I have always believed the saying, when it rains it pours. And sometimes, just sometimes, the heavens open up and release an absolute deluge. If the truth be told, I think the water meter has just been turned on full force for me!
In only a few short days, I am on a single digit count down to my wedding day. Taking a heavy DIY approach to my wedding has been unquestionably beneficial for my budget, but is taking a toll on my time as a consequence.
As organised as I typically try to be, there is a considerable amount of tasks that require my attention. Added to that, predictably, activity at work has picked up exponentially, too. All my spare time seems to have magically disappeared. So in order to manage all of this effectively – and my sanity! – I unfortunately need to take a short break from this site. As hard as that will be for me. And it will be hard.
But come October, after my wonderfully relaxing honeymoon, I will be back. And naturally, ready to start baking again. In fact, I will be starved of my favourite past-time by then, so will be raring to go! Like my pastry adventures during August, I will be dedicating a whole month to a single theme.
And I want you to choose.
Creamy and crunchy. Hard and Soft. A well placed decoration or the all round star of the show. A month of caramel inspired treats.
Decadent and rich. Fudgey and whisper light. Chocolate front and centre or paired with other flavours with success. A month of chocolate desserts.
Have your vote. And when I return, I will kick off October with the most popular choice. Please leave a comment with your selection. I already have a few ideas of what to bake in each category, but send my way any suggestions or ideas, too!
I hope you enjoy voting. I am looking forward to seeing your comments and selections. (I wonder which option will win?!)
Until then, I will miss being able to share my baking adventures, and keeping up to date with all of yours. But it is only for a short time…and (as I keep telling myself), will pass in a jiffy!
Mélanger :: to mix 
September 3, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Excellent decision on your part, even though I – and all of your readers – will dearly miss your posts throughout the month. This is such an exciting time in your life – you’re getting married! Throw yourself into it, enjoy every day and every little decision, whether huge or small and sweet! The countdown is on…. And I already can’t wait for the big SWEET comeback for sure.
Aha, almost forgot. (tee hee) I go with C-C-C-C…. CARAMEL ! But hey, throw in a caramel chocolate dessert in there too, and we’ll all be thrilled !
Mazel tov, enjoy the wedding and honeymoon, felicitations et bon voyage !! 🙂
September 3, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Good luck to you Julia – may you have a wonderful wedding and a very sweet honeymoon indeed. Can’t wait to hear your news when you come back – we’ll be waiting.
And I’m picking caramel, mainly because I don’t really use it often and I’d love to see your ideas.
All the best!
September 3, 2009 at 8:52 pm
i choose:
Creamy and crunchy. Hard and Soft. A well placed decoration or the all round star of the show. A month of caramel inspired treats!
have a wonderful wedding, and a relaxing honeymoon, Julia – i shall miss your little corner of beauty whilst you’re gone.
x
September 3, 2009 at 9:01 pm
May your life be filled with love, happiness and prosperity. Best of luck to you both as you start your new journey as husband and wife.
I pick chocolate….yummmm!!
September 3, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Caramel…because chocolate is overrated!
Have a fantastic month!
Rosie of BooksAndBakes
September 3, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Congratulations!
I vote for caramel. Something burnt. Something involving salt. Um, yes. That should do it.
September 3, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Happy happy wedding! Both our daughters married in September..both lovely days..:)
Enjoy your Intermezzo~
Chocolate for my husband.
September 3, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Good luck with the final stretch! My VERY DIY wedding was last December and I remember so well the last week before being hectic but so fun!
As for my vote, CARAMEL. It’s the best, most under-appreciated condiment/ingredient there is.
September 3, 2009 at 11:01 pm
What about both???!! I can’t make my mind up between chocolate and caramel! But then again, there are just waaay too many chocolate recipes out there. So maybe caramel. But only if you make it interesting!!
Congratulations on the wedding!! I suppose I won’t be seeing you until when you get back in October, so here’s a toast!! And don’t forget to divulge every detail of it on the blog, especially the food ones!!
September 3, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I love both, but I’ll choose the caramel!
Congrats on the wedding!
Cheers,
Rosa
September 3, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Fantastic! Your wedding! Congrats and go enjoy yourself without a worry. I’ll be on the edge of my seat till October waiting to see what you do with caramel.
September 3, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Best Wishes to you on your wedding!! My vote is for chocolate. After a summer of baking exclusively with fresh summer fruits and berries, my thoughts have turned to chocolate. As much as I’ll miss summer, I’m ready for a change of seasons in my cooking and baking.
