By Week 499. Fall 2025. I am 42 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like cinnamon and falling leaves and this is my life. This is the life I built.
The clinic was busy this week — spring puppies and summer emergencies and the constant, comforting cycle of animals who need care and humans who love them enough to bring them in.
Mason is 14 and navigating middle school with the quiet competence that has always been his way — focused, kind, certain of who he is in a way that took me thirty years to achieve.
Lily is 12 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made French onion soup this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
I made French onion soup this week — but what I kept coming back to, the thing I wanted to make again the very next day, was the Brie I pulled from the oven while the soup was still simmering: golden, pillowy, impossibly simple, and so thoroughly French that it felt like a small act of intention in an otherwise ordinary week. There is something about wrapping something soft and warm in pastry and watching it emerge from the oven whole that feels like exactly the right metaphor for 42, for Week 499, for all of it. This one is for the woman standing at the stove — grateful, grounded, and not taking a single warm bite for granted.
Brie in Puff Pastry
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
- 1 round (8 oz) Brie cheese
- 2 tablespoons apricot or raspberry jam
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon water
- Crackers, sliced baguette, or apple slices, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Prepare the pastry. Unfold the thawed puff pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface and gently roll it out just enough to smooth any creases.
- Add the jam and cheese. Spoon the jam into the center of the pastry sheet, spreading it in a circle roughly the size of the Brie round. Scatter the nuts over the jam if using, then place the Brie on top.
- Wrap the Brie. Fold the pastry up and over the cheese, pleating the edges as needed to enclose it fully. Press the seams gently to seal. Place seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet.
- Apply the egg wash. Whisk together the beaten egg and water. Brush the entire surface of the wrapped Brie with the egg wash for a deep golden finish.
- Bake. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and a rich golden brown. Let it rest for 5 minutes before transferring to a serving board — the interior needs a moment to settle so it stays beautifully molten rather than runny.
- Serve. Serve warm alongside crackers, sliced baguette, or crisp apple slices. Cut into it at the table so everyone sees that first soft, melting pull.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 280 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 17g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg