“On the top rack is a cooled and decorated seven-layered 'opera' cake. Her client- the Peruvian ambassador- had requested a "tropical" theme… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“The first time Avis knelt on a chair and stirred eggs into flour to make a vanilla cake, she had an inkling… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“A cookie, Avis told her children, is a soul. She held up the wafer, its edges shimmering with ruby-dark sugar. "You think… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“For this cake, I want to mingle the womanly and masculine foods- sugars and meats in particular. The walls must come down.… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Avis named her business Paradise Pastry because she imagined cathedrals. She thought about the stonemasons, glassblowers, sculptors- who gave lifetimes to the… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Years ago, when she'd studied the constructions of stem, blade, stamen, ovule, she loved the infinite possibilities of the plant kingdom- but… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“She considers a tray of flaky 'jesuites,' their centers redolent of frangipani cream, decorated with violet buds preserved in clouds of black… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Avis puts aside the 'Saint-Honore' and decides to embark on a new pastry. She's assembling ingredients when the phone rings in the… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“But Stanley persisted in the kitchen, performing the small yet demanding apprentice's tasks she set for him- removing the skin from piles… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“This morning's pastry poses challenges. To assemble the tiny mosaic disks of chocolate flake and candied ginger, Avis must execute a number… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Deep, fluting emotions were a form of weakness. She'd seen the softening in her work over the years, she'd started making the… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“I mean, he could blow old Capitalist-Stevie here away." Felice doesn't respond. She pulls the backs of her ankles in close to… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“It's been over a year since they've visited their son's market. As they walk through the parking lot they take in a… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“As she piped rosettes, docked a sheet of dough, or doused a tart with sanding sugar, another world occurred on the doorstep.… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Propped on a small easel she uses for orders and ingredient lists is a request for a 'gateau Saint-Honore' bearing the legend… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“He had a satisfying wholeness about him, American good looks like a baseball player's- level shoulders, a pale shock of hair. A… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“She collects a tray from the kitchen: arranges almond and mango cream puffs, brown sugar lace cookies, and miniature napoleons of vanilla… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Flour and yolk and cream are all coarse- of the earth. But sugar and air and vanilla are elements of the firmament.… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
If you only write for 15 minutes at a time, you can write a book and still have time for Legos. — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“The streets of Aqaba are shell spirals and, on summer nights, crowded and complicated as a woman's heart.” — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
I'm constantly at war with myself to quit goofing around, and the internet hasn't helped that any. I've learned that I have to be… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“Sometimes when she lies awake her body feels as finely made as a tuning fork. She can hear and smell the most delicate things,… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
The daily writing practice is something I used to hear batted around a lot in writing workshops - which is probably why I dropped… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“...tasting a piece of bread that someone bought is like looking at that person, but tasting a piece of bread that they baked is… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“She thinks of Stanley's colored pencil drawings of theoretical businesses: a cafe, a bookshop, and, always, a grocery store. When she was ten and… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“The loneliness of the arab is a terrible thing; it is all consuming. It is already present like a little shadow under the heart… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“She's been scouted by Ford and Elite- real New York agencies. Micah, the agent for Elite- a tall black guy in silver eyeliner- said… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
“On the top rack is a cooled and decorated seven-layered 'opera' cake. Her client- the Peruvian ambassador- had requested a "tropical" theme for a… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
Here is something you have to understand about stories: They point you in the right direction but they can't take you all the way… — Diana Abu-Jaber Copy Share Image
