My adventures with macarons

Have you noticed this little French cookie is everywhere now?  I have.  This is the display at the Paper Source in Dedham, MA.  Macaron madness.  I was ecstatic to see this when I entered the store because I was there looking for a gift boxes for mailing my homemade macarons.  Clearly there would be a bounty of options!  I even stopped the friendly sales lady and made her look at the pictures of my very own macarons. (conveniently 6 were on my iphone) and she spent a full two seconds looking at them. I was tempted to tell her that it took me eight hours to make them and that she should really give them more than a passing glance, but she was sweet and the store was busy, and it really was my fault that I had macaron on the brain.

Last month when Reid & I were in NYC, I spied some of these beauties at FP Patisserie in the Plaza Hotel.  They were a little spendy for a cookie, ($2.50 a cookie) but one of the options was the little green pistachio one and I LOVE PISTACHIOS so I bought a half dozen.

First off, some macaron 101.  A macaron isn't the the weird coconut cookie that you find at the supermarket.  You know the one. It looks like this.  That one is pronounced mac - a - roooooon.  I don't know how that cookie got to where it is, but I'm actually angry at that cookie for confusing so many people.  When I told my girlfriend I was making macarons she said, "I don't like coconut!"  Uggghhh! These aren't coconut!  The one I am talking about is this pretty and delicate little sandwich cookie made with almond flour and egg whites.  You can find them in bakery cases and they are usually in a rainbow of colors.  This French cookie should be pronounced mac- a- ron.  (although if you say that and you are NOT French you may just sound ridiculous, but do it -- lest everyone is confused) The fillings for a macaron will vary of course, but the pistachio ones are my favorite.  I ate those six cookies from FP Patisserie before I got back home to Canton but needless, to say, they were on my mind for weeks.

I googled like crazy for recipes.  There are a lot of macaron recipes out there.  The common denominator in all the recipes is that these cookies can drive you to drink. (As if I need a driver) They are finicky.  You need to weigh your ingredients.  The egg whites have to be prepared just so.  You need stiff peaks.    Also, your oven needs to be perfectly calibrated and you need to know how to pipe batter. Then, if by some miracle the cookies come out ok with a perfect convex dome and a nice crusty "foot" on the bottom, you've got the filling to contend with! (For this you will need ingredients that aren't easy to find, some may need to be ordered if you're not willing to spend hours slaving. My homemade pistachio paste took two hours to make. I needed a candy thermometer and a mortar and pestle but I persevered and it was delicious.  The filling procedure would need to be a post of its own and I think would bore you to tears.  Just add 5 stars to my crown and read on) But what the hell. I was up for the task. It was going to snow all day on Sunday, why not?  Football season is over.  I spent two days finding all the ingredients and I took a stab at macarons.  Here are my findings. 

Weight not volume.
First off, you NEED a digital scale to weigh your ingredients. This is not optional. I own one, so that was fine.  I don't mind weighing, but it takes some time of course.  The recipe called for 100g of egg whites (not 5 or 6 egg whites)  I was a gram over as you can see.  I also weighed the castor sugar (that's just superfine sugar) almond flour, and confectioners sugar.  Those are the only ingredients in the cookie base.   I'll post the recipe at the bottom or better yet here is a link to the youtube video.  I watched this 27 times. (This woman from The Joy of Baking rocks.)   

Stiff peaks.
You will whip the egg whites til they are frothy. That takes about 1 minute, then you add the sugar in thirds and whip those til you have STIFF peaks.  What is a stiff peak?  Well, I learned via video and am willing to share.  Stop the mixer and take off the whisk attachment.  Smash whisk down into the mixture a few times then pull it out and turn it so the egg whites are facing upwards.  That pointy "beak" of egg white needs to be pointing straight up and STAY up!  If it bends down, you've got a beak and need to keep mixing.  Here is my stiff peak.  It took about 7 minutes of mixing.

