Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. ~ E. Ulmer

Overdue!

2011-06-05T11:38:00.005+10:00

Sorry these were actually taken months ago, but been too busy to share them with all of you. Shirts from my current collection which is untitled but were designed with different personalities attached to the styles. I have my brother in mind for the style The Jason, my boss for The Ronald, my dad for Harry (which has mostly sold-out!) and of course some are of ....

...to be continued ;)

Linen Towels

2011-06-05T10:47:00.004+10:00

Didn't know towels can be so chic...These are mostly made in Linen, some courtesy of Deck Towels, and yes these can surely sell very well at Eleven...

Potato Head Shop a.k.a ELEVEN Boutique

2011-05-25T10:24:00.001+10:00

Potato Head Shop, a photo by Binhex on Flickr.

My shop :P

Via Flickr:
Potato Head Beach Club

Eleven Boutique at www.fimela.com

2011-05-02T00:00:00.000+10:00

Belanja Unik & Eklektik di Bali | FIMELA - Indonesian Online Fashion & Lifestyle Magazine

My dreams are finally coming true...

2010-12-31T14:50:00.010+11:00

Sometimes I get really nervous when strangers read my blog, some of the things I've written are so personal and endearing to me I wonder how will people react when they read it...is it too personal to share, how do I draw the thin line of sharing my inner thoughts and trying to pick which ones get audited and then hidden somewhere else under my subconscious?

Bali..yes I've written a lot about Bali in my recent posts, the charm of the little island has finally come creeping into my soul and surprises me along the way. Traveling every other week to Bali at the beginning was painful, mentally than physically as I'm not used to shorts jolts of adjusting quickly to being in a new environment...as I recently learned too (I guess I thrived in a familiar place, my comfort zone and I'm sure most people are - as much as I want to be known as the adventurous Sagittarian). As a co-owner of a recent boutique in Potato Head Beach Club Bali called Eleven, officially opened two days ago, one of my responsibilities is to make sure everything is well placed, running in order and all merchandised accordingly. We all divide our jobs (four of us) pretty equal, however I on the other hand like being the queen bee and so everything has it's sacrifice. Being the queen bee means you are the first person everyone calls for when things does not go right, you get chased by both my partners and my brother and his partner. But being a queen bee gives you power over everyone else, and that I think that is an "evil" trait I can't let go... not yet at least...for now.

The opening of Potato Head Beach Club Bali on the 29th of December attracted 5000 people in and out throughout the night! It was one of the most anticipated party of the year and boy was it a success! All the VIP guests arriving from 8 to 10 pm had to go through Eleven and OMG I didn't realize Bali has a LOT of CHIC people, I thought they would all be wearing all these sandals and khakis (there are still some)..but wow some where wearing purple linen shirts over burgundy pants, beautiful silver necklaces, checkered preppy sports jackets, leather french soles, and ahh I can't wait to post the photos! (still being edited)

I think I gave about 500 - 800 Eleven business cards to all the guests and every time I handed a card I tell them "Come next time and shop cos Eleven is now opened!" and most of them were very enthusiastic. Most guests were in party mood so I knew as much as we want to sell and sell it will take a couple of days for them to come back again. I had a lot of fun just seeing all these mix of people from all the different races coming through... My creative juice is flowing and flowing, I can't wait to release my line, it'll be men shirts for now, with a strong emphasis on fabrics the patterns with checks, plaids and a few embroidered details. It will be called yes, you guess it right "EMMELYN". I'm proud of my name, and it's very unique...don't you think so? a feminine menswear line, for someone like my brother, who is more consciously aware of fashion than I am :)

