Macaroons

Macaroons - heavenly jewels of goodness

I absolutely love french macaroons. I say "french" macaroons because most Americans think macaroons are those shredded coconut bundles - those are good as well, but not nearly as delicious as the french versions. I first discovered macaroons a few years ago, not in Paris (which I have yet to visit), but at Nomi Restaurant at the Chicago Park Hyatt. They were the creation of Sandro Gamba, former chef and Suzanne Imaz former pastry chef of Nomi. As the above images show, macaroons come in array of colors. Brown for chocolate, green for pistachio, pink for strawberry... Now I'm not sure what flavor blue is - I'm sure it's not blue raspberry. The french would never be so uncouth to do that. I know if I did try a blue macaroon, it wouldn't stain my tongue and mouth a neon blue. The chocolate version is the very best. As soon as you bite into a chocolate macaroon, the crisp meringue slowly melts in your mouth and then the soft gooey center with the intense chocolate flavor awakens all your senses and brings immediate joy. As most of my friends know, I'm a pretty decent baker, so I thought it would be more economical to try making these delights at home and have them more readily available instead of the pricier option of having to dine at Nomi to get my fix. My baking repertoire includes delicate chiffon cakes, three tier chocolate cakes with chocolate ganache filling, flan, pumpkin roll cakes, chocolate souffle cakes etc... so I thought I could add macaroons to the list. Just like my mom is known for her almond biscottis and raspberry log jam cookies and others are known for their salsas and jellies to give away as gifts, I was determined to be known for my homemade macaroons and delight friends and family with these scrumptious offerings. So, I started to research recipes and techniques. I have a fairly large cookbook library with a concentration of dessert books. I turned to the French masters: Francois Payard, Jacques Torres, and Pierre Herme, but in the end I chose the French Cookie Book's recipe for macaroons. The French Cookie Book is a bible of every type of french cookie you could think of and every version and variety thereafter. My friend Liz and I have always been successful with recipes from this cookbook, so I had high hopes. After my try of baking macaroons, I know why they are so pricey and why it's difficult to find a bakery that makes them - they are very labor intensive. First of all, it calls for a lot of equipment: newsprint paper, pastry bags and tubes, food processor, double boiler, sieve... The recipe has 10 steps - which sounds fairly easy, but when each step is a paragraph long, it gets pretty complicated fairly fast. For example, Step 7: Bake 1 sheet at a time. After 1 minute, at 450 F, reduce the temperature to 375, place an empty baking sheet underneath the sheet of cookies, and continue baking, using a wooden spatula to hold the oven door ajar, until the tops of the cookies are glossy and dry to the touch while the inside are still soft, about 8 to 10 minutes longer. Step 8: Lift the baking sheet of cookies off the empty baking sheet and take it to the sink. Pour cold water (about 1/2 cup per baking sheet) between the newsprint paper and the baking sheet (tilting the baking sheet so that the water runs over the entire surface and drains thoroughly into the sink) to steam the cookies off the paper. Then place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool. Did you get all that?! And although I followed the 10 steps exactly as written, I was sad (and exhausted) that my macaroons were inedible. Instead of melt in your mouth meringue, I got a grainy texture, like sand had gotten into the batter. And instead of an intense chocolate gooey filling, I got a lumpy not so chocolaty center. So, I guess I won't be the master of macaroons and will have to dine at Nomi to get my delights or even better take a trip to Paris and find these heavenly treats at every patisserie around the corner.

Discovered my latest love...PAPAYA!

All these BEAUTIFUL things can be found at PAPAYA!

eeny, meeny, miny, moe

gemma comas photography for amy atlas events

Hot Cocoa in the Air

Starbucks Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate

I ran downstairs to get my morning cup of Starbucks and they were giving away samples of their new hot chocolate concoction - Salted Caramel Signature Hot Chocolate. YUM-O! The flavor tasted like a chocolate covered pretzel, but the texture was a soothing warm cocoa, cool soft whip cream and to top it off, a gooey salted caramel ooozed all over the top! The sample was a perfect size. I don't think I would be able to drink a tall version - possibly a short, but definitely not a tall.

