There's a place in Vancouver called Gourmet Warehouse that I have been avoiding since the day I first heard about it.
Row after row of baking gear, kitchen gadgets, linens and...SALT.
It has everything. There is stuff in there you didn't even KNOW you needed.
It's so awesome. You would LOVE it.
Those are the kinds of things people say about this place to woo me, to break me down and lure me in. Do they know the way to my heart or what?
As a general rule, I'm not into stuff: coveting it, buying it, stashing it away. I much prefer consumables—things that disappear or get used up over time—like food. Or, better yet, experiences that involve doing something and allow me to skip the acquisition phase entirely.
Clutter drives me crazy. I spend at least as much time—if not more—devising ways to dispose of things as planning my purchases. Why have two or three or four when one will do just fine?
But the kitchen, well, it's an exception. I have an unsightly number of pans (you never know when you're going to need to bake a 5-layer birthday cake, or two angel food cakes, or muffins in the shape of maple leaves), a drawer full of one-use wonders (turkey chain or butter ruler, anyone?) and a cabinet packed with bulky appliances (which, in my defense, I do use...but maybe just so I can say I use them).
Yet there's always something more I'm just itching to add, like brioche moulds. Because I make brioche all the time? Well maybe I would if I had moulds.
So I finally caved and stepped inside the much-loved Gourmet Warehouse a few weeks ago. We escaped relatively unscathed (well $80 lighter, but brioche mould-free), but it might have been because we rode bikes there. Whatever. Small victories.
Notes: I'm happy(?) to report that my muffin tins got the job done.
Source: I followed Fanny's instructions for brioche over at Foodbeam, only to discover another 5-minute recipe at her new blog, Comme un lait fraise, just now. You know what that means: brioche again this weekend. Man, with all this brioche baking, I could really use some moulds...Labels: Brunch, Yeast breads