I'll be flying to Bali again the next couple of days, to make sure everything is running in order. My mom is coming with me, she said she wants to learn how to surf, sure why not... and my brother is also moving out to a new villa, and yes that includes me and I'm really excited because it's our own place, and he's getting married so it's important that he has his own enclave when wifey comes with him. It didn't feel like I was working when I was in Bali, perhaps because I am now truly doing something I really love and I can't believe my dreams are finally coming true, I have it in my hands. I can touch it, feel it and I know it's up to me to make it successful. A lot of things had happened along the way, but it was all well worth it, and it made me and my partners closer and stronger as team. I also met a lot of new people, genuine individuals who are now good friends, some are visitors of the island, and some left already to fulfill their own dreams. I can only wish that they will find their own dream catchers, grab it and truly hold on to it. The hardest part is always the process of getting there, of the uncertainties not knowing whether you are on the right path, always doubting your decisions and losing sleep over it. I'm still learning and curving my way around juggling two equally challenging jobs of maintaining Potato Head Jakarta and running this new shop. Jakarta is so different to Bali, I arrived last night and find that the city is so flat, and yet I woke up this morning and when I looked into my garden and knowing I had a good night sleep on my own bed I felt refreshed again and Bali is now just a good memory, with sweet glimpses of the best times I had with new friends and my partners.

Close the chapter they say and move on. I will be back very soon, too soon I think but it's okay, I need to get my system used to all these sudden jolts. Jolts of joy I hope and more blood, sweat and tears to come...Let's play!

Chasing The Dream...

2010-11-20T02:10:00.004+11:00

Bali...The Island of Gods..Is it true?

We shall find out...

As beautiful as it looks, the padi fields are way too high for me to just jump and bath in all the glory. Nope, I took this picture on my morning walk on the last day, needed that high-intensity exercise and kept going back and forth the quiet road. All around our villa is padi fields and some halfly done villas and local houses of the villagers. Canggu is serene, and is the perfect location to get away from the Seminyak buzz....and the view is calming...

As my short trip unravels with a few souvenirs of aching sore throat and dry coughs, I realized that Bali was quite enjoyable as I arrived the previous days a true pessimist crying in my heart please let it be as painless as possible. Why the negative thoughts, well for a start I didn't want to go as my main responsibility still resides at Potato Head Jakarta but dream awaits and I needed to chase it.

My bestie, Revka is there with Minami whose a local girl - half jap half indo, sweet and very down to earth. Never spend holidays with Revka in Bali so we sort of treasure our little time we had downing fruit juices at Cocoon Bar which has a very nice view to the beach but I kinda felt out of place, too posh for me but hey for goodtime's sake!

It has been my full time "dream" to have my own shop, where I can take care of it and do stuff in it like my little polly pocket land. I know it kinda sounds scary but isn't every fashion designer's dream to have a long lasting legacy, a brand or a concept that they can share to the rest of the world? and hard work does pay off at the end of the day right? or are we purely now living in the age of "at the right time and at the right place?"

Potato Head Beach Club on its way to the opening on the 25th of November. Still a lot of work to be done but nothing is impossible and it will be open sooner or later so just keep at it! Big-Colosseum in the making, will be three times bigger than our next next door neighbor and no it's not the W Resort. It'll dam* well kick a** and yes I can swear on my blog.

As much as I am now in Jakarta, I kept thinking about Bali, not of Potato Head Beach Club, but of Eleven, the newly named concept shop. I guess everyone would be shouting to my ears now, of course I should be panicking and thinking about it as it would be open in less than a week! and we hardly have anything in it! hahaha we do work better when we're under pressure don't we?

Blessing Potato Head Beach Club by the local Balinese people, a traditional blessing ceremony. It was very peaceful and I think we need as much blessings as we could grab! Although we better get a priest asap as my mom would say...Hey mom since you're reading this maybe we should? Everyone was in the traditional get up too, nice to see....

But I have two lovely bosses and they are helping us all, how dearly nice of my brother to lend us his antique furniture to fill the shop and how nice of his partner to not go ballistic that the shop is still empty as of NOW! But I am losing sleep over this and my right eye is still twitching since the past two weeks and I'm getting worried....

The way to the fine dining, guess how many window panes we used...or here's a better question, is it almost 500 or 1000? It's amazing that now you can see how it all complements each other, the ceramics on the ceiling, the color of the wood, the washed green flooring, the retro railings and everything seem to be falling in love with each other.
I think my brother and his partner are both true romantics...