Piping.
Of course the recipe calls for mixing and folding etc. (watch the video, that woman did a great job explaining) But the final obstacle was piping batter onto cookie sheets.  I'm a very inexperienced piper.  It is important that all the cookies are identical in size because in the end they are sandwiches. I give myself a C+ in piping.  See my trays?  They yellow cookies were too lumpy.  I moved the ziploc bag too much.  The green ones are better, but some are too large. When I did the pink ones, (after I took this picture) I was much improved on my piping, but that batter was more runny and when the cookies settled they ended up much bigger that I though they would be.  I had some GIANT macarons, not really what you are looking for.

Here's me sandwiching a batch cookies with my homemade white-chocolate-pistachio-ganache!  It was amazing.  See it in the little casserole tray. I've never made a ganache before but this one "set-up" perfectly.  (that's what you want when your making ganache - you need it to set.)

As you can see, at this point I was on the wine.  And yes, I drink wine out of a rocks glass.

Do you like my apron?  My friend Karen said it was very June Cleaver.  Well I'll tell you one thing, it was very messy by the time the evening was over.

So here's a shot at the final product.  I was pretty happy with the results.  See how the pink ones are too big?  Also, I think I'd use more yellow food coloring - they were very pale!  I keep scrolling up to the display at Paper Source. Theirs were SO pretty!  As far as taste, I think mine were right on.  The yellow ones were filled with a store bought lemon curd and the green and pink both had the pistachio ganache.

I was horrified to get home from work on Tuesday and see two big pink ones each with a tiny bite out of them in my rubbish barrel.  Apparently my son and his friends, do not like macarons!  Oh well, more for me! Be well Montanans. 

 

  

How to be prepared...my way

This weekend, starting on Friday, the East Coast had a "major snow event."  This is me and how I feel today after all the snow blowing, shoveling, cooking and cleaning and confinement-- with a mess of teenagers in my house all weekend. I'm a snow corpse.  School is cancelled for tomorrow too.  I'm tired just thinking of another day.  Please stray teens who are in my house, go home.  

Part of any snow storm is the getting prepared part.  There are things you need to do.  The problem is that more and more these storms are hyped and overproduced. Now they even name them, like Hurricanes! (This one was called NEMO, after the Captain not the Fish -- I think)  I've been fooled many times by the storm that's suppose to dump 20 inches and only leaves 2!  It's like the boy who calls wolf, over and over and on every channel at 4, 6 and 11. Its hard for me to commit.

But with this storm, the media was SO persistant that this was going to be EPIC (yes one announcer said EPIC three times during his segment) I decided to believe.  So once you committ, there are some things you need to do. 

My number one concern is always food.  Because food...you should know....is important to me.  You should have plenty of food.  Stuff that will be easy to cook if you lose power and if possible stuff that can hold warm a long time like chili in a crock pot or beef stew.  This also means lots of snacky food, fruit and vegetables, and dips. You want to have plenty of eggs and milk too.  Although I'm not sure why.  I get the eggs part, but why the milk?  I don't suddenly want milk during a snowstorm.  But eggs can be breakfast, lunch or dinner, and you can go through a dozen fast. (especially with teens in the morning for breakfast)

What else.  You need to have a gas tank filled in your garage for the snowblower.  You also need to make sure you can START the snowblower.  And that there is a clear path for the snowblower to get out of the garage.

You should make sure you have laundry soap.  Because you'll be stuck inside and you may as well wash all the sheets and dirty clothes. 

Make sure your oil tank is filled. (that's how my house gets heated)

Oh firewood.  You want to make sure you have a lot of firewood.  I had a cord delivered about a month ago so I am totally set there.

You need at least one flashlight that has good batteries.  Make sure it works.

And booze. 

I like to have a good cache of red and white wine.  And some whiskey and beer.  I bought some Bullet Rye and some extra vermouth, for in case I wanted to make some Manhattans. 

Oh and plenty of reading magazines, I like foodie ones.  And a book to read.  (Remember if you lose power you also lose TV)

If you've done most of this, you are WAY ready.  Knowing where your snowpants are stored, as well as your hats and gloves and boots --all that would be helpful, but isn't super essential.  You can find all that stuff during your confinement.   Here's me with a glove that is bigger than my head and a pair of snowpants that are size CHILD 16. 

