Sweet Bookery: "The Sweet Life in Paris" by David Lebovitz

Good friends, good food and good books…all together in one place. You can’t get much better than a pastry-inspired book club. Sweet Bookery includes some of the kindest, funniest and smartest people I know; my former pastry school classmates.

The first book we read was The Sweet Life in Paris by pastry chef and author, David Lebovitz. It’s a funny and endearing story about his move from San Francisco to Paris, and his experiences living as an American in Paris (with a heavy emphasis on the food). The book is full of hilarious anecdotes, words of advice and helpful tidbits. Not to mention some awesome recipes (both sweet and savory).

Since the book is full of fantastic recipes, it seemed logical to whip up a few for the meeting. I made his French Chocolate Macarons, which were less finicky than many other Macaron recipes. They had that wonderful crispy-chewy texture that is characteristic of a Macaron, and were lusciously chocolaty.


I also made some American Macaroons, which seemed appropriate given the context of the book. I used a David Lebovitz recipe for this as well (although it was from his website instead: http://bit.ly/25RXWh).


A fantastic Fig-Olive Tapenade recipe was both savory and sweet with a bit of crunch from the fig seeds that was unexpected and pleasant. I served it with Rosemary bread from the bakery where I work.


The recipe in the book for Spiced Nut Mix is out of this world good, and is a perfect sort of snack. It’s a tad spicy, slightly sweet, salty and crunchy. It’s also a lovely topping for ice cream.


A few of the other book club members brought some desserts from the book (drat! I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures of those tasty morsels).

Now, we are trying to decide what book to read next. It’s got a lot to live up to…