M-m-m-macarons!

Last week we had a joint birthday party/baby shower for two of my friends, which, as usual, meant a ton of food, including an overdose of desserts. There was some miscommunication--I had said I was bringing pie, but we ended up with pie, 2 mini cakes, a couple of dozen of mini cupcakes, and some regular cupcakes, not to mention boxes of macarons from my friend's cafe. I've mentioned the macarons from Artichoke Cafe a couple of times before, but check it out, they've got new packaging (and you know I'm a sucker for packaging)! So I couldn't resist taking some more pictures.


They've even got cute little carrying bags now. Yay! Okay, I know, I know--not everyone is as fascinated by packaging as I am. But you can't deny that it's important! And it seems especially true for macarons. After all, look at the huge variety of packaging designs you can get at Laduree (for which some people will happily pay a few dollars extra).


The flavors in this box, from top to bottom: mocha, raspberry, pistachio, chocolate, white chocolate, and rose. I am slightly bummed that this box does not contain red bean, which is my favorite! (And yes--I totally took these macs out to the park to take pictures. I may have gotten a few weird looks.)


My favorite of these flavors is the pistachio, followed by mocha and chocolate. I've tasted a lot of macarons in NYC and my opinion may be slightly biased, but these are some of my favorites. I would say they are a little more "rustic" than Laduree or La Maison du Macaron, but they are also a bit more reasonably priced, and the flavors are delicious. Anyway, don't just take my word for it--stop in and give them a try. Especially if they have red bean available!


And here's a bonus shot of the park on Sunday. The leaves seem to be hanging on a lot longer (actually I feel like they've only just started changing color) this year. It makes for a nice backdrop :)



Artichoke Cafe
240 W. 37th St. (between 7th & 8th Ave.)
212-695-9085

Woohoo, Laduree Finally Opened!!!

(Warning--this post has a lot of exclamation points in it!)

Laduree finally opened in NYC!!! It's actually been confusing--they were supposed to open the 22nd, then it got pushed back to the 26th (which was when the hurricane was coming through), then their website said the date was actually the 29th while their Facebook page still said the 26th...anyway, they are finally open!! Woohoo! Now, the Upper East Side is not my usual stomping grounds (Tom Ford and Lanvin being somewhat out of my price range) but for macarons, I am totally willing to traipse across town!


Of course, once I got to the other side of town I was greeted by this--a massive line that ran all the way down the block. Geez, LOOK AT THIS LINE!!! 20 minutes later, we had moved maybe 5 feet and then someone from further up the line said something about the wait being an additional 30 minutes once you actually got inside the store...which made at least five people in front of me give up. Woohoo! The waiting was made easier by the friendly folks standing in front of and behind me, and it was nice to meet other crazy people who are willing to stand in line for food.


An hour in and we finally were standing in front of the display windows! So close and yet so far away! Oh also, at this point we could see that there was in fact another line inside that snaked back and forth, and all those people were blocking my view of the macaron counter--I think I had a mild fit at the possibility that there might not be any salted butter caramel macs left! (Although the nice man in suit-who-was-not-the-president-but-was-obvs-important assured me there were plenty left.) Another 20 minutes of waiting once we were inside, a quick selection, and I was out the door (actually the hardest part, because I had to dodge around the line!)


And YAY, MY HAUL!! Oh, I should just point out that this is the standard box; they have all kinds of gorgeous gift boxes but you do pay a bit extra for those. My precious, precious salted caramel macarons are in the bottom right corner. Also, years ago when we went to Paris, we picked up a box of macarons at Laduree and then stupidly put them in our bike basket, so that by the time I got to eating them, they looked like this. I am so very pleased to have undamaged macaron photos now. (Also, apparently they are currently flying all of their macarons in from Paris, not baking them on-site.)


