Cafe Fernando

Classic White Bread Recipe

I always feel like I’ve accomplished something grand when I bake bread. I really don’t know why. Considering some of the recipes I’ve tackled in the past, it certainly doesn’t rank high on the difficulty scale. For instance, nothing would compare to these croissants. You don’t need to break the recipe down to multiple days as I did with this chocolate cake. Juicing a stubborn fruit isn’t involved for sure. And you don’t even need to strain pounds of cheese for it.

If you don’t count the time it takes to rise and bake, this classic white bread recipe takes less time than most of the cookie recipes in this blog. Yet somehow, I feel extremely proud.

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The Lazy Monday Morning Breakfast Galette

You know what the best part about working from home is?

It used to happen to me all the time. Right after Sunday dinner. The last couple of hours before you go to bed. They suddenly become the most precious hours of the day and are usually spent on deciding what to do. Should I curl up with that book I never seem to find time for or make popcorn and watch that movie I’ve been looking forward to? Oh how precious those last hours are. Even more so if you know that a full inbox will be waiting for you the morning after.

The best part about working from home is to first get depressed on a Sunday night and then immediately realize that in fact, you are NOT going to wake up at 7 AM and spend hours on the road to get to work, only to find out dozens of unanswered emails with a stale cup of coffee in your hand.

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Pistachio Eclairs

I have some very good news. Cafe Fernando was named the “Best Culinary Travel Blog” at Saveur’s 1st Annual Food Blog Awards! Many thanks to Saveur for nominating and YOU for voting. Congratulations to all the other winners – it is an honor to be in such great company.

This calls for a celebration and the best way I know how is to bake something fantastic.

What makes these pistachio eclairs fantastic is a secret ingredient. In fact, so secret, it even managed to hide from me for more than a year. Actually, I might be the one to blame… I have a very clumsy cleaning lady. She is super sweet, but God knows you can set up a bar with the glasses she’s broken. And not just any glass; she somehow manages to find the rarest piece. I’ve learned my lesson over the years, so whenever I buy or receive something precious, I hide it. I hide it at the very back of the hardest-to-reach cabinet, which is on top of the refrigerator (she’s 5′ 1″), and make sure to camouflage it with cheaper items – just in case she decides to climb on a chair.

Although this sounds like a great idea, it creates another problem: Hard-to-find ingredients that are way past their expiration dates.

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