Alex Papachristidis, Interior Designer
Home of jewelry designer Fruzsina Keehn
Elle Decor November 2006

This stunning bedroom is my absolute dream bedroom. I have a copy of this issue of Elle Decor magazine and I don't keep it with my other zillions of magazines stacked on the floor of my bedroom. I'm afraid it might mistakenly be thrown out or somehow get lost. So, it is kept in my important document desk drawer where my passport, car title, and birth certificate are stored. Trust me if I had a fireproof safe, this issue of Elle Decor would be in it. This photo only shows half of the two page spread that appeared in the magazine. I adore everything in this bedroom from the beautiful 19th century German commode (which you cannot see very well in this picture), to the floor sweeping gray taffeta drapes, the pair of 19th century French gilt wood mirrors, and the antique Venetian chandelier. The room incorporates my favorite colors: gray, white and gold - so classic and elegant. Every so often, my eyes will come across another beautifully designed bedroom that is completely different than this one - vibrant green, pale blue or a soothing taupe with more contemporary furniture and finishing touches. And for a split second, I think maybe I want my dream bedroom to look like that instead of the Alex Papachristidis' creation. But once I open to page 180, complete happiness and desire overcomes me and I instantly know that this is the most perfect and beautiful bedroom.

I'm Lovin'....

Makanyane Safari Lodge
what a room with a view
a little startling to wake up to, but awesome

the classic beauty of Audrey Tautou

sevan bicacki ring

Ajia Hotel Istanbul

KARA by kara ross
flower cuff

darcy dining chair
can't go wrong with gorgeous & classic
anthropologie

beth lauren
poppy earring
moonstone & gold - just the right combo

sevi's pull along marajah
so beyond adorable - I need to get one for my nieces

November 5th

I haven't quite yet decided if I should take off Wednesday November 5th from work. As we all know, November 5th is the day after the Presidential election. If Obama & Biden were to lose, I will be extremely depressed and rather be immersed in work (drowning myself in beer) than be around my staunch Republican family and listen to their cheers of victory and hails of glory. Now, if Obama & Biden were to win, I want to be at home. No, not to rub into the face of my Republican family, but to watch all the news coverage of this historical event. What to do, what to do....

I do know that on election night, I will be filled with anxiety and stressed out, so I have a hotel room on E. Superior St. reserved. I need to be far far away from any family Republican commentary and snide remarks. So, if you're passionate about Obama & Biden winning and need to get away from some Republicans, you're welcome to come join me and watch all the news coverage and hopefully Obama's victory.

My $.02 on the $639 Billion Bankruptcy

With the news of Lehman Brothers filing bankruptcy, the biggest bankruptcy in history, I could barely concentrate at work today. They are calling the collapse of Lehman Brothers the "Armageddon" of the financial market. Every moment I had available at work today, I was on WSJ.com, NYTIMES.com or CNN.com. Interested in the news not because I had any financial stakes, but because the failure of another major financial institution is just one more key indicator of the fragile state our economy is in. Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Barnanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson called an urgent meeting at New York's Federal Reserve branch to meet with thirty Wall Street Executives to discuss the critical state of Lehman Brothers and the financial impact of its demise. I would have loved to be a fly on that conference room wall. Having majored in Economics in college, every time the Federal Reserve gets involved, or in this instance with Lehman, not involved, I'm right there following the news. Like Edith Wharton is to a Literary student or Picasso is to a Art History student, Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, was my revered one. With the news of Lehman Brothers, Alan Greenspan was interviewed on This Week with George Stephanopolous. I found one of his statements very puzzling. He said that the probability of the U.S. escaping a recession is less than 50%. And other economists are backing his statement. The increase or decrease rate of the economy's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is an indicator of whether we're in a recession or not. And since the GDP rose by 3.3% in the second quarter of this year, that is being used as evidence that we are not in a recession. But still, are we not in a recession right now? Yes, I know, who am I to question the Alan Greenspan and other notable economists, but hey, this girl still needs clarification. I do have some ammo on my side. In last week's issue of the The Economist, it stated that the way we define a recession creates a lot of confusion - "the standard definition of recession needs rethinking." So, let's look at the other factors: number of foreclosed homes continues to sky-rocket; cost of gas and food at an all time high, rate of unemployment increasing every month (and now Lehman Brothers' 25,000 employees are jobless); the government bail-out and demise of Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae; Merrill Lynch being saved by Bank of America; and AIG, Washington Mutual and U.S. automakers in serious financial trouble. The financials woes of all those major investment firms, banks and companies will only trickle down to the rest of us. Maybe the reason why the Federal Reserve, economists and the government are saying that we are not in a recession is because they want to restore our confidence in the financial system and not have us do anything rash like cash in our 401k or withdraw all our money from banks and stick it under our mattresses. So, once we are in a recession, what's the solution? In the interview, Alan Greenspan said the only way to end a recession in this situation, is to stabilize the real estate market. How do you stabilize the market with no end in sight of foreclosures and in this case in Chicago, an over supply of condominiums with one mega complex being built on every corner?