And a bonus shot of the insides! Mmm, sweet sweet goodness....I can report the salted caramel is still my absolute favorite. The green apple tastes exactly like a green apple Jolly Rancher, which I am not 100% sold on. Anyway, don't worry, I haven't eaten these all in one shot, because I am not THAT crazy! I've still got a bunch left for later today...and tomorrow...and maybe even the day after that. YAY!!

Ladurée New York
864 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Playing with Food

As I mentioned in my last post, I had my bday dinner Wednesday night--as usual, we came out of there completely and utterly stuffed with Peking duck (and ribs, salt and pepper pork chops, fried rice, kailan, seafood baskets, chicken, ice cream....yes, we may have ordered a tad to much food). I brought brownies, and my friend brought TWO giant boxes of macarons from her cafe (Artichoke Cafe). I know I may be a bit biased, but I really think these are the best macarons I've had in NYC so far (Silver Moon coming a close second). We finished most of one box at dinner and I brought the rest home--and in the face of such riches, what's the natural course of action? Well, take pictures, of course! (I didn't take a single photo at dinner because it was too dark. No, it had nothing to do with the fact that I was stuffing my face.) So enjoy my newfound and COMPLETELY DORKY love of putting speech bubbles into my photos:






Ah, everything tastes better when it's shared. Or so I'm told. :)


Another friend showed up with this cute little red velvet cheesecake from Magnolia Bakery. I am not a fan of their cupcakes, so I haven't been to one of their bakeries in ages, and had no idea they made cheesecake! This is yummy, especially the crust, but so rich I can only eat a bite at a time. Good, it'll last longer. The same friend also made me adobo! How sweet is that? It's so delicious and I'll be bringing some for lunch next week.


And here's a gratuitous shot of the chocolate brioche I got at Silver Moon Bakery this morning (along with a loaf of gruyere bread, yum). The weekend's here, HOORAY!! It's supposed to thunderstorm, which hopefully means it'll cool off, which means I can squeeze in some baking! Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I am attempting to teach myself to crochet--not very successfully, I might add.

Spring colors

No time for lengthy posting today, but I wanted to share these two photos because they reminded me of each other (and of spring). Plus, it's gorgeous and sunny out today for the first time in DAYS, and I'm feeling the happiness of spring again. AND I'm getting my hair cut today (first time in a year, yeeee) so I think it's going to be a good day.

The macarons are from my friend's cafe; this is a new item for them and so some of us have been lucky enough to sample them. My favorites so far are the coconut (sooo good) and passionfruit, but I hear that they are going to start experimenting with red bean so I guess I'll have to wait to try that one! Actually I'm really hoping their macaron maker will let me watch the whole process sometime...

Happy Wednesday! I think we can start counting down towards the weekend now, no?

Macarons from Kee's Chocolates

Ask NYC chocolate lovers for their recommendations, and one name that always pops up is Kee's Chocolates (along with MarieBelle). I've read a lot about their unique flavors, but to be honest, I don't really eat truffles or straight up chocolate that regularly (which is why I've still got several bars from the Chocolate Show I went to last year in my fridge). I'd much rather bake with chocolate. But I did trek over to Kee's midtown outpost during lunch today to check out their macarons in my ongoing quest for the best macarons in New York.


The midtown "store" is really just a counter located inside the lobby of the HSBC on the corner of 5th Ave. and 40th St. Strange location! But lucky HSBC workers! They have a pretty good selection of chocolates, but sadly, not much in the way of macarons. What they did have were prepackaged bags of 4-6 mini macarons (I paid $6 for my bag); check out the photo above and you'll get an idea of their size. I'd say they are about the size of a dollar coin, so...small! But I gather they have "regular" sized macarons at the downtown location, and you can probably select flavors rather than going for a preselected assortment.


What they lack in size, they make up for in attractiveness.


I wish I could tell you which flavors these were, but I neglected to take adequate notes before I scarfed the lot down. I can tell you that I had rosewater lychee (the only one I can still identify), passionfruit, mint mocha, sour sap, green tea with jasmine, and one that I think was plain chocolate.