Every angle is photogenic.

Finally the grand entrance is on display!

Find Potato Head Beach Club at Jln Petitenget, next to W Resort, Seminyak Bali.
And find ELEVEN at the same address :)

Between Then and Now

2010-11-13T18:14:00.018+11:00

Image by Natalie Gunawan at her Farm in Melbourne Suburbia

It's been almost six months since I last blog, and this morning I thought to myself if I don't start again then I would forever lose my interest in lady macaron...and there are a lot of macaron bakers these days in Jakarta but you know what gotta stay true to yourself right...

Two of my closest friends, Revka & Putri with Minami whom I just met this week.

Work has been fun, intense, and has its up and downs but most of the time is really FUN/ no joke. I had my first year anniversary at work on the 21st of October, didn't really celebrate it but I had some terrifying thoughts of what I've achieved in the past year and whether this has all been worth it. Now that I'm slowly writing and contemplating my thoughts...let's see...

One of the things I love to do is exercise, and sweat it all out. It keeps me sane and it really does lift my moody mood 'slightly'. As strange as it may look I run around the pool in my ghetto 80s aerobic get-up every morning. Bikram Yoga is also a luxury and when you have the time, DO IT!

As much as my conscience is oppose to what I do at work, I am having a blast...it whispers at night, asking me why am I doing this when my passion since I was growing up is making beautiful clothes..designing, finding inspirations, and being alone in a studio...cutting fabrics, jotting down ideas and befriending my own thoughts... So you might ask what is it that I actually do at work?

Halloween Sunday Food Market at Potato Head outdoor patio.

The university of Potato Head as my mom calls it, when you graduate out of it, then you can practically conquer anything the world kicks back at ya! It is a Restaurant & Bar in Jakarta and it's one of the best place in town for cocktail, food, ambiance and everything else in one cool capsule. My second home...as I tell the occasional strangers and friends who frequently ask me "Are you here everyday? everyday??!!! really EVERDAY???!!!!

This is an example of our flyer, we have a graphic team who designed the image, but all the context and ideas all comes from Potato Head.

My morning routine usually starts with me walking in to the bar- straight to the end of the bench, put my laptop on the round table, my bags down and mobile phone next to my mac. I checked the reservations for today, see if all the promotional flyers we currently have are on display on each and every tables. Then off I check my emails again... Although my business card says Public Relation Manager, I also manage our internal events with my tight-knit team and our director is very much involved in all the initial ideas right on through the implementations. As anyone successful in their profession would say communication is essential and I can't agree more. Used to be my biggest challenge as I tend to keep things inside emotionally and not let everyone worry or get stressed out but in the end it didn't help much...

This is Glass Candy performing Live at Potato Head on Saturday Nov. 6th. Ida No and Johnny Jewel of Glass Candy/Chromatics rocks! The most down to earth guy and Ida No danced her spirit away...They're a cool band I think, very psychedelic and different than the mainstream, however I find the music market here is either categorized as the indie young kids or the older types who goes for David Foster and friends...I still haven't figured out what the "yuppies" are into, and it's a challenge to bring artists here that would appeal to Potato Head young adult audience. Or perhaps they just don't care?

Since I love to write, I do most of the writing for the promotional flyers, I'm not an experienced copywriter, I have no background in professional writing, but fortunately I have a very good boss who is very articulate and checks what I write, corrects them and revise things to sound more edgy and appropriate. I make sure they are printed on time to be distributed and we do a big event check list to make sure when the artists come to town we are prepared for the big day. Why I'm still doing what I'm doing is because you get an instant self gratification when the event that your team and yourself spend so much on preparing and promoting does very well. It's jam packed, our guests are enjoying the music, cocktails, food, ambiance and at the end of the day you know it is a successful event and judged by the target sales the restaurant achieved. If I go back to being a fashion designer, there's an indefinite process of being shelled in a studio, spending similar long hours on a collection/project and at the end of the show can you really tell that the audience will love it, buy them and stocks them in their boutique. Do I want to go back living my days running around town looking for fabrics, chasing my tailor, going back and forth perfecting the right cut and at the end of the day will they sell? and it all comes down to how much do I want all that back...