Well, I'm going to stop now. I can go on and on with comments and questions. Maybe it's a good thing I ended up in the ad industry promoting beer. There isn't too much to question about beer.

p.s.
I chose the picture above because all the news coverage today were showing last night's footage of former employees carrying boxes of their belongings and putting them into the trunks of all the waiting limos. One last question, if you just lost your job and your stock in the company is now worthless, do you think it's a good idea to be spending your money on hiring a limousine to pick up your belongings?

Maybe you should be spending it on beer. No point of having the "recession" hurt the beer industry.

Hee Haw, but no Coco Chanel

A rainy flooded Saturday is keeping me in tonight. All week, I've been cringing every time I see that commercial of Shirley MacLaine portraying Coco Chanel in another awful Lifetime movie. It's on right now and I could only stand a glance of it. Shirley MacLaine, Steel Magnolia Ouiser, as Coco Chanel, revolutionary goddess of french couture? Shirley MacLaine is more suited to portray Minnie Pearl on Hee Haw days than Coco Chanel. Couldn't Lifetime make somewhat of an effort casting Coco Chanel with more of a convincing and not so quintessential American accented actor? I understand Lifetime would never be able to entice the likes of Juliette Binoche or Audrey Tautou but how about Carole Bouquet? (okay, I know Carole Bouquet wouldn't even appear on Lifetime either, but how about anyone who would portray some authenticity.) For such a big production any thought or effort, Lifetime? I know they think having an Oscar-winning actress would draw in viewers. Hmm, well-known actor creating a bad movie or lesser-known actor creating a good movie. Yes, we know what you chose Lifetime. Blasphemy I say.

Patrick Demarchelier

I love Patrick Demarchelier's photographs.
I think we need to take a fieldtrip to Paris to check out his show.

Eternal Sunshine

if you found yourself at the end of a relationship and couldn't move forward
because of all the memories of the two of you together,
would you ever want to erase those memories?
would you want to forget that person?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite movies. I came across a copy of it in my room when I was looking for another DVD. It still has it's plastic wrapping on it. I think I bought this as soon as it came out on DVD, but I have yet to watch it again since the time I saw it in the movie theater. As many of my friends know, I don't like going to see sad movies. Back in the day, my friends and I had a usual routine for choosing a movie - looked through the paper, someone read aloud all the movies that were playing and then I asked after each, is it sad? I don't know how on earth they ever got me to see Eternal Sunshine. It was so sad, but it was so good. I have never cried so much in the theater as much I did when I saw this movie. I came out of the theater with bloodshot eyes, mascara running, stuffed up nose - not a pretty sight. Then you may wonder if that movie was so good and sad then why miss out on other sad good movies? My answer - this movie drained me enough emotionally to last a decade. So, the next time I will be ready to watch another sad movie or unwrap this copy of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind will be in 2014.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Row - Jon Brion

Lacuna Inc.

when I'm ready to have a dog again, I want this one

and I will name him goliath

Sidedown for Obama

This weekend don't miss

Explora Patagonia

It looks too beautiful to be real.

Singing, Screaming and Crying

There are three things you can always depend on when watching Filipino television: you will always see and unfortunately always hear very bad singing, some screaming and lots of crying. Sometimes it's happening all at the same time. A few months ago, my mother made a very big mistake. She decided to order not one but TWO Filipino channels from our digital cable provider. She had very good intentions. My father, who is in ill health and unable to leave the house, was addicted to QVC and HSN. And as a result of this addiction, we have a shitload of crap in the house. So my mom's "great" idea was to get him addicted to Filipino television and how well did she succeed. We no longer have deliveries of crap, but now we have noise pollution and it's in stereo. My father will have his bedroom TV on with one Filipino channel while he has the other Filipino channel on in the kitchen. And of course, the volume is very loud. Filipinos L-O-V-E to sing whether they have any talent or not. They have no shame because I honestly think they ALL really believe they can sing. My relatives certainly think they can. Almost all of their households have karaoke machines. On every Christmas Eve growing up, my cousins, siblings and I were all shoved onto a makeshift stage with a stage light beaming down on us, microphone in hand and was forced to sing Christmas carols, Stacy Lattisaw's Love on a Two Way Street, the theme song from Ice Castles or any other god awful song from the '70s or '80s. Thank goodness my parents realized early on that my siblings and I really lacked the talent.