This one was my favorite, followed closely by the green tea with jasmine. One of these days I'm going to have to make it to the downtown store to sample the full range. Well, maybe after a few more trips to the gym. In the meantime, if you're in midtown and feel the need for some chocolate, why not stop in and grab some to go?

Kee's Chocolates (midtown)
452 Fifth Avenue (inside HSBC)
New York, NY 10018
Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 5:30pm
212-525-6099

Why I Am REALLY LUCKY

Why am I lucky? Because I have awesome friends who bring me awesome gifts from LA.....


Macarons from Paulette! I got an entire dozen (erm, I maaaay have eaten one or two before I took this picture), handcarried all the way back from LA, because I have super amazing friends. The flavors from left to right, starting from the front: caramel, coffee, chocolate, passionfruit, jasmine tea, violet, (ummm cannot identify the pink one), pistachio, and sweet wedding almond. My favorites are caramel and coffee, so far, but I haven't tried them all yet.


How can you resist? They are so lovely and colorful--not to mention DELICIOUS.


A closeup of the jasmine tea. I wish it tasted a bit more tea-ey, but the texture of these is so good. I would say they are still a tiny, tiny step down Laduree...but only a really tiny step down.

Thanks Todd! I owe you some more choco. :)

Knee-deep in macarons

Happy new year, everyone! I don't know about you, but my resolution this year is to be more regular about blogging. I currently have about 7 drafts sitting in my queue from the end of 2008, so...enough babbling and onwards!

A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me what my "desert island" foods would be--my list went something like pho, tofu, pork chops, cookies (I know, that's cheating), and macarons. So you can imagine my happiness when I got not one but two gifts of macarons!


First was this box of chocolate and caramel macarons from Paulette that my coworker Amy carried back from LA for me (also see the top photo). I've been looking for a caramel macaron comparable to the one I had from Laduree since our trip to Paris, and although Paulette's comes close, it's still not quite the same. This is not to say it's not delicious, of course! It was my favorite, and though I gave away a few of the chocolate ones, I hoarded all the caramel ones for myself (shhhh).


My second dose of macarons in as many weeks came as a gift from two lovely friends, Tenebrous Kate and the Baron. These are from La Maison du Chocolat, which I blogged about previously. I have to admit, I get kind of a thrill when I see the packaging; yes, I'm still a sucker for nice packaging.

In comparison to the Paulette macarons, La Maison du Chocolat's are significantly larger (about 3" across, I would estimate). I'm not sure what all of the flavors were, but chocolate and raspberry were the predominant flavors I got.


And inside a chocolate macaron. To me, the true appeal of the macaron is in the contrasting textures; the crisp shell and the marshmallowy interior, and the even softer filling. Both macarons fit the bill, although if forced to choose, I'd probably have to go with the Paulette macarons....but only if forced.

May 2009 be even more delicious.

Paulette
9466 Charleville Boulevard at Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

La Maison du Chocolat
30 Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020

One of life's burning questions...

And no, I'm not talking about the chicken or the egg...at least, not this time. No, this question has ruined friendships, torn families apart, flung lovers to far distant corners....

Okay well, maybe not. But I have heard some seriously impassioned debates when it comes to chocolate versus vanilla!


Macarons from Paulette

My friend T-San came back from a trip to LA recently bearing macarons from Paulette Macarons. Actually I'm surprised they made it back to NY from LA (the man is a legendary eater) at all! But in any case, I was the blessed recipient of two of these fine treats, thanks to the intervention of his roommate.



And to continue the choco versus vanilla theme, I made a couple of batches of chocolate and vanilla mini madeleines this week for an order (bridal shower favors!)--there are few things cuter than mini-madeleines, if you ask me.


So--would you rather have chocolate or vanilla? My answer? Life's short. Have both. :)

Post coming up: a fabulous Japanese dinner at T&N's!