Life's a Feast...

Thank you for joining me here. Of course I have a recipe for you.

I labored for a long while on how to write this very first Substack newsletter. Weeks, in fact, as I had signed up just before the hotel closed for our winter break, just before I flew off to Washington, DC and New York for an action-packed 2-week vacation. 

I’ve always known what I would fill up a weekly newsletter with (narrator’s note: be warned… I was never very good at posting regularly on my blog Life’s a Feast no matter my good intentions. Never. Not since 2008 when I started it.): excerpts from the books I’m writing (2 cookbooks and 2 memoirs), recipes, photos of Chinon, and my travels. But how to start? It’s like an opening chapter of a novel in that it has to, well, open. And be catchy, draw the reader in and make them want to read more. 

And then after a friend sent me the second magazine article about why year another person was leaving Twitter, I knew what I had to write about: Twitter. Twitter and my obsession with it. Twitter and my addiction to it. Why I am loath to leave Twitter, even as I open accounts on every other new social media platform popping up right and left to catch the Twitter fallout. 

I love Twitter. I joined in 2009 and never looked back. The good old days of Twitter lasted several years: whether connecting with the friends I had made on a political forum or creating a large, active community with my fellow food bloggers. We used Twitter for long group discussions, arguing the merits of our candidates and their programs, or promoting our and each other’s food blogs and recipes, creating fun activities like monthly bake-alongs or, later on, creating food blogger real-life meetups, conferences, and workshops. 

Granted, Twitter has changed over the years. Mostly once the Tea Party then QAnon and then MAGA crashed the party. Rare and few are the long friendly discussions; today my Twitter feed seems to be spurts of a motley and sundry mix of news stories, as the news stories multiply like crazy. The news transformed into something dark and beastly, from politics to pandemic, our feeds an erratic mix of dystopia and hope. But together we weathered the Trump years and got through Covid, battling the disinformation and the ugliness that seeped in by banding together, buttressing each other up, and creating a strong community. 

When it was known that Musk was purchasing Twitter and he started making his distasteful appearance on the platform, tweeting both stupid and dangerous stuff, I saw a first wave of people leaving. 

Once the Musk purchase when through and was confirmed, I experienced a rise in trolls and bots attacking me for any political tweet I put out, but I’ve suffered that for a long time. Nothing really new. And I know I’m lucky because more well-known folks were truly and personally attacked. I might also be protected by European regulation on hate speech. What suddenly then appeared were the the really weird Elon Musk bots and they were worse and more numerous than the MAGA bots. There were days in which I spent hours blocking them one after the other. Then suddenly my own feed was flooded…FLOODED… with far right accounts - not trolls and bots but crazy politicians and pundits and high-profile criminals. I no longer saw tweets put out by folks I follow, friends, trusted experts and sources of information, just MAGAs spewing ugly things, lies, propaganda, and hate. 

And more people left. A lot more. 

But many of us have stayed. Why? Why stay on a platform in which our own feeds are being manipulated so we are forced to suffer the abuse of racism, antisemitism, disinformation, and right wing propaganda in a steady stream? In which we are made to go in search of our friends and reliable sources news? 

I will soon be celebrating 14 years on the bird site. That’s a really long time. In 14 years, I have created an amazingly strong, diverse, brilliant community, my home away from home. The support of that community has gotten me through extremely difficult times and I’m not embarrassed to say that they - you - have saved my life. My Twitter community makes me think, laugh, and feel surrounded by true friends.

14 years is a lot of Twitter to easily let go just like that. Because of the bullies. 

And you know what? You probably know me from Twitter and most likely subscribed to receive this newsletter from my announcement on Twitter. So Twitter still, in my opinion, works. 

And as more and more friends leave Twitter, I decided to start this Substack as a way to keep in touch, to let you know what I’m up to, and to continue to share my recipes with you. And I thank you for being there…and for being here. 

As Christmas is just a few days away, I want to give you the small gift of a recipe that I’ve not published anywhere else yet, a traditional French Christmas recipe you will find on so many French holiday tables. 

French Pain d’Épice - Gingerbread

Pain d’épice is a traditional winter holiday treat. Unlike American gingerbread, the French pain d’épice - literally “spice bread” - is a loaf cake made with loads of honey and brown sugar instead of molasses yet remaining not too sweet, and flavored with a panoply of warm spices. Pain d’épice is eaten as a sweet treat at snack time but, as it is slightly drier and less sweet than American gingerbread, it is also the perfect and traditional perch for foie gras, smoked salmon, or a fresh cheese spread at any festive holiday meal. Feel free to increase the quantity of the spices to your taste.

1 cup + 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon (150 grams) all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups (130 grams) medium rye flour

1/4 cup (50 grams) cassonade or granulated light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground or crushed aniseed 

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Scant 1/2 cup (100 ml) milk

3/4 cup (250 grams) dark liquid honey

5-1/2 tablespoons (80 grams) unsalted butter

Finely grated zest of 1 medium orange, about 1 teaspoon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Butter a loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and rye flours, the cassonade, the spices, salt, and baking powder to blend. Set aside.

Place the milk, honey, and butter in a small to medium-sized saucepan and gently heat on low, stirring, until the honey is dissolved and the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, whisk or stir to blend, and allow to cool to tepid. Once the liquid is tepid, whisk in the orange zest and the vanilla. 

Whisk the 2 eggs to blend. Whisk a few tablespoons of the tepid milk/honey/butter liquid into the eggs and then pour the eggs back into the remaining liquid in the saucepan in a stream, whisking it in.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and, using a whisk or wooden spoon, vigorously blend the liquid ingredients into the dry until well blended and smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and place in the preheated oven.

Bake the pain d’épice for approximately 1 hour. Check doneness often as cooking time can vary depending on your oven and the size and shape of your loaf pan; French loaf pans are slightly longer and narrower than American loaf pans which might effect baking time.

The loaf is done when it is risen and slightly domed and a deep golden or amber color and is set through the center. Remove from the oven to a cooling rack and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before loosening the cake from the sides of the pan with the blade of a knife and turning out and upright onto the cooling rack to finish cooling.

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