With native roots in Brittany, once I spotted this pastry recipe in Flour, Too: Indispensable Recipes for the Cafe's Most Loved Sweets & Savories (Chronicle Books, June 2013) by Joanne Chang from Flour Bakery in Boston, it was impossible for me not to share it. Kouign-Amann A specialty of Brittany, the small, rich kouignamann, literally “butter cake,” is possibly the most extraordinary pastry of all time. Imagine a flaky croissant–type pastry filled with layers of...

Week-end is here. Calls for Saturday into Sunday cocktail recipe like Sweet Olive from Franny's Simple Seasonal Italian (Artisan Books, May 2013) by Andrew Feinberg, Francine Stephens, and Melissa Clark. Sweet Olive Serves 1 Our former bartender Woody once took a trip to Venice and came back inspired to make this cocktail (pictured opposite). He’d had a version of it and fallen in love with all the elements—sweetness, saltiness, and a touch of bitterness. It’s...