And there are some steps above that I skipped.  You'll manage.

Nobody's perfect.
 

Over-thought-out thoughts on Manhattans

What can I say about my favorite drink? Last night, I mixed up some of these classics. They were perfectly balanced with the right amount of heat AND sweet, served at an excellent temperature in the perfect glassware. You can't go wrong by learning to make this one.  It's the one (in my opinion) you should have in your wheelhouse.  Like perfectly roasting a chicken and tying a Windsor knot, just learn it.  Trust me. 

So what can I say about this drink, well, maybe a lot.


I'm a purist when it comes to the Manhattan. I'm somewhat hesitant to share my recipe because it's so damn easy and I'll be outed like the Great OZ.  But, here goes.
First off there are only 3 ingredients in a Manhattan.
Whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. 

Whiskey:  The whiskey should be rye or bourbon. (If you need to know the difference please google.  Basically rye is made from rye and bourbon is made from corn, and rye is more potent, and there are tons of varieties of BOTH out there)  I like Knob Creek small batch rye but there are lots of ryes out there and you can choose your favorite. Whatever you use make sure it's over 80 proof.  It makes a difference! That heat you feel on the back of your throat when you sip, that's the alcohol! And it's required.

Vermouth: The vermouth should be the red kind.  Sweet.  (again google if you need more info, but in a nutshell vermouth is a fortified wine, made from grapes - so some is white and some is red, surprise!)  Some people make a Manhattan with a mix of half sweet and half dry vermouth.   There is a trend in bars to call this "Perfect" hence you'll see "Perfect Martinis" and "Perfect Manhattans"  Again, I'm a purist.  I'm all about sweet.  If your liquor store doesn't carry sweet vermouth, switch stores.  It's everywhere.

Bitters:  I often say "I know how to drive a car but I don't know how to build one." So I fall on my sword here with the bitters.  I have no idea why, but the bitters are angostora. If you find out why, please let me know in a comment. Buy the small bottle (on the right side of this picture wrapped in paper just like your Worcestershire sauce) and keep in in your liquor cabinet.  It's like club soda and a cork screw. It just should be there.  See note on liquor store and availability above.

Putting the drink together requires only a little love and the tiniest bit of time.  I use a measuring cup if I'm somewhere that has one.  If I'm making them at a cookout on someones back porch (umm, David?) I use my eyes and good judgement.  By the third or fourth round, sometimes judgement slips.  That's another post altogether.  You need some implement to stir and some ice.  And of course, a glass. 

So let's talk glassware.  When I googled Manhattan Drink and looked at the google image results I was disturbed.  Look at all the triangle glasses here.  Only one rocks glass on the bottom row and that isn't even a Manhattan in there (I'll explain later.)  So I've put it out there MANY times that I hate on the triangle martini glass.  They are clumsy and sloshy and spilly.  I've been known to ask a bartender what type of glass he's intending on using and then asking him to change,. You are allowed to do this you know!  If I'm at a bar and I'm suspicious, I'll just add to my order, can you please pour that in a rocks glass? It's not a huge deal.  (It's like getting your salad dressing on the side maybe)  The downside of a rocks glass is that they are often too big.  You're looking for a 5 oz glass or so.  My preference is the COUPE glass.  If you see champagne being poured, and it's not in a flute, it's probably in one of these.  They are rumored (I don't think this is true) to have been molded from Marie Antionette's breasts.  Isn't that something?  Again, that's stuff for another post.  Besides the breast thing, I like the coupe because its the perfect size and holding the stem doesn't warm up the drink too fast.     