This is the plan of what the shop one fine day will look like. With installations, pop up projects, artist exhibitions, and challenging the classic notion of the shopper experience. A gallery, a shared space or just a cool boutique all in one. Emotion is a big thing for me, to feel all your senses juxtaposing in all directions when you enter the space, intimidated, awed and shocked. Surprised, happy and sad.

I still have so much to learn from Potato Head, as I said I have not graduated yet, it is still a learning process and I love love love everyone at work. Why would I quit now when there are still so many things I can challenge myself, give myself more responsibilities, test my strength and lead a bigger team...Potato Head has open doors for me, I've been introduced to so many people in different genres of music, art and fashion. It's been whirlwind year, and people say I work too much, maybe sometimes I do and I need to spend more time alone and go out with my friends more often. Hopefully by getting back to writing here I can balance my life more productively and emotionally.

This is Potato Head Beach Club Bali, my brother and his partner current BIG PROJECT. A massive space with three restaurants, bars and a basement concept store (MY SECRET PROJECT). Measuring 150sqm the shop will sell everything from fashion to furniture. Think Merci in Paris, Corso Como in Italy and Anthropologie in LA. Yes that is my personal aim that it will be a shopper destination in Bali promoting Indonesian designers and produce.

So you might ask me now, am I happy, I don't know, am I enjoying my job, yes I am...isn't there a quote that goes something like if a man does not love his job than it is the saddest thing in the world...or what makes life worth living if a man does not love his job....and I could only use my brother as the perfect example. His work is his life, they embodies his spirit, joy, excitement, sadness, all the five senses and he lives for his work. And because they are all his passions and hobbies, everyone always tell me that "Oh your brother never works, or he should start doing some real job" and gosh I can tell you I hear that almost every day. But you know what now that I think about it, he doesn't need to show that he 'works' the conventional way to people because he only has himself and God to prove and the results is proven at the end of the day.

So salut to him and his partner who I have the utmost respect...and what I can only advise to you and myself having doubts at work is...

To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth. Pearl S. Buck.

My fountain of youth is having smoother skin and slimmer figure then I can say I am truly happy...ha ha ha

Lady Macaron Fashion

2010-11-13T15:51:00.003+11:00

Plaids, rainbow colors, mini buttons, tiny collars...and deliciously sweet to eat..*oops* I meant deliciously cute to wear...

Available soon at Potato Head Beach Club Bali

It's been awhile...

2010-11-09T22:59:00.003+11:00

My favorite drink so far...Millionaire Martini by Dre Masso, World Renowned Mixologist.
In Dre's words: Vanilla vodka and fruit liqueur are shaken with passion fruit pulp and homemade organic vanilla sugar. Served straight up and accompanied by a Champagne chaser, we’ve layered this drink with our magical passion fruit foam

Organic Market

2010-04-25T15:25:00.001+10:00

Polaroid 103
Originally uploaded by rob.spicer

Yes it's time we go organica

Popcorn in the Afternoon

2010-04-25T14:12:00.001+10:00

Popcorn in the Afternoon
Originally uploaded by fullofbliss(away for a while)

crisp

candy apples

2010-04-25T14:09:00.001+10:00

candy apples
Originally uploaded by Lukaziu

Slurp

Canelés pour amis mignons

2010-04-25T13:53:00.001+10:00

Canelés pour amis mignons
Originally uploaded by bioemma

Sunday Food Market at Potato Head 2 May....oh la la

sunshades on the beach.

2010-04-23T12:04:00.001+10:00

sunshades on the beach.
Originally uploaded by rozana [be croative!]

