mmm....butter

Right now my kitchen is full of yummy smells. Butter and almond and all sorts of yummy goodness.

For the very first time, I went to the Made in France warehouse sale. It was a family event - my brother (who is amazing in the kitchen and is going to be a neurosurgeon, and is single) wanted to tag along and we picked up my mom from work who wanted to come and buy chorizo. And salmon rillettes.
We really had no idea what to expect. We were afraid we might be disappointed. We weren't. There were only two black clouds on our excursion - we couldn't find any amora (I'm so addicted to the stuff I've been eating from a jar with a 2003 expiration date) and the amount of money we spent. I am embarrased to say I spent as much money as my mom did, and her bill was for 3 people!
We stocked up on chocolate (cocoa for me to make truffles, 8 bars of 83% dark for my dad who doesn't like anything less than 70%), vinegar (three kinds) and yogurt up the wazoo. My dad and I love yogurt. So much that I was crazy enough to spend nearly $20 on it! But as I tasted my first $2 tub of melon yogurt, my anxiety melted away from the sheer yumminess. This morning's tub of fig yogurt had the same effect. I also bought some butter that I have renamed "crack butter" because it is so damn good I will pay the $9/lb price tag no matter what.

Inspired by my purchases, I did some baking today. I made the almond cake in Amanda Hesser's book Cooking for Mr. Latte. It's cooling now, and if it tastes half as good as the raw batter does....wow! I also made some digestive biscuits (the same recipe Sam of Becks and Posh used) to eat with my petits suisse. I had never tried either before, and I have definitely been missing out. I'm regretting buying only 2 packs of petits suisse (I had seen some other people buy entire crates) but I guess I can always go back...right? I'll just figure out how I can work in a monthly trip into my budget...