Put your glasses in the freezer before you start to assemble the drink.  I won't hate on you if all you have is a martini glass, but maybe for Christmas, put some nice coupe glasses on your Santa list?
Now the recipe:

• 2 oz of whiskey
• 1oz of vermouth
• Three good shakes from the angostura bitters (I don't mean 3 drops, three SHAKES)

Put these ingredients into a pint glass, measuring cup, or cocktail shaker and add 4 or 5 ice cubes.  STIR
Do NOT SHAKE. A Manhattan is never shaken!  It may get the drink to the same coldness as stirring, but it will be cloudy and ugly.   I use these chopsticks that I have (they are in the picture above) but use whatever. If you own a bar spoon that came with that cocktail kit from Brookstone, use that. Just stir with your wrist about 50 times.  It's ok to count, or not.  Then strain that good & cold stuff into the coupe that you've just retrieved from your freezer.  Add a maraschino cherry and you are done.  (you will sometimes see a lemon rind twist come out from behind the bar too, but usually that's when dry not SWEET vermouth is used.  I already said, I'm a purist.)  

Some helpful maybe tips when bar ordering. 
Depending on where you are, there are some things you may want to do when you order these out.
First, look at the bar.  Do you see the brown liquor?  Do you see something you know or like?  Are the options very limited? You can call out your base.  I'd like a Makers Mark Manhattan please. Totally acceptable.

You MAY want to instruct your bartender that you want the drink served up.  (strained into glass with no ice) A good bartender will know this. Remember that picture with the google images?  The rocks glass had ice cubes in it, Manhattans are not served on the rocks.  (I don't know what that drink is, but if it's served on ice, it's not a Manhattan) This is also where you may want to think about what glass he/she is grabbing off the shelf.  Maybe you like like the triangle? (bleck)  It's your drink AND your call.

And remember, if you see that term perfect, it usually means the ratio of sweet to dry vermouth. If the bartender responds with a shrug and  "I'll try" and thinks you meant "perfect quality" you may want to stop him/her in his tracks.

And if your bartender is wearing a nametag (or a button that says Please tip the Bartender) you may want to just order a Heineken instead.

Happy cocktail-ing, in moderation of course.  

I may have a problem with lipstick

So I have a thing about lipstick.   I wear (and OWN) a lot of it.  More on that later.  Let's talk generalities.  After an exhaustive study into the history of lipstick (ok, I googled, followed three reasonably sane links and read the ENTIRE Wiki page), it seems that I am not alone.

Did you know that Cleopatra wore lipstick?  Yes, she did and it looks like she wore plenty of whorish eye makeup too.  Of course the pigment was from dead beetles and other unmentionables that were crushed in a mortar and pestle and applied painstakingly for hours - but still, it counts!  (One site said her lipstick was toxic --unsure if that is reliable info. but still worth a mention) 

I'm not sure how my lipstick "thing" started.  As a young tomgirl, my mom & dad would go out nearly every Saturday night.  I would sit in the Aqua-net cloud in her bathroom and watch mom get ready. There were a lot of steps in the procedure--basically everything from the cabinet under her sink came out-- and I'd zone out (from fumes probably) doing a word search but I do remember the final step, it was lipstick. Once that was on, she opened the bathroom door and was ready to go.  It was magical to see my mom wearing lipstick. She was transformed. I didn't think of mom like that. It was such a special occasion pretty thing, & it came from that golden tube she slipped effortlessly into her purse.  It was an Estee Lauder lipstick. I wish I knew the shade but I definitely know the smell.  

Anyhow,  fast forward 30 years and I love to wear lipstick too.  But not just when I go out on a date.  Every day. I feel naked without it.  Here's a shot of the lipstick and lip gloss in my pocketbook today, Jan 29.  Is this too many? 

OK realistically the ORANGE, may have been a mistake.  The Laura Mercier and the Channel are special occasion lips. The former is a sassy red that you really need red-lip-attitude to pull off. But I hatve that. The Channel is a classy (with a C not K) neutral that reminds me of Clare Danes lips from Season 1 of Homeland.  The Mary Kay was a gift from my sweetheart friend Laura in Atlanta who mailed it to me with a note that said "well you're always complimenting me on it, here's your own"  All the Diors go over another color and serve to change it completely. The downside of the Diors is they DO get on my teeth (yes the picture above) and if I'm going to wear them, I need a companion for the night who will check in on me periodically and be honest and willing to do the subtle finger over his/her front teeth in a faux brushing move at any given point.

