Posts Tagged "macarons"
Birthdaying it up all around town
Now that I’ve officially been 29 for two days now [as of the fifth], I decided it was time to start doing things that 29 year olds do. Mainly things like curling my hair.
I know what you’re thinking: curling my hair isn’t something specific to 29 year olds. Especially now when my 20 year old sister curls her hair all the time. But I don’t always curl my hair and really, it never really became a MUST DO for me. Some days I feel the need to fancy up my hair and my birthday was one of those days, and it turned out fabulously. And I’m honestly thinking of doing it more often. Partly because my hair actually looks pretty good curled and because my new flat iron is the shiz.
But back to my birthday. I had a lot of fun. I met up with a high school friend for dinner [the other one bailed because he had pink eye. I scoffed] and we had a fabulous time talking and eating our way through the special tasting menu. We both ordered it and shared so we got to try everything. Quite the delicious approach. Our dinner probably would have been better had the mother at the other end of the banquette was better able to manage her kids. It looked like she was overmatched: one kid was running around up and down the bench and nearly ran into me several times and the other was just wandering around the area. I tried really hard not to give her the stink eye but seriously? Teach your kids how to properly behave in public and maybe you won’t be so stressed out when you do take them out. Plus, the rest of us would really, really appreciate it.
My favorite part of the day was the first half that I spent with my mom in Yountville and Napa. We stopped at Bouchon Bakery for birthday macarons and a brioche roll [butterilicious]. We hadn’t planned on doing anything else but since the weather was beautiful and we didn’t have to be anywhere just then, we ended up having an impromptu picnic at the Vintage Estate Marketplace across the street. The Pavilion is gorgeous area that actually is a dedicated wedding venue that we both fell in love with. I would totally have our wedding here if it wouldn’t have eaten up just about our entire wedding budget.
Anywho, while we were snacking and chatting, we spotted celebrity chef Michael Chiarello meandering by; makes sense because his restaurant, Bottega, is located there, along with his store, NapaStyle. My mom spotted him first and we both kind of sat there and tried really hard not to stare at him. And then on our way out of the plaza, we walked by him. He said hello and nodded and I totally chickened out on asking for a picture even though my mom was ready to run him down for me and totally would have if I let her [what can I say, she loves her daughters]. She totally geeked out that he looked at her and nodded. It was the cutest thing ever; she was so excited. For a moment I slightly regretted not asking for a picture [and yes, I was prepared to play the birthday card] but sometimes I wonder if celebrities are relieved when they don’t have to make idle chit chat with fans and pose for pictures and can just go about their merry little ways. So really, I was doing HIM a favor.
You hear that Michael Chiarello? You’re welcome.
Read MoreI see the light
At the height of the cupcake revolution, someone somewhere [read: I don't remember where I saw it] proclaimed the French macaron as the new cupcake. Now, I’ve been on cupcakes since I first learned of their awesome existence because I’m freakishly obsessed with cake so I wasn’t really feeling the whole new proclamation [I believe I scoffed when I first read that] and wrote it off. Because, really? A macaron? It’s just a pretentious cookie. A pretentious cookie that looks like Spongebob’s Pretty Patty.
But then the macaron just about exploded all over my computer. I was seeing them EVERYWHERE. On Yumsugar, Tastespotting, Serious Eats, everywhere and suddenly I became obsessed with making them, even though they do have a reputation of being temperamental, but that made me want to try it even more. Taming the diva of cookies? Who doesn’t want to do that?
I rolled the idea in my head for a while and then finally decided that I should probably try them out before making them, just so I knew what to expect. So I stumbled to the Ferry Building and picked up a few macarons from Miette: rose, chocolate, vanilla and I think strawberry. I forget since this was a few years ago. I was excited: I’d finally be able to try this dessert I had been hearing so much about and was sure I would like.
I took a bite and: nothing. They were not good. Well, that’s not true. They were just okay. The cookie was overwhelmingly meringuey and dry and just not appealing. Lindsey and I were not impressed and I was thoroughly disappointed. No way could this cookie be the next cupcake.
