Ooh la la.

                    
It's Friday, ladies & gentlemen.  5 more days until I'm officially in my "Mid Thirties."  I've always milked embraced my birthweekday... Maybe that'll change as the number gets higher, but for now - it's never too early to let the celebration begin.
                                  

Yesterday, my sister-in-law and I went to a French Macarons Workshop.  We loved it.  Prior to the class I hadn't tried baking these little luxuries myself, but I have heard horror stories... some from my SIL- who had tried.  Despite all of the "perfect macaron" pictures I've seen floating around food blogs, I knew I needed a little more skill under my belt before I joined this particular baking league.                                                                                                  

Mr. Lebovitz was absolutely right when he said, "Les Macarons are all about technique, rather than about just following a recipe... One extra fold, and it’s all over."  We learned the general technique- also the "nevers," the "shoulds" & "should-nots"... and 10 batches later, now armed to attempt on our own.  We're already planning which sugars to create (cardamom? lemon?), and of course which food color powders to toss into the mix.  A perfect Easter project.
                      
In class, we made vanilla bean and pistachio macarons, with ganache, creme brulee, and griottine fillings.


And to top it off, we enjoyed lunch with Rebecca, from The Reluctant Floridian (fortunately- she's no longer living in Florida).  What a pleasure.  She was just as charming, witty, thoughtful, and sophisticated (in a cool, unpretentious way), as I thought she'd be... and she loves to talk coffee... and food.  Can't get much better than that.  She was the one who informed me about the class, but when she tried to sign up (the same day that I did!) it was already full.  So, I was happy that I still got to meet, and get to know her - offline.

{My 2nd blogger meet-up was a success! ... No creepy exchanges or horror stories.  Yet.  Not that I was worried.}


Ooh la la.  It's Friday.   - Or did I already mention that??


23 comments:

  1. how fun!! i've seen some amazing pictures out there of them - can't wait to see more from you!

    i love love love vanilla bean. mmmmm..

    and yes, it's friday. woo hoo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I want to go to a class like that! And I could really use a Macaron with my coffee right now. :) YUM.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Merci!

    Loved meeting you and your lovely SIL too!

    Hope we can rendezvous again soon.

    (Now that you've called me sophisticated, I am going to put my high school French to good use! :))

    ReplyDelete
  4. How did I miss that your bday is next week?! So exciting!!! And these macaroons look amazing. I really wantvto attempt them but I'm scared off by the horror stories. I wish I could find a class like this,

    ReplyDelete
  5. love the photo of you torrie.

    have a great weekend you young thing! (and as someone MUCH older than you who also loves to milk bdays, nothing's changed with age. =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a fun class. I would have gotten sick eating all the finished product, though. I'm not very good at stopping when eating delicious things. :)

    Happy Birthday!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like to have birthday month. I see nothing wrong with it :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy early birthday, Torrie! What a fun class! I've heard horror stories about making french macarons too so I've never tried. But these look amazing! You did an awesome job. And it's fun to see you at work. Hope you have a great weekend celebrating!

    xo
    Valerie

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Katie Seriously considered writing "birthmonth" ... cuz really, a week is just too short. Right?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Give me time, I'm sure I can develop some creepy behavior! :) Can't wait to hang with a mid-30s friend next week. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Notorious MLE Em... Next time, I want to dedicate an entire post to our meet-up (need to take more pictures!). Yes, I'm sure you got some "creepy" in you. Bring it on (#psychmajor) =).

    ReplyDelete
  12. macaroons - wow I'm impressed! Happy Birthday Torrie!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Happy early birthday! I suggest celebrating with one of those gin and tonics we discussed...and the yummy looking macarons! ;) I'm impressed!
    xo-k

    ReplyDelete
  14. woo hoo! that's kinda the coolest workshop ever. jealous;)
    YOURS, MINE AND OURS

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yeah for mid-thirties!! Happy, happy early birthday...
    I wanna have a blogger meet up with you and Rebecca - so fun!!
    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  16. @saltandpine I think you're absolutely right :).

    ReplyDelete
  17. @Pretty Mommy Same here!! We will- someday (maybe Palm Springs??)...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Oh wow how fun. I wish you lived here...I would totally go to this class with you! Happy (almost)birthday Torrie! And so glad your blogger meet up went well.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I can;t believe you went to that workshop. To say I am jealous would be an understatement. You are one hot Cali momma for Mid-Thirties. Maybe one day far far away we can have a meet up as well. For now I will just depend on our weekly visits via email and the blogs.

    As I am typing this your b-day is only 2 more days away. Wed in fact right? Hope you have a wonderful birthday WEEK and not just day! XO
    Jessica

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a great workshop and lovely pics. Wow you are in your mid-thirties - you are 15 years younger than me (and you look even younger). Happy Birthday, are you Aries too? Kevin once treated me and mum to a dessert class and we ended sitting around laughing and drinking wine...there were no desserts cooked later at home as we couldn't for the life of us remember the recipes...

    ReplyDelete
  21. I need some tips to making these...have tried...and failed. And what fun to meet a bloggy friend!! Maybe a blogger macaroon workshop meetup in the future :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...