Me and the fabulous P7!

The Shisheido (which is barely showing in the back) is my favorite.  It is the creamiest loveliest lipstick.  It stays on great.  Mostly on my lips (remember the picture above).  The color is P7. Which leads me to my only problem with this brand, they don't name the shades. How can I rave about P7.  That just sounds silly!  I also love S8.  See that's ridiculous, no ones going to run to the Shisheido counter and say "I must get a tube of S8"  Here is a shot of me wearing P7, and it's not even on my teeth or my face.  Which brings me to the final word on lipstick.

Where lipstick is concerned, the important thing is not color, but to accept God's final word on where your lips end. ~Jerry Seinfeld


 

My inner yogi - she's in there, somewhere.

This is my least favorite time of year. Not only is football season over in February (no matter what team you root for) but it's that month when I really start to feel doughy.

In winter, one million plus years of evolution tell me to slow down, conserve energy, pack on the pounds because food may be scarce. This is in my genetic code just as sure as my brown hair and green eyed genes are there.  But, I live in a center entrance colonial - not a cave dwelling.  Luckily food is not scarce. The markets are all still open selling the same fabulous stuff they were selling last week and the week before. And I've been eating it all! Starting around Thanksgiving and working toward Feb 1st, I'm a blob.  And as my metabolism slows down to a snails slow crawl, my middle starts to get thick.  And some time in February I have a revelation that I need to get moving again.  This year I checked in a little early, (the end of January) because either my clothes were all shrinking, or....yep...  

So what to do?  I really like running.  It's easy.  It's freeing.  IT'S FREE!  But when it's 2 degrees out, I just can't.  And the thought of getting on a treadmill just makes me feel too much like someone's pet hamster.  So, I decided for the next few weeks I'm going to do YOGA.  I was pretty hooked on yoga about 5 years ago. It did amazing things to my body.  I was going to several classes a week & could stand on my head and do backbends. (Kris calls it a bridge, whatever!)  I stopped going mostly because you have to be organized for yoga.  You need to know what level class you're going to take and sign up in advance and have the right clothes ready and all that stuff that I NEVER need to think about as a runner.  This may be difficult I know. I don't have the right yoga stuff.  And last night I noticed my yoga mat really stinks! 

But I'm taking the challenge for the next 5 weeks.  I'm meeting a group of my high school girlfriends in INDY in March, & I'd like to feel good for it.  Yoga makes me feel strong physically AND mentally.  I'm such a beginner.  I love that it's called a practice. I try not to spend time looking around to see what everyone else can or can't do - it gives me pangs of inferiority & superiority that aren't productive.  

My favorite part of yoga is this thing called Shavasana when you lie like a corpse and you clear your mind completely.  It’s difficult for me.  My mind is spinning.  What did I leave in the dryer?  Who am I picking up later? I've got something stuck between my teeth, is that pork?  I had pork yesterday?  Wait....stop...clear your mind.  It's hard.  You're very vulnerable with your eyes closed lying on a mat like that all splayed out.  What if someone has a hammer and hits me in the forehead with it?  (See. I watch too much crime television.) It's hard to let all your thoughts go and to think about nothing.  It's hard to feel that full relaxation.  If a thought comes you just try to let it drift off.  I use ocean waves as helpers.  If something comes into my brain I let an ocean wave wash it away. Sometimes hurried people get up and leave class before this part to get a jump on the commute.  But SHAVASANA is the dessert of any yoga class!   I feel bad for those people leave early.  Are they thinking, ok well the workout part is done and I sweated my tail off, and I can't waste any more time in here hanging out in corpse pose.  Man they are really missing out.

Sometimes my heart gets all full and my eyes water during shavasana.  Seriously I've wept.  It's crazy, and you may feel a little silly.  But then its just you and your mat and God.  Nothing to feel silly about. I've read it happens to a lot of people.  I don’t know why, and I probably don’t need to analyze it.  
 
