La Cuisine D'Arbour: Très Belle. Très Chic. Très Délicieuse.

After my post, It's Certainly not ALL About the Cake, my beautiful, French-Canadian friend, Michelle, was determined to show me what a true Croque Monsieur looks and tastes like. The description alone was enough to get me to her pad in Los Feliz!


The night started off with a couple bottles of Cabernet and a slice of brie cheese to spread on tiny bread. (The brie and bread were short-lived. Michelle took it away from us so we would have room for the feast at hand.)

As we were enjoying our GNI (Girls' Night In) with inappropriate banter and the slight influence of fermented grapes, Michelle was piling gruyère onto bowls of French Onion Soup. I took a couple shots of the soup going into the oven. Here is the before: 

And after... :)

As the Croque was a'cookin, the four of us migrated to the dining table to enjoy can you guess?... More cheese! We delicately (and by delicately I mean voraciously) devoured our French Onion soup while dipping small pieces of bread in home-made cheese fondue!

Wine was graciously poured by our hostess.

Needless to say, the French Onion soup did not last long. 

The guest of honor? Monsieur Croque. Michelle had explained to me that a true French Croque Monsieur is a sandwich made with sliced bread spread with dijon mustard, some folded smoked ham, a TON of gruyère cheese, toasted to melted perfection and topped with a fried egg, salt and black pepper. 
Ummm YES PLEASE? It's not that expensive to make either. Check out her masterpiece below:

And what meal would be complete without the greens? After all, something had to break up all that cheese! I had told Michelle that the only thing needed to break up cheese is wine, but of course, she already had something else in mind. With our Croque Monsieur came an amazing salad with arugula, thinly sliced pears, onions, avocado, and champagne vinaigrette dressing (made from scratch, of course).

Finally, staying true to French custom, we enjoyed some pressed croissants with nutella and strawberries. Jo and I had bought an assortment of pastries from Il Tramezzino, an Italian cafe in the heart of Beverly Hills. Below is just a portion of the desserts we savored:

Chocolate Cannoli and Tiramisu

Classic Cannoli with Strawberries and Cream

So, while I stick to my guns about the Croque Monsieur du Jour at What a Dish, I will take my girl's home-made cooking ANY DAY.

Tip: French food can be fun, inexpensive, and easy to make. All you really need is cheese, bread, spread, and any protein you want! Oh, and a (cheap) bottle of wine.

The Perfect Temperature for OC

Hot enough to bake, cool enough to take.


I'm sitting here, eating a breakfast pastry with my coffee, watching Valentine's Day and I can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday morning. Mind you, in about thirty minutes I'm going to have to get up and get ready for work, but it's nice to take twenty minutes for myself sometimes. 


The pastry I'm eating, (this would probably work a lot better if I knew its name), has a parmesan and powdered cheese with toasted almonds on top. It's the last of the pack, as I've already eaten the others since I visited 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe a few days ago. Take a look at some of the items I bought below:

These pastries range from $1.50 to about $3.50 each. Everytime I go, there's a HUGE line of people waiting with their trays and tongs to go through the maze-o-bread which will be piled into a mountain of goodies. Then, there's an equally long line to get to the cash register to pay and order one of their cozy tea drinks. My favorite is the hot almond milk.

I know, I know. All of the above looks uh-mazing. I haven't shown you the best part yet, though. One of Irvine's best-kept secrets! Are you ready? Imagine a puffed up pastry, topped with black sesame seeds, and inside, dried cranberries and a cream cheese-y filling. One time I went to the bakery and they told me it was sold out, and wasn't going to be available for a few months. What is this incredible pastry, you ask? That, my friends, is the Rose Cheese:

 I can't even say more about it! You'll just have to go and see for yourself. 


85 Degrees Bakery started in Tai Pei in 2004 and became Taiwan's most popular cafe by 2005. They opened their location at the Diamond Jamboree plaza off Alton and Jamboree a couple years back, and I have no doubt they will continue to expand in South County.

I LOVE little patisseries like this! There's another one in San Juan Capistrano that has more hispanic-influenced pastries. Maybe that will be my next post...


The choice? Taiwanese pastries and almond milk, or Mexican pastries and a horchata? I'll let you decide.

Tip: When you've got hectic mornings and no time for breakfast, pick up a few of these pastries to take on the go. You'll spend less than ten bucks on breakfast for the week and be happily satisfied! Until lunchtime ;)