Now getting back to Filipino television. I got used to the screaming and crying on the filipino soap operas, but the singing on so called "talent" shows or even by Filipino "stars"- it's just so bad. And on many occassions, my father would call me into his bedroom or the kitchen and tell me to watch this Filipino and hear how well he or she sings. One time, I actually volunteered to walk over to check the TV out because I honestly thought the girl singing was part of a comedy act. Surely, this couldn't be real. But it was.

Last evening, after coming home from a night out, the same routine occurred. This time it was my mom who called me into the bedroom to check out the latest Filipino "star." I was tired and just wanted to appease her, so I watched and to my great surprise, there was actually a great filipina singer. This time the singing came from a talented 15 year old girl named Charice Pempengco, the screaming was from the audience and the crying came from Oprah Winfrey.

So, Charice Pempengco, you show the world and all those pina girls back home what a real Filipino singer sounds like.

Charice on Oprah (video removed from You Tube for copyright infringement)
And check her out again on Oprah this Tuesday, 9/9.

Charice on Korea's Star King

sad good-bye to summer, but hello to fall

I'm a fall season person, but this year I am very sad that summer is over. It was the most perfect summer weather that I could ever remember - barely ever hot and humid. But, as summer says good-bye and the days get shorter and the weather gets cooler, there are a few fall things I look forward to:

10. no mosquitoes, flies or wasps

9. jack-o-lanterns

8. cool crisp nights and wrapping yourself in a down comforter

7. butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes

6. fall clothes - nubby boucle jackets, supersoft cotton cords, cashmere sweaters

5. the brilliant colors of fall leaves

4. caramel apples

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade - I know, but I've loved watching this parade on TV since I was a child. I was so sad when Woody Woodpecker was retired. He was a staple in the parade. Why was he retired? The pecker was too big. Seriously. After a woman was injured in 1997 by the Cat in the Hat, balloons could could no longer be larger than 70 ft high, 78 ft long and 40 ft wide and therefore Woody Woodpecker, Cat in the Hat and the Pink Panther bid farewell. Why can't they make Woody smaller and bring him back?! (don't say it.)

2. NFL Football season - I'm so excited the NFL season started TONIGHT, Redskins vs. NY Giants. Bears vs. Colts on Sunday!

1. THANKSGIVING the best holiday ever - no hassle or stress of buying presents; just family, friends, food and a four day weekend!

Coverage of the RNC

As mom always says, if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

exhaustive thoughts, empty mouth.

Sorry, mom, just one thing to say in observation of the RNC:
Lots of white hair, blonde hair, pearl necklaces, cowboy hats, and barely, I mean barely, a speck of color or diversity - yeah, that represents the United States of America?

Not a very Rear Window moment

I spent most of Labor Day weekend hanging out on a River North balcony. One evening, as my friends and I sat and listened to the sounds of the city, I was hoping to catch views out of a Alfred Hitchcock movie, Rear Window. Okay, not exactly, I didn't want a murder to happen, but I thought I would be able to get some interesting views of Labor Day celebrations. To my surprise, with the beautiful weather and all the balconies delight, I could not even find one fascinating sight. Instead, the only excitement we got was a rat running across the street, which I didn't even get to see. I just heard my friends say, in a matter of fact way, "Look, there's a rat running" and by the time I looked, it had disappeared underneath a car.

Really?

With the breaking news of Sarah Palin being chosen as John McCain's running mate, political analysts and correspondents continue to say that she will attract indecisive Hillary supporters - really? No, I mean, really?? You've pretty much insulted the intelligence of all those Hillary supporters. Do you really think they will choose a candidate based on gender only and nothing in regards to the issues? Of the little information that we know about Sarah Palin, she's at the TOTAL opposite end of the spectrum to Hillary Clinton. It has been said that she's more conservative than John McCain, strongly supports drilling for oil in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), is a pro-lifer, and a supporter and member of the NRA. So yes, that all makes sense that Hillary Clinton supporters will flock over to the John McCain/Sarah Palin ticket.