Sunny

Red&White Tent

2010-04-23T12:01:00.001+10:00

Red&White Tent
Originally uploaded by boneill3686

Sunday Food Market
www.ptthead.com/blog

[hendricks]

2010-04-23T11:24:00.001+10:00

[hendricks]
Originally uploaded by LOV-E

Gin oh gin

White Rabbits Poster

2010-04-20T13:33:00.001+10:00

White Rabbits Poster
Originally uploaded by Poster Dezigner

Funny name>>>

trolley

2010-04-10T13:16:00.001+10:00

trolley
Originally uploaded by ladyfort / sallyent

i like it

let abbots, babbitts and cabots

2010-03-31T13:27:00.001+11:00

let abbots, babbitts and cabots
Originally uploaded by Extra Super Cutie

cute socks

Sunday Easter Macaron Hunt

2010-03-31T02:56:00.001+11:00

04122009 easter macaron hunt
Originally uploaded by citrongreige

Fun for this weekend!

Happy Macaron Day

2010-03-27T19:23:00.002+11:00

Yes so I'm a week late..Happy Belated Macaron Day!
Lady Macaron at Potato Head...

Every Sunday from 10AM-3PM

Brunch+Love= Vitamin Sunday

2010-02-27T21:54:00.002+11:00

Vitamin Sunday at Potato Head

2010-02-07T01:10:00.003+11:00

I Love Sundays at Potato Head...
Vitamin Sunday with my french macaron...like a little picnic by the countryside. Me love.

www.ptthead.com
www.ptthead.com/blog

follow www.twitter.com/ptthead

Photos by Albert Judiyanto

New Flavors of February 2010

2010-02-03T11:36:00.002+11:00

Hi Everyone!
It's February already, phew time goes by way too fast!

Here are the new flavors in the month of Feb...

* Ogura Cream
(a blend of red bean paste, cream and a hint of jasmine)

* Peaches and Cream
(with a blend of pistachio for a thicker texture and earthy scent)

* Cinnamon and Dark Chocolate
(a hint of star anise for a bitter scent)

* Spicy Green Tea
(Moody blend of green tea with a strong flavor of nutmeg)

These flavors are super yummy so get them at Potato Head restaurant only in the month of February.

xoxo
Lady Mac

Happy New Year from Lady Mac

2010-01-01T15:35:00.006+11:00

Happy New Year!
Here's a short clip of my highlights in 2009

Potato Head's NYE Party 31 Dec. Celebrating New York 1930s
"If I could have a photobooth all day long, I would take pictures all night long!"

My mom and I infront of a Plymouth 1948, I turned out be a Pocahontas from the 30s!

My 1st featured article in AMICA magazine on french macarons and my time in Paris. A journey I shall never forget!

On the bridge of the Seine river, goofin' off with my friends from our French class, we had fun that day, and that Berthillon ice cream sure is the best I've tasted so far!!

My macaron display at Potato Head, selling only on Sundays! my precious little project...Fashion et Macaron=Pourquoi pas?

Sunday Brunch @ POTATO HEAD will never be the same again~
Available from 10AM til SOLD OUT as we always do :)

Merry Christmas! Lady Mac is arriving a bit late...

2009-12-27T16:29:00.004+11:00

Merry Christmas...I hope this year has been a blessing for all of you. It sure is for me.. :)

Sunday Brunch @ Potato Head

2009-12-01T19:57:00.002+11:00

Sunday sell-out at Potato Head, 29 November 2009. Do you like the display???????

Npple Blossoms*

2009-11-28T22:24:00.003+11:00

For Sunday 29 November at Potato Head Bistro & Bar in Jakarta, Indonesia.
www.ptthead.com
RSV 021 5797 3322

Flavors:
Star of the Day *Nipple Blossom*: jasmine

Hazelnut Rose
Lavender white chocolate
Black Sesame dark chocolate
Chestnut
Mint Chocolate

Macaron Overdose 23.11.09

2009-11-23T12:40:00.002+11:00

Yes I overdosed on macarons this morning...a result of crazy baking from 4am-6am. But I loved it!