September 3, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Caramel!!!
Hope you have a wonderful time, sweetie!
September 4, 2009 at 12:00 am
Many many congratulations on your wedding. The best of luck to you. I am choosing caramel. I think it has such a huge realm of possibilities and it is so decadant in all its forms. Can’t wait to see what you decide to do
September 4, 2009 at 1:55 am
with it being fall i say caramel. and congrats for your wedding, i’m sure that it will be amazing! when you’ve put so much of yourself into something how could it not be?
September 4, 2009 at 2:52 am
Wow, you are going to be busy, and you made the right decision to take a break for a while. I congratulate you on your wedding, I hope everything will be great and going smoothly.
Chocolate is my preference (especially the very dark one), because I don’t quite like thing that is too sweet.
Congratulation, I’ll be back in October to check on your story about your wedding, honeymoon, and the recipe, of course.
September 4, 2009 at 3:24 am
Congratulations and have a wonderful honey moon!
As to the choice of ingredient, I would say, Caramel! For one, you don’t find many innovative caramel recipes and second, I really do prefer caramel to chocolate :))
September 4, 2009 at 3:28 am
Best wishes to you!!! How exciting! You must share your DIY wedding pictures with us, just based on your beautiful site I’m sure the wedding will be positively lovely.
Have a wonderful month, and when you return, please teach us all a bit more about CARAMEL! I’ve never made my own, but have been dying to try it, and you could provide me with the perfect excuse!
September 4, 2009 at 3:50 am
What kind of question is that XD? CARAMEL of course!
September 4, 2009 at 6:23 am
Congratulations on the wedding! WOW! How exciting! I’m voting caramel because I need some serious help in that area 🙂
September 4, 2009 at 7:11 am
Best wishes for your wedding – I hope you have a wonderful day and the sun shines upon you both.
As for the chocolate vs caramel – I choose caramel!
September 4, 2009 at 8:20 am
oh, julia–we’ll miss you for a month! but can’t wait to see photos of the wedding and all the wonderful things you make! enjoy the day, and of course the honeymoon!
xoxo, steph
and p.s.: i choose caramel!
September 4, 2009 at 9:33 am
Best wishes for the big day!! Oh do we have to choose?? How about both? You could alternate between posts 🙂
September 4, 2009 at 10:34 am
Oh! We will miss you and your beautiful photos while you’re gone. Best wishes for a lovely wedding (and a not-stressful week in the lead up to it!)
I’ve got my fingers crossed for caramel.
September 4, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Hard to choose but I would go for Chocolate.
Congratulations in advance. Best wishes on your big day and the days, months and years.
September 4, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Have a wonderful time Julia! I hope you have wonderful weather and a beautiful time and remember to soak it all up because the wedding day goes by so quickly! 🙂
I vote for…caramel! 😀
September 4, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Congratulations on the wedding! I hope you will have a wonderful honeymoon!
It’s a hard choice, but i think i’ll vote for caramel. I really want to try out new caramel recipes and see new ideas!
September 5, 2009 at 1:46 am
i say caramel also!
chocolate is so 1990’s…. maybe not.. but i don’t always like to think that the only dessert you should have is chocolate!!!
September 5, 2009 at 6:57 am
Aww… didn’t know that you’re getting married…hope you’ll have the best time of life.. I know for sure the food will be good 🙂
Can I choose both chocolate and caramel?… No… ok…then chocolate it is 😉
September 5, 2009 at 7:51 am
It’s the start of a huge adventure, Julia! I am very happy for you. I hope your future husband knows how lucky he is to be getting a wife and fantastic pastry chef in one! You are doing the right thing, taking some time off from your blog to focus on such an important experience/event in your life right now. Like other readers said, please share some special photos with us when you return. Enjoy every moment. (And God bless the bride!)
🙂
Jane
September 5, 2009 at 7:52 am
OOps! I forgot to vote for caramel!
Jane
September 5, 2009 at 8:06 am
Oh, So happy for you Julia, Best wishes on your big day and Happy Honeymoon!! Good on ya, for doing some wedding DYI in a time of somewhat chaos. I bet it will just be lovely!
hmmm… what to vote, what to vote? its a definite hardy, looks like most everyone choose caramel. So I’ll go chocolate and see what happens.