It’s my soul I'm sure of it.  Thanking me. 
     

Finding a Silver Lining...back to the blog

I'm back blogging, how's that for a silver lining?

Well after a long hiatus which included a trip to Ireland, I'm back.

I know, I know, a blogger who doesn't post for 3 months is hardly a blogger.  I know....I fail.  But I'm picking myself up, finding the silver lining and getting back on this horse.

So that was a perfect segue to Silver Linings Playbook. I posted an image above.  I just went to see it the other night and loved it.  I wasn't sold on it before buying my ticket by ANY means.  I'm not really a believer in Bradley Cooper. But man, it was good.  It's hard to give a synopsis of the movie because it's just about this football loving family with problems and the strategies they take to deal with these obstacles. 

Jennifer Lawrence is really amazing in it.  Here's my favorite line.  She says it with such a raw harsh honesty it shocked me. 

I was a big slut, but I'm not any more. There's always going to be a part of me that's sloppy and dirty, but I like that. With all the other parts of myself. Can you say the same about yourself fucker? Can you forgive? Are you any good at that?

Just go see it and tell me what you think.  Maybe I liked it so much because I'm a football fan and there's a lot of NFL joo-joo in the film.  Robert DeNiro plays the book making father of Bradley Cooper - the down and out bi-polar jock son who is dealing with his wife leaving him and a complete mental collapse.  Ok, no spoilers, but with a title like Silver Linings Playbook it's really no surprise that you get to leave the theater smiling.

I could post about my AMAZING guitar skills!  (I've been teaching myself this past year you know)
Here she is.... I'm actually just barely getting to where what I'm doing sounds like music.

This weekend a friend of mine let me borrow an amp.  Now I can play LOUD!  It's pretty amazing.  There are chords that I said, I will NEVER be able to master that (the G) that I can play blindfolded now.  Its crazy how your fingers just start to have a memory!

I'm currently working hard on the B minor chord.  It's got a bar in it. (Which means you use one finger to cover up several strings, in B minor case it's five strings)  I think once I can master the B minor, it will be all about learning to strum.  And overcoming this ugly thing that happens when I try to sing I lose ALL sense of rhythm.  It's very strange.



Ok, my commitment is to post one blog per week for the next 52 weeks. 

Butcher, baker, candlestick maker......ship broker?

So last week I found a few really cool things at my work.  Probably not really cool if you're a roadie or a rock star, but pretty cool for me!  It was a box of OLD STUFF.  Old bills and receipts and diaries that belonged to the man who lived in this house, actually his father.

The best thing is this business card.  How totally cool is the occupation? SHIP BROKER. For real. Check out the phone number -- it's just a three digit number.  Manchester123 This was from back in the days when you'd pick up the phone and there would be an operator on the other line, and she would press a cable into a switchboard box and connect you to a home somewhere up or down the road.

I know about Manchester 123 because recently while giving a lecture a woman stopped me at the end of it and told me a little story.  Apparently, back in the 40s the benefactress of my property (Mildred) used to make a phone call every night at 9pm.  The extension Manchester 123. Its been the working title of my novel about Mildred and her 42 year courtship with Locke Allen. This will be a whole separate blog post because the story of Mil & Locke merits many more words than is available now.  

But back to the box of old stuff.  Here's a bill for horseshoeing and blacksmithing.
Dated paid 1916.  Can you imagine having that in your current Bank of America billpay?

Or here's another for fine footwear. Wait, here is the entire bill.  He bought mocassins and oxfords all for 3 dollars!  What a deal.  I just love all this old stuff.  I also have a little diary from 1908 but it's so hard to read the scripty writing!

And I found a bunch of grocery bills from 1915.  You know what people bought in 1915?  Sugar, lard, pork, flour, yeast, spaghetti.....on almost every bill.  I know people spent lots more time in the kitchen back then.  No microwaves, no fast food dinners....but life still seemed simpler.  A business card with two words -- SHIP BROKER.