And so I dismissed the macaron and gave up on making them. Why would I make something that I wasn’t so excited about?
Then during our St. Helena eating tour I decided to give the macaron another shot while at Bouchon Bakery. And oh my goodness. Thomas Keller, you have made me a believer. I finally understood the deliciousness of the macaron. The cookie is light and chewy and totally not meringuey like the ones from Miette. It was just sweet enough and before I knew it, it was gone.
Oh Thomas Keller, how I love your heavenly macarons
Since then, I have become slightly obsessed with Bouchon’s macarons. So much that I’ve developed a sort of Pavlovian response to them. Especially with Bouchon only being a 30 minute drive from the house, it’s really easy [and tempting] to pop on over on a whim for a macaron fix. Yes, I am now quite adept at driving to Yountville for macarons.
I want to be best friends with Chef Keller because he must be awesome to make such an amazing cookie. Oh, my mouth is watering just thinking about those macarons. While I’m not relinquishing the cupcake’s throne as of yet, I do totally welcome the macaron into the pantheon of desserts.
Can I have my macaron now?
Read MoreSnacking my way through Wine Country
I’m sometimes ashamed at how much of California I haven’t experienced. Yosemite? Haven’t been. Santa Barbara? Nope. Laguna Beach? Just making sure you’re still paying attention.
One of the closest of tourist destinations is the Napa Valley. Millions of people come from the ends of the world to traipse through the Wine Country to look at vineyards, taste wine and eat at the numerous frou-frou and fancy and delectable restaurants started by celebrity chefs. I live about 15 minutes from Napa and the last time I was really in the Napa Valley, I complained about how long of a drive it was from my house to St. Helena [it was about 45 minutes]. I’m a big, whiny baby, I know.
That said, I know there is so much more to the Wine Country than what I’ve seen and its really a shame that I haven’t taken the time to fully explore it like the most intrepid travelers do. I’m blessed that these places are so close that I can take them in at my leisure instead of trying to fit in as much as possible within a few days so it’s really sad that I haven’t taken advantage of my proximity. Heading up to the Napa Valley is easy and really, can be done on a whim. So why haven’t I done it? Not sure.
Tam took the wheel and drove us along highway 29 through the valley to show us some of the sights. Our first stop of the day was Dean & Deluca in St. Helena.
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Dean & Deluca is just a fancy schmancy specialty grocery store – though the cheese samples were infinitely better than most of the offerings at the local stores. I couldn’t help BUT comparison shop while I was wandering through the store. The biggest difference was that the vanilla bean paste I’ve come to love so much was $16 at D&D when I can pick up the same exact bottle for $11 at Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table!
My first snack of the day was this chocolate chip whoopie pie:
I was excited. A whoopie pie? Made out of chocolate chip cookies? Love! Except not. I was not impressed. I wasn’t sure what was going on with the middle layer; was it marshmallow? was it buttercream? was it edible? if it was edible, do I really want to eat it? No. I do not. The cookies were okay. They could have been better and I was really sad about the money Tam essentially wasted on it. I much preferred my own whoopie pies better. Needless to say, I never got around to finishing it.
We trudged on and landed in downtown St. Helena. It’s a cute little town area with tons of boutique shops. My favorite was Woodhouse Chocolate. When I saw the shop, my eyes lit up, immediately going back to the moment I tried the chocolate for the first time [hint: scroll to the bottom]. This chocolate, people, just get it. I know it’s expensive but it’s sooooo worth it. This will be the smoothest chocolate you’ve ever tasted. I was more than excited to introduce the family to the deliciousness and they were not disappointed. I’m drooling at the thought of getting more.
The nephew was starving by then so we made a stop at Gott’s Roadside for lunch. I had eaten at the Ferry Building site and was amped for the food. We ordered a mess of food and I was only one bite into my delicious chili cheese dog only to be struck with a full stomach. I couldn’t eat any more! I was so disappointed. Thankfully it was just as delicious warmed up later that day.