🙂 Ash
September 6, 2009 at 12:57 am
Have a fabulous wedding and honeymoon Julia. Best wishes for the future!!! 🙂
I vote for caramel btw.
September 6, 2009 at 11:45 am
So, you are just days away from your wedding? How wonderful! Best wishes for the big day. Wishing for you a fabulous wedding and an amazing honeymoon!
Oh, and I hope you come back with CARAMEL recipes (but, can’t there be at least one chocolate AND caramel recipe? I loooove that flavor combination . . .)
September 6, 2009 at 7:13 pm
All the best for your wedding and the preparatiosn that comes with it…
What a wonderful idea! I’d vote caramel just to see what niffy creations you come up with and there aren’t so many caramel desserts out there in comparision to chocolate… But, it would be heaps nice just to have a choc and caramel dessert in there as well 😀 Looking forward to it!
September 7, 2009 at 12:17 am
caramel ^^ … have a wonderful wedding & honeymoon!! can’t wait to se you back here with all your news 🙂 XOXO
September 7, 2009 at 5:22 am
Wishing you a lovely wedding and honey moon.
Be happy.
Looking forward to your beautiful and lovely recipes in October x
September 7, 2009 at 8:10 am
All the best Julia for a beautiful Wedding and a relaxing honeymoon! I can’t believe it’s already here, I remember hearing you deciding on macaron flavours (what did you choose?)
Now to choosing… chocolate is a love of mine, but I don’t have nearly enough recipes for caramel… therefore I will have to choose caramel – looking forward to either though! Great idea 🙂
Enjoy this lovely time, it only comes around once!
September 7, 2009 at 8:23 am
Congratulations Julia!!! All the best to you and your fiance for your big day. I am voting for caramel, because we see lots of chocolate around, but I’d love to see new ways with caramel – and how to master its sometimes notorious temperament!
September 7, 2009 at 10:30 am
CARAMEL!
Congratulations Julia and Mr Melanger! Wow, such a milestone in your life, how exciting! I wish you all the best on the big day and for the rest of your married life. How sweet to be getting married and picking a sweet theme to cook.
Personally? I would be looking forward to the honeymoon more than the actual wedding! lol
September 7, 2009 at 10:42 am
All the best to you, enjoy this time and know that we’re all cheering you two on as you start this next chapter. Such exciting stuff.
As for the vote, I have to say my heart’s with chocolate. An unoriginal love, I know, but true.
September 7, 2009 at 10:48 am
We’ll be here when you return. And best wishes on your upcoming nuptials! Have a great honeymoon!
September 7, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Good luck and congratulations! I vote caramel, as I find it the more interesting option. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
September 7, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Much love to you for the upcoming wedding! Hope you two have a blast. Looking forward to return. As to the caramel/chocolate question, I don’t believe I’ve ever found a suitable answer! 🙂
September 8, 2009 at 10:03 am
Congratulations, and all the best for the big day!!
Looking forward to your return. I vote chocolate 🙂
September 8, 2009 at 2:09 pm
CARAMEL of course!
But if you can, GREEN TEA would be awesome, too. Or something totally appropriate like pumpkin. 🙂
September 8, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Congratulations and I wish you luck in getting everything ready for your wedding. 🙂 My pick is caramel–it just seems like a great choice for fall.
September 9, 2009 at 2:27 am
I hope you have a great wedding and honeymoon and am looking forward to more culinary delights on your return! 🙂
I vote caramel! I love chocolate, but I get sick of it sometimes.
September 9, 2009 at 4:39 am
Why not both? lol It’s hard to pick, but I think chocolate is more versatile than caramel. I vote for chocolate.
And of course… Congratulations! Have a wonderful day and an even better honeymoon.
September 9, 2009 at 9:14 am
Congrats to you and all the best wishes your way!!! 🙂 Enjoy the special time and honeymoon. Look forward to hearing about it when you return.
I’d love to hear more about your own personal caramel creations!
September 9, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Congratulation!! Have a great wedding and wonderful honeymoon. My vote is for chocolate.
September 9, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Coucou, c’est Olivier, le mari de Mme. Kugelhopf Kerrin. Je vote pour le chocolat, meme si ma femme va me taper tres fort. Gros bisous, Olivier
September 10, 2009 at 7:04 am
Bonjour, Olivier! Comment ça va!? Bold move voting for chocolate … you know, as votre beau femme adore le caramel! Hope I didn’t butcher that – too much! P.S. Coucou??
