Barbra Austin

There is one flaw in this soup: It requires turning on the oven.

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.

I got an email recently from my friend Bonnie, wondering what would happen if she substituted butter for the Crisco called for in her mom’s “crazy delicious” rhubarb coffee cake recipe.

I replied to her query by saying, “The cake will be more delicious, that’s what will happen.” And I asked for the recipe.

Parfait is perfect for those who like creamy frozen desserts but don’t have an ice cream machine.

In other words, me.

When I first made this cake years ago with my friend Heather we used pecans, but pecans are not so easy to find here in Paris.

We also wrote a song about it, which I’m sure is funny only to us. I will not share it with you.

Though I generally prefer dark chocolate, there’s no denying that milk chocolate pairs very well with certain flavors. Peanut butter and bananas, for example.

Though irrefutably Bordelais, the little cakes known as cannelés have conflicting origin stories. One attributes their development to a group of nuns. A more sentimental spin credits resourceful Bordeaux residents, who scooped up flour spilled from sacks during unloading at the port and used it to make the cakes for impoverished children.

When I was visiting my brother over the holidays, he told me he wanted to say something, and that he hoped it wouldn’t upset me.

“Uh, OK,” I said.

“We’ve made the Banana Nuggets according to your recipe, they don’t turn out the way Mom’s did, and we think it’s because of the butter. We’re pretty sure Mom used shortening.”

Should someone come to his senses in the next day or so, this is what we’ll be eating on Sunday.

This salad is stupidly delicious.