Birthdays and brownies

Happy 50th birthday to my amazing Dad!! You have taught me so many things, big and small, and I know you've touched so many lives in your 50 years :) Love you so much Dad!!

On a Moscow-related note, I went to Le Pain Quotidien ( or Khleb Nasushnii in its Russian translation) today with my friend Melissa. We were so excited! I have only ever seen Le Pain Quotidiens in New York City, and hadn't had the chance to go in one, so I was really looking forward to it. It reminded me of a Dean and Deluca, only exclusively featuring organic and homemade breads, pastries, quiches, fancy spreads, hot drinks, and beautiful chinaware. Soft French music was playing in the background, warm lights flooded the store with a soft glow, and the whole atmosphere was just overall tres chic :) Melissa and I had such a hard time picking something out, but we finally both settled for a good old American "brah-oo-ni" (brownie). It was quite good, very moist and chewy, definitely worth the 75 roubles (a little over 2 dollars CAD) we paid. It was an excellent mid-afternoon treat in the middle of all this intern training!

Check out all that delicious fresh bread!

Speaking of baking, on Sunday Rhea and I baked a zucchini bread with chocolate pieces (you can't buy chocolate chips in Russia! Weird...so we just broke up pieces of a milk chocolate bar) and a lemon glaze. It was very dense but delicious...we had a moment of trepidation when our taste-tester went to take the first bite, suddenly realizing that maybe we should have tested it ourselves first, just in case, but all was well. I brought some into class today for the other interns to try and it was a hit! Next up on our list: chocolate chip cookies!

Alright, now that I'm leaving you hungry and craving chocolate...I'm going to go see if I have any Nutella left :)