well such as Broccoli Cake, Artichoke and Tomato Cake, Carrot Seed Salad, and Cold Beetroot Soup with a Hot Potato (this is French remember).  Oh, what an experience I have had with this book and am eager to have more throughout the years with my family and friends around the kitchen table.  I would recommend this book to anyone of you if you are looking to be inspired for those special times of coffee with a friend or luncheon with your g-ma, ma and aunts.