September 10, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I’d like to step in here…! I clearly have to have a petit chat with my husband this evening! 😉 Sneaky guy. Not that I asked him to vote for caramel or anything! haha!
Coucou – the word actually means a cuckoo clock, but it’s used in everyday language to say – hi! hey! Just think of the little birdie coming out at midnight, <> Or if you hide your eyes and then say peek-a-boo to a child, you’d say coucou in French. Voila.
Merci by the way – “ta belle femme” would have been the perfect to write it.
September 10, 2009 at 2:08 am
Congratulations 🙂 Have a great day and enjoy your honeymoon! I’ll go for caramel…
September 10, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!! May your marriage be perfect. Happy Honeymoon for a Honey.
My vote goes to caramel.
September 11, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Congratulations! Hope the day goes well for you and remember to take a breath and savour the day because it goes by way too quickly! Have a wonderful honeymoon too!
I choose chocolate – I’m a huge chocolate fan! Look forward to the recipes and more of your stunning photos when you get back! 🙂
September 11, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Wonderful that you are taking a month off. Hope the wedding day goes perfectly for you and the BH.
I go for caramel since I it is uncommon ingredient in my baking skill set.
September 13, 2009 at 4:18 am
caramel definitely as I love the flavor but don’t see much variation in its dessert appearances. so please do! hehe.
September 13, 2009 at 5:20 am
I’d love to be able to read about caramel, because it’s one of my favourite things to work with in the kitchen and the possibilities with it seem so much more exciting than chocolate, to me at least.
Well, unless they were combined…
I hope you have a great time on your well deserved break!
September 13, 2009 at 11:09 am
Julia, caramel AND chocolate, preferably milk. OK, I’m going by MY favorites, but either sounds wonderful. I’m so happy for you, even though you’re a Red Sox fan..LOL ;D
OK, if I were to choose one, it would definitely be the caramel, since the creative factor with hard and soft, plus the uniqueness of the flavor for a fancy cake, is absolutely fantastic. How many caramel wedding cakes do you see? People usually choose chocolate, and you could always add chocolate in some form or another.
September 14, 2009 at 12:14 am
Congratulations Julia. Down to single didgits is CLOSE! Have a wonderful wonderful time at your wedding, and the honeymoon. Can’t wait to see you back in October. Much love & sunshine & hugs from here!
O BTW…I’ll go the caramel way. New avenues always excite me & from you, we’ll get only the very best!
September 14, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’m going for caramel because I’ve always failed in that department. Would be great to get tips and advices from you! 😀
Oh and much much much love and congratulations!!!
September 15, 2009 at 4:39 am
Congratulations, Julia! Have a wonderful wedding and the most romantic honeymoon, and the Happiest Ever After!
September 16, 2009 at 9:05 am
Oh hands down Caramel…Felicitations to your wedding! Don’t forget to post photos! Have you decided on ur wedding macarons yet? im sure they’ll be perfect…
September 16, 2009 at 10:38 am
Best wishes to you and your fiance on your wedding day, Julia! I hope you will share some photos with us. I look forward to reading your posts in October. I choose caramel.
September 16, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Hello Julia~ ~ ~I vote for Caramel! When I think of fall I think of the caramel covered apples we buy at the local farmers fairs. I love them covered with peanuts!
Best Wishes for an amazing wedding!
~ ~Ahrisha~ ~
September 18, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Dear Julia,
Congratulations on your wedding! Have a lovely honeymoon and come back relaxed and rested.
We miss you and your wonderful pastries.
PS: I’m more a chocolate person 🙂
September 19, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Congratulations & Rich Blessings for your marriage and hopefully your honeymon was as “wonderfully relaxing” as you predicted.
My vote = caramel
September 21, 2009 at 7:23 am
As an autumn taste, I’d pick caramel over chocolate. It’s taste goes so well with apples or even pumpkins…
Chocolate is interesting, but already widely used and known.
So my vote: caramel!
September 23, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I don’t like caramel, but there can never be too much chocolate for me. So its chocolate, chocolate and chocolate! 🙂
September 27, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Have a lovely honeymoon.
I vote for caramel x
September 28, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I vote for caramel 🙂
October 1, 2009 at 12:05 am
[…] month (with a 3-1 vote by Mélanger readers!), I will be tackling caramel and exploring what mouth-watering treats I can […]
October 22, 2009 at 6:55 am
[…] my caramel or chocolate vote, although caramel was crowned the clear victor, there were many requests for a chocolate and […]