Flavors:
Hazelnut-rose (pink)
Chestnut-dark chocolate (yellow 1)
Black sesame (yellow 2)
Pineapple w kafir leaves (aqua-violet)
Black sesame - jasmine (black dots)

POTATO HEAD

2009-11-20T12:00:00.002+11:00

Visit Potato Head

Visit our Potato Head Blog

Follow us on Twitter

Potato Head Bistro & Bar
Pacific Place Mall.

RSV 021 5797 3322

Sesame Noir et Jasmine Blanc Macaron

2009-11-15T21:09:00.005+11:00

Macaron Paradis

My first day off all for myself! and what did I decided to do..well well well of course I need to start baking again after a two week hiatus. I actually felt a bit pessimistic cos lately I haven't been making great macarons like I did when I was in Melbourne. I'm sure it's the oven's fault, nothing to do with the local eggs, almonds or sugar but it could all been an excuse. That and also my mental state of mind has been running at 100mph lately...adjusting to a demanding job that's fast pace and requires my a lot of street smart..I'm sure that's what my dad would say. But today I kinda get the whole trick adjusting to my oven and producing good-enough macarons, texture wise but many practices goes a long way. Not to mention I have a weeding order for 27th November for 250 macarons, yellow and peach is her theme colour so I'll do a lemon curd/buttercream and a peach ganache.

Back to my job...well it's PR or Public Relations, it's definitely not that hard...but it's not an easy job too...I swore to myself I would never work in PR, but I swore many things and ended up doing them and been pretty good so I'll see how it goes. Plus I'm broke after my three months trip to Paris and I kinda need any job to get me started. I work in my brother's restaurant here in Jakarta, called Potato Head, it's fun, cool and it's a great office, I have a little corner where I sit and sometimes the smoke gets to me so I move outside. I hope this is not turning into a diary...

Anyway back to macaron business...I'm going to have my first macaron article in a local magazine called AMICA, an Italian magazine now available in Indonesia as a franchise. Can't wait to get the new edition and will post it soon here. Alrite I've got a few dvds to end the night so goodnight and keep it real y'all!

xoxo
lady macaron

Flower Power Macaron

2009-10-20T23:53:00.004+11:00

When you master your oven, there is no greater joy in baking macarons, now I can make it fat with a slight crunchy shells (last longer in Jakarta's humid and hot weather) or slightly flatter (the way it's suppose to be). I honestly prefer them to be authentic that is flatter, with flittery feet that doesn't raise up so gigantically. However after taking them out from the fridge they get very soft easily and if I sell them without a cold case, then I'm afraid they'll deformed way too fast. Today though I made really fat macarons, eventhough they look prettier with more hummphf, they're way too crunchy. I still prefer flatter versions.

But hey the look great against the flowery background. Today I made lavender and rose macarons. The passionfruit-chocolate macs were made a few days ago. I couldn't believe what I found today at Kem Chicks, a supermarket in Kemang that sells a lot products from overseas, yep those Monin flavoured syrup, they even have...(shock shock!) chestnut matcha green tea flavoured syrup!!! how Pierre Hermé is that! Unbelievable what products they carry in this tiny totally-underated Jakarta. Even Melbourne does not have that! With a price tag of Rp.147,000, I thought I'll try a few bottles and see how really good they are. So what flavour do I need desperately...umm Rose and Lavender!

I made a Pâte á Bombe Recipe using the leftover egg yolks. It is a french buttercream that takes a bit too long to make, and tasted well...like normal cream, so next time I'm going to just use a ganache based filling with added tpt (tant pour tant, almond and icing sugar mixture). Happy that my oven is working a-ok! Tomorrow I'm starting a new job as PR for Potato Head restaurant...which happens to be owned by my brother and his partners. So good luck to me and I hope I can spread the macaron words!

le macaron de la nature étrange

2009-10-18T11:46:00.005+11:00

The pink painting above is by a very famous almost celebrity painter in the Philipines. His name is Ronald Ventura and his is very talented indeed. He does a lot of etching using black pencils and over the top sculptures as well. That particular pink number sold for US $21,000 last night! Oh goodie oh

My first macaron baking outside of Melbourne did yield a mediocre result, being a perfectionist, I was determined to find a way to break into my oven again (meaning adjusting to a new home oven for the third time in three months). After the fourth batch the macarons turned out pretty good, frilly feet, top shells without the slight burnt and easy to peel bottoms that were cooked almost-perfect. The only downside is that they were still flat compare to my macs I baked in Melbourne chilly weather. Perhaps it was because I didn't refrigerate my egg whites for a week as I was in a hurry to bake 60 macarons for an exhibition at my brother's galerie and just decided that morning that I was going to whip up some hideous magic that somehow I was ready to conquer my oven!

