The bake

A little while ago, my boyfriend saw a recipe for monkey bread in his copy of Bread Illustrated (edited by America’s Test Kitchen). This weekend, we gave the recipe a go. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten monkey bread before this; it was so delicious that I think I would have remembered it. As far as flavours and ingredients go, monkey bread is pretty similar to cinnamon rolls: the dough is made with yeast, and the filling is cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar. But, unlike cinnamon rolls, this dough is formed into a pull-apart bread. You do this by shaping the dough into balls, dipping them into butter and then a cinnamon-sugar mixture, and then placing them into a bundt pan before putting it in the oven. The book suggests serving the monkey bread warm, and I stand by this suggestion. The cinnamon-sugar filling was caramelized and gooey, and who doesn’t enjoy a warm bread? However, I also had some at room temperature, and it was still so very good. Will make again!

The book

Earlier today, I finished reading We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida. I am such a sucker for coming-of-age stories! This one is set in San Francisco in the 1980s and centres around 13-year-old Eulabee and her best friend, Maria Fabiola. The novel explores both the fickleness of young friendship as well as the significance that early relationships have on the formation of self. I enjoyed Eulabee’s voice, her sense of humour, and the breeziness of Vida’s writing that made it very easy to convince myself I had time to read “just one more chapter.”