Raspberry Macarons

I received my Pierre Hermé Macaron cookbook and began the preparations to create the same raspberry macarons the famed pastry chef first learned with.

Following his 32 step process takes some careful planning and attention to detail. After I got over the minor anxiety over having time things perfectly and obey the stringent temperature readings I got to work.

Here are some tips for making your own macarons... there are several things I learned through this process:

• The shells are reasonably basic. They take a lot of attention, but the flavor comes mainly from the ganache inside.

• The recipe states it will make 72... I came out closer to 40 with tons of raspberry preserves left over.

• Next time I think I will reduce the sugar slightly, because these are certainly sweet.

• They take a fair amount of time (about 4 hours). I now understand why they aren't inexpensive to purchase.

• Mine aren't nearly as pretty as his, because he uses a lot of food dye. Even though I have some that is professional grade, using dye makes me nervous. It just seems so much more artificial when I see how much I'm adding.

• Add the edible glitter before they set... I forgot.

• It might be good to have 2 of the decoMAX - one for piping the shells and another for piping the filling.  It worked very well and I loved how simple it is to fill, clean, and reuse. My Thermapen was also great for giving me an accurate temperature reading, which is vital.

• Best of all my French friend, Julie, said they tasted incredibly authentic and she couldn't believe I made them. Looks like I'll be teaching her how to make them soon! 

Pierre Hermé Macarons Cookbook - in English!

I can barely handle my excitement, because in just over a month Pierre Hermé's famed macaron book will be released in English.

Right now it's available for pre-order, which I of course did immediately. It will be so nice to create those beautiful and exquisite little pastries between trips to Paris (or London, or Tokyo).

This little Lékué DecoMAX is a great reusable way to pipe them out uniform sizes.
(If you live here in Munich, I've seen them available at Kustermann.)

Here is a listing of flavors.

[ETA: Here are some tips and the raspberry macarons I made using Pierre Hermé's recipe.]

New Year's 2011

Once again we were reminded of Paris' beauty and why we've fallen in love with the place.

We had a two day celebration for New Years Eve and New Years Day on the roof top of the Palais de Tokyo.

Best of all was talking to some of the museum workers, especially about the art heist next door, which happened a week after we visited last May. It's such an audacious theft. We were looking at the window where the person got away and imagining where the works are now being stored and by whom. It's absolutely fascinating.

Hopefully the photos will pick up where the words fail me. It's an incredible city that never gets old.

The iconic Eiffel Tower - sadly there were hardly any fireworks + around 2am they shut the lights off completely

Pierre Hermé, who has a white truffle macaron for the season - it's delicious, as is everything that guy makes.

Patrick Roger's fantastic chocolates - the dark chocolate citron vert is perfection

Pretty + delicious pastries

Centre Pompidou

The I love you wall in Montmartre

Lots of cheeses

Grenelle Bridge Lady Liberty

Love locks

The Notre Dame

Street Art

... more Street Art

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois - à tout à l'heure, Paris!

Paris Scavenger Hunt

It's not always easy to figure things out when I don't live in Paris, but with the help of friends, Spotted by Locals, Hip Paris, My Little Paris and lots of scavenging on the net, I found some wonderful locales that really enabled me to make this a very memorable trip.

Stefan first discovered several clues the night before we left to celebrate his birthday. I snuck them into his closet, so he'd find them while packing. They gave him an idea that we were going to depart on an adventure and what types of things he should pack.

Periodically throughout the trip I would give him new clues, so there was always something to surprise him.

Many of the clues were food oriented. We sampled what was voted the best baguette of 2010, chocolates from the finest chocolatier, chocolate mousse, cake, ice cream, macarons, champagne, wine... there was definitely a lot of celebrating, but it was tons of fun and thankfully over several days.

We also did a taste test to find the best macarons.

We both agreed that it really was no contest, though.

Here's a list of Ladurée flavors, and they had beautiful colors, however the Pierre Hermé macarons were much more creative and delicious - here is a list of their flavors. (Apologies that those from Pierre Hermé don't look the best... they traveled with us to London before I took photos).

I don't even think I could pick a favorite out of those from Pierre Hermé. They are worth the trip to Paris (or Tokyo! - remember that love affair between the two cities?).

We also went to the restaurant where Amélie worked in Montmartre and sampled some of her crème brûlée, which was not only good, but also inexpensive.

Others clues were to offbeat destinations - the koi pond at the UNESCO world headquarters, a visit to Lady Liberty, a stop at Theo Van Gogh's house, where Vincent lived for a couple years, and a quintessential stop at the 'I Love You' wall.

We did a few other special things... however they deserve their very own post, which I'm working on.

If you are looking to create your own special tour around the city here are a few recommended places to start:

David Lebovitz
Paris Vacation Rentals
Cook'n with Class
Sacred Destinations
Movie Locations
Patrick Roger Chocolates
I love you wall

TOURS
If you are short on time you may want to do a tour (I didn't take any of these, so I can't comment on them, but they looked interesting)
Context Travel
Eye Prefer Paris Tours
Paris Original Strolls
Bike About Paris
Girls Guide to Paris
Da Vinci Code Paris

RESTAURANTS, FOOD, + NIGHT LIFE
Lux Eat
Joël Robuchon
La Grande Epicerie
Restaurant Hiramatsu
Pierre Gagnaire
Les Ombres
White Room
hidden kitchen
Ô Chateau
The Box
Pavillion Ledoyen
Chez Janou
Restaurant 1728
Ze Kitchen Galerie
Spoon
Ozu