Perhaps from the photos you might think that they look fat and happy macs, but they were still not above my level of satisfaction and although I got rave reviews from everyone, I was sceptical. And not to mention the hideous colours (oops I used the word 'hideous' again)! Surprisingly and well obviously the black sesame were the all time favourite (green) with a tint of green tea. The pink white choc with strawberry flavour using my Lindt white couverture chocs were indeed very nice, a bit sweet but I would definitely used that pink chocolate again. The brown ones were cappuccino caramel and I added tant pour tant (almond and icing sugar mixture) to stabilize the texture. Those were all gone too at the end of the night cos everyone said they loved the chewiness from the almond and caramel bite.

Was having nervous tensions on how to serve my macs, and was searching around my home to see what I could use to create a bit of difference and voila! I nicked my brother's wooden cabinet's shelves, whip them clean and put some tissue for le macaron de la nature étrange. The Strange Nature Macaron...

Marmalade & Prune Macaron

2009-10-14T18:57:00.008+11:00

Just the way grandma likes it, yup marmalade on toast and prunes for snacks are probably the two most favourite staple food of my late grandma who lives in Vancouver and probably your grandma too! Wait a second, I know my mom loves both snacks so it would go in favour for a lot of mothers too. So why not put the two together? This is how my mom describes it,

"So while you're eating the macaron, I can taste the bits of prunes inside and some people eat prunes for medicinal purposes so in a way you know their healthy for you. And the delicateness of the chocolate gives it just the perfect texture for the prune filling. There was this fresh feeling from the marmalade, a bit of bitterness, naturally, it was just divine!"

Why did I choose hot pink shells? I don't know, perhaps if I go dark purple it would scare off people from eating prunes, and deep down I should've gone for dark orange or pink with a tint of orange. Oh well, I hope a lot of you gets to enjoy my macarons soon.

List of Flavours Fall 09

2009-10-10T11:05:00.005+11:00

Here are the macaron flavours for Fall 09, available in November through to December. Flavours are updated every couple of month so do visit us soon!
xoxo Lady Mac

I've added new flavours such as: black sesame with jasmine, peach ganache, coffee caramel, lemon buttercream, rose and lavender.
Pistachio is currently unavailable from November to December.

Price:
Each: Rp. 12 000
For orders more than 200++ please email me at emmelyn_g@hotmail.com
Please notify me two weeks in advance for a 50+ orders.

Thank you.
email: emmelyn_g@hotmail.com
phone: +628118881133

Thursday Macaron Bake

2009-10-08T18:36:00.005+11:00

Today I found the almost-perfect macaron recipe after trialling the first recipe in the Pierre Hermé Macaron book which I received express from Paris! Le Mogador is a brightly yellow macarons sprinkled with chocolate powder filled with passionfruit infused in dark chocolate ganache. Monsieur Mogador as I prefer it to be a masculine has many followers around the world in various patisseries, I have seen this often witty flavour in Lindt cafe, in various macarons bakeries in New York, in Sydney and also other noted macaron establishments in Paris. And I say why not, it proved to be a popular signature flavour and who would've thought of mixing passionfruit and chocolate. The mogador is filled with thick dark chocolate mix with fresh passionfruit syrup. Even after the first bite, the passionfruit sweet sour taste is very strong.

