The excess of late summer
“And the books that came into the house, some of them secretly— well, Samuel rode lightly on top of a book and he balanced happily among ideas the way a man rides white rapids in a canoe. But Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
When the recipe for Creme Fraiche Cake with Plum Caramel landed in my in-box I went to my bookshelf and found my copy of the A.O.C. Cookbook by Suzanne Goin to discover what the fuss was all about. I realized the original recipe had two more components, whipped cream and pistachios in olive oil. Raves about the plum cake made with plum caramel had me wondering, what if the cake was smothered in caramel, pistachios AND whipped cream? I just had to make this cake and everything else.