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Full from the burgers and fries and one bite of chili cheese dog, we headed back home, making a stop at Robert Mondavi Winery to look around.
Our final stop turned out to be a bit of a whim. We had decided to take the Silverado Trail back home and decided to stop in Yountville to make a trip to Bouchon Bakery. Sure I was too full to eat my chili cheese dog, but apparently that didn’t stop me from nearly knocking over the display case in the bakery. Classy.
I picked out a chocolate bouchon, which is essentially just a brownie [pretty much sums up my impression] and a raspberry macaron.
Had I known how amazing Thomas Keller’s macarons are, I would have gotten more than just one. The deliciousness really deserves its own post so I’ll just say that I ate mine and then ate some of Tammy’s. And tried to eat Lindsey’s. And have gone back twice within the past two weeks. And gotten two macarons each time. And ate them both within a day.
In all, it was a fun day and now I’m intent on “Eating the Wine Country.” Just thinking about all the eating and fine dining opportunities that await me makes me incredibly happy and excited. I’m turning 30 next year; I think I’m grown up enough to enjoy the occasional fine dining experience. There are tons of restaurants there that I am now chomping at the bit to try. I probably won’t eat at most of them, but if I can make my way through a good chunk, I’d be one happy camper. We’re already planning on saving our money so we can try the French Laundry next year [provided we're able to get reservations!] and I’m already eying Bouchon Bistro, Bistro Jeanty and maybe possibly Ad Hoc and Morimoto in Napa. Yes these places are not cheap at all but I have no problem saving my dollars for a good meal and honestly, if I can get a great meal and the experience of eating at these places, that would be worth it to me. It’s not like I’ll be eating there all the time.
They’re not Bouchon macarons, after all.
Read MoreI’ll be gone by the time you read this…
We are officially on the clock. Yay for early closures. I’m excited for the weekend that doesn’t involve too much outside hanging out with my aunt and making ice cream sandwiches. Oh yes I am. I’m really excited about that.
Maybe even a bit more than hanging out with my aunt. But I’m sure she’d understand.
Yesterday was actually a pretty decent day. My boss was out sick so I had to sit at her desk, but after work got interesting. I got out a bit early and when I walked to the bus stop, the line for the train I take back to the station was long. I don’t know what exactly was going on [besides the huge traffic backup on the bridge from earlier that afternoon due to a fire on Treasure Island] but there weren’t any trains coming. There was one scheduled in 20 minutes and another in 6 minutes but I didn’t even see anything going on at the station down the road and with all the frustrated people on the platform, I figured they had already been there for a really long time. So instead of waiting, I decided to walk.
It was a nice day so it wasn’t like I was going to hurt any for the walk. But the miraculous thing was, in the 20 minutes it took me to get from my stop to where the trains begin to go underground, I did not see a SINGLE train going downtown. I saw a few coming from downtown that were bunched together, meaning there was some kind of delay going on somewhere along in the tunnel but nothing getting me to the BART station. I was so glad I walked!
Plus, when I did get to the BART station, guess what I saw? Jamba Juice employees handing out free full-sized bottles of their new smoothie drinks. I actually THANKED Muni for being broken. Otherwise I would have completely missed the giveaway.
Oh and I didn’t get to mention this in my other post but I have one complaint about Paris Las Vegas: they didn’t sell any macarons. I was looking for them on Sunday before we left but was so disappointed. For a hotel that is based on Paris, France, with its replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe and an idyllic Parisian village and its crepes, they didn’t have a single macaron. I went into a couple patisseries and didn’t see any. They had a picture of some in one of them but none in the cases! There’s just no way you can painstakingly shrink both the tower and the arc to half it’s size and recreate a street and not be able to hire a Parisian baker to make macarons. I’ve seen Vegas…they go to no limit to create the best. Bad form Paris Las Vegas. Bad form.
You should work on that.
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