Though I have not made the filling yet, the shells is as fat and happy as it could be. What amazes me is that I have been following the almost exact macaron recipe with italian method yet a slight difference in the process from the book changes everything. I learned from my macaron class and from another popular bloggist and countless of other web recipes with italian method to mix the first half of the egg whites with the tant pour tant (almond powder and icing sugar mixture) first to make a paste, then proceed to whip the other egg whites with the cooked sugar. However PH showed in his book that he only poured the egg whites to the tpt and left it there until the italian meringue is ready. Everything is folded together at the same time and that process I believe is essential in developing a high feet and fat shells. At the end of it, it does makes sense because when you fold the tpt with the egg white first to make a paste, it sort of deflate the airyness of the tpt and you are folding the batter twice instead of in one go.

I might need to post a mini recipe soon, it's a great feeling when you've achieve something pretty good and it's also great to share it with others and learn that they've succeeded too! Sooon readers :)

Mangez-les! (les macarons bien sûr)

2009-10-05T14:47:00.002+11:00

Yes you heard me right, go and eat those macarons! mangez-les! and enjoy the every bit of sweet endorphins that are release from thy brain. But my word of advise to watch that waist from expanding: "I always stop when I have the urge to eat some more" and never ever eat more than one macaron at one sitting time, but then you won't be able to taste the rest of the flavours???!! sure you can, I know it sorta deflate the whole purpose of eating a macaron, but I cut them in tiny bits and let everyone guess what the flavours are. Share them with your friends, family and if you have a ravenous dog 24/7 you can always just give it a tiny weeny crust (like a microscopic size).

Excited super excited I received my book parcel from Paris this morning, I knew it was going to be today. It was like a dream to get the Pierre Hermé macaron book, and it does feel like a gift from God, I know I'm over-exaggerating but I seriously think that any macaron fanatics out there who wants to perfect their baking skills need to get this book pronto. Yes it is in French but google has a really good french-translation and it'll give out as many programs that does it.

So how good is the book? Well the PH macaron recipes are divided into five specific categories, les classiques like rose, dark chocolate, pistachio and caramel then les fetish, basically the sexy mysterious flavours with more than one ingredient combination like the famous ispahan with lychee, rose and raspberry in the ganache. Peach, apricot and safron is also included. Les signatures is his signature styles, the flavours he offer continuously in his macaron boutiques and ones that he created from his genius brain. Les sur mesure is the made-to-measure if we're speaking in the fashion tongue, they're certainly not for everyone like the ketchup flavour David Lebovitz once made, and they are sort of a tribute (or a mock) for famous icons or something/someone, like the macaron au jasmin for Jean Patou, the famous french designer/perfumerie. Quite an entertaining read for someone with barely any french syllabus left in her, since there are some words that I can still assimilate and yes they are funny.

The last of the chapter is les exceptions and it does require a certain amount of $$$ to start with since the ingredients list requires a certain foie gras, caviar, balsamic and truffle but they're great to impress a certain...I don't know president?supermodel?designer?

Well I'm off to a great read tonight and will definitely start testing these recipes soon.

Pink October Macaron

2009-10-01T16:11:00.000+10:00

So good news everybody! I got my PH MACARON book that was previously sold out and out of print early this year and nOOOWWW it's available again through amazon.fr. I was so excited I had to press my enter button a few times, instead of being disponible it was en stock! hurrayyy and on top of that I'll be getting it express by the end of the week (counting my days!!).

Apparently it was just re-printed and came out on the 10th September and I am pretty sure by a few weeks, this book will be out-of-print again. So hurry up macaron afficianados and fans alike, go get it! it was seriously cheap for 28.40EUR plus delivery.

On other news, I did another Ladurée tasting, this time, pistachio, caramel with salted butter (caramel au beurre sounds so much better doesn't it?) and lime (which is cédrat in french and only available in summer). Pistachio has very crunchy pistachio nuts and not at all sweet which is good, PH pistachio is smooth and with a ganache based whereas Ladurée's is buttercream based. I would go with Ladurée's if I to pick one between a pistachio flavour but PH's pistachio with cherry centre is fun to eat!

I've tasted Ladurée's caramel au beurre before and I fell in love. Just perfect saltiness with none of the