Macarons from Macarune

Black sesame. Chocolate. Fruity tea. Hazelnut brown butter. Honey lavender. Passionfruit. Pistachio. Pistachio rose. Raspberry. Vanilla bean. Surprise flavour - fruit gelee.



When Danielle annouced she would be organising Macarune’s first variety pack sale, I dropped whatever I was doing, made sure the boss wasn't looking and signed up on Facebook fastest-finger-first reserved a box, just short of signing off in blood or something just as fervid.

On the car ride home, I carried them cautiously, my arms bent at a 90-degree angle to secure them. K, who usually brakes at amber, decided not to for fear of disturbing the bounty in my arms.



Of course I could be completely biased by the fact that these were made by K's cousin, Chris's girlfriend, Danielle (phew) of Macarune fame... BUT these macarons were just some of the best macarons I've had. The smooth pearlish shell crust cracked open to reveal insides that were chewy by the seconds, stuffed with a lovely ratio of light buttercream.



The macarons were baked fresh, meaning the girl spent close to 9 hours everyday over the long weekend (what weekend?!) baking these babies. My sister said they were better than Pierre Herme and I can see why - macarons taste best when they are made with love.

Macarune
Email: macarune@gmail.com

Ruined by Macarune

We just couldn't wait.

We didn't even make it to the living room. Or home for that matter.



Our stash: Coconut crisp. Fruit & nut chocolate cookie. White chocolate and cranberries. TWG Earl Grey shortbread. Matcha shortbread and white chocolate. Chocolate fleur de sel sables. Hibicus macarons. White Russian macarons. Vanilla and raspberry macarons.

As soon as I got into the car, I opened up the box and gawked for a good 3 seconds before picking up a hibicus macaron. Weighing it as if it were a 10-carat engagement ring, I couldn't help but smile at the pomposity of the puffed-up macaron. There is something life-changing about eating macarons crammed full of buttercream, with the chewy meringue discs hanging on for dear life.



Filled with the sensual aroma of dried roselle and Persian rose tea, ithe hibiscus macaron provided a good 12 seconds of serious pleasure.



A newish-kid-on-the-block from Macarune's recent bake sale was the White Russian, inspired by the vodka and coffee liquor cocktail. Delicious but not potent enough to affect K, who was driving at the same time. Phew.



After dinner, my mum, a macaron non-believer, took a bite of the vanilla bean & raspberry macaron and said, "Mmm, they are better than these (points to Laduree sugar packet)."

It's funny to think that just 15 minutes ago, she was just telling me how macarons didn't do anything for her. I had decided not to argue with her... but to prove her wrong with hardcore evidence, as what people in her trade normally do.



When we went to pick up our bounty at the Pickup "Cookie + Cuppa Party", Danielle had put out florentines and citrus & camomile tea for everyone. Made with maple sugar, raisins, pistachios, walnuts and almonds, the florentines were irresistably good. The only not-so-great thing was I was thick enough to take one home for the ride.

O-N-E.

I can just imagine nut-freak Dad's utter look of disappointment. *Hides face in shame*

Macarune
Email: macarune@gmail.com

Warm, fuzzy Wednesday

Finally nailed down the design of my evening gown - nude tulle and vintage lace - thanks to Ann, my tailor. It feels really nice to have Ann do my gown since she has been making suits and gowns for my mum since I was a kid. I remember visting her atelier then, and she would always offer me pencils and paper to doodle fashion designs while I waited for my mum.

To make my Wednesday even sweeter. I received a bunch of DIY rose salted caramel macarons from Danielle. "DIY" because she bottled the salted caramel buttercream separately, so that the macaron shells stayed crisp. When the craving hits, all I have to do is apply the buttercream onto the rose shells.

Hmm that is what she said, I think. It was difficult to pay full attention as I was nibbling on her pistachio rose 'experiment' macaron during the spiel. By the way, this guinea pig likes the experiment macaron.

Mmm, I can tell this rose salted caramel Macarune baby would help tide me over the rest of the work week.

Au Revoir 2010

Best moments of 2010 in non-sequential, non-chronological manner:

All egg-ed out

Weekly ritual

I'm Not Stupid

Birthday bounty

Absolutely again

Reach for the stars

Discovering Macarune

Zee’s wedding weekend

Pop goes the … question

CNY reunion dinner of sorts

Every single thing about London

I know a place where the grass is really greener



It's been a crazzzzzzy year, hasn't it? But at the end of the day, I've learnt -

It’s not what you eat but who you eat it with.

The Wright Weekend

Hello, how was your weekend? I had to work over over my weekend but it wasn't all that bad. A few nuggets of surprises here and there and voila, all was good.

Something to remind myself over again: Find comfort in the most seemingly trivial of things from polite taxi drivers and Macarune's macarons to mum's luohan guo drop-off and schmelling of galbi after a birthday dinner.