out of character

hello everyone! i'm coming out from under a pile of wedding websites to quick post. i think i have about 88 tabs open right now - just to figure out what kind of placecards i want to do. i am a psychopath. the list of ideas i have so far is:

vintage award ribbons
plastic animals
fruit
vegetable seed packets
sugar cookies (names written in icing)
mini succulents (names on flags)
bottles of homemade infused oils
mini jars of curd or jam
tiny embroidery hoops?
strawberry plants?

somehow NONE of these satisfy me, so i keep thinking and browsing and scrawling down ideas. i'm totally losing it.




saturday night sam and i went to a skate/dance party, and i dragged a couple of pastry-making girlfriends with; we ended up sequestering ourselves to the kitchen table most of the night, drinking beer and talking pot de creme and soufflés. so when i groggily woke up sunday morning and remembered sam and i were supposed to get engagement (okay, yes, very belated) photos taken that day, i decided to whip together some brunch and try to get us in shape for a day in front of a camera. and with soufflés on the mind, i made these.

savory soufflés
(i made mine with goat cheese and prosciutto)

6 egg whites
3 egg yolks
dash of salt
55 g butter
60 g bread flour
180 mL milk
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 slices of prosciutto
about 2 oz goat cheese (half a log)
powdered pecorino romano cheese & melted butter for the ramekins

turn the oven to 350. place the prosciutto on a sheet of aluminum and let them crisp up in the oven for ten minutes or so, until good and crunchy, while you divide your eggs, prep your butter, etc. once they're out, turn the oven to 450.

put the egg whites in a bowl, carefully not getting any yolk in them. add a pinch or two of salt. wait.

prepare the ramekins by brushing butter along the sides and then coating them with the powdered cheese. you'll be able to fill about 6 1-cup ramekins.

put the minced garlic in the milk.

once the butter has melted, turn the heat to medium and add the flour. stir with a wooden spoon until it's well combined, and then keep stirring for awhile; it'll bubble, and just keep stirring, to dry it out a bit. stir constantly for 3 minutes or so, then start slowly adding the milk, bit by bit. add milk, let it combine, add more. etc. until all combined. remove from the heat.

stir the cheese and the egg yolks into the bechamel (that's the butter, flour and milk sauce.) once well combined, take the prosciutto and crumble it evenly into the ramekins. now beat the whites until they are stiff peaks. once shiny and stiff, take about 1/4 of the whites and mix them into the yolks/cheese/bechamel to lighten the mixture; then gently fold the rest of the whites in with the yolk mixture.

spoon the fully combined mixture into the ramekins, leaving them just under the top of the ramekin. place them on a baking sheet and then in the oven; immediately turn the heat down to 375. let them bake for 15 minutes or so, until they are risen and browned on top and starting to brown around the sides. voila! delicious, impressive, and way easier than they look.



i don't usually do the hey-look-it's-my-face! photos on here - i just feel weird about it for some reason. this isn't really about what i look like, i just like to feature my personal style, my food, my pretty blessed life. but today i couldn't get the light to pick up on the collar in this shirt, which is obviously the best part of it, so i had to suck it up and do some headshots. i figured it was a chance to show my little locket, anyway.





top: in god we trust (who, coincidentally, are having a spring launch party at their shop in greenpoint this saturday! come, maybe i'll see you there!)
skirt: thrifted
socks: american apparel
shoes: jeffrey campbell
necklace: ebay

all right. i'm going to tidy up the office a bit and then dive back in to wedding silliness. hope you're all enjoying your week!

xo audrey