Barbra Austin

Life is not a bowl of cherries. It’s not like a box of chocolates, either, unless some of those chocolates happen to have bad timing, sinus infections and heartbreak at their centers. Do I sound bitter?

I thought I might feel better if I did a little baking (speaking of clichés). It usually works.

My French teacher once told me that I could exempt myself from les devoirs by making treats for the class. I did not really take her seriously and, anyway, it is in my best interest to do the homework. But as of Monday morning I had not even looked at chapter 6 of Les Poisons de la Couronne. What I had been reading was David Lebovitz’s new book, which enthusiastically advocates the practice of of bribery-by-sweets.

What better moment to test my dear prof’s offer? And what better reason to try one of the 50 recipes David included in the book?

When cookbook author and former Chez Panisse pastry chef David Lebovitz arrived in Paris to live, there was plaster hanging from the ceiling of his apartment and a stained futon on the floor. His landlord hired a painter but the job — the refreshing of a small one bedroom apartment — took weeks. He stayed with friends in the meantime, but could not find solace in the collection of beloved cookbooks he had shipped from the States. The box never arrived and La Poste, as you might imagine, was less than sympathetic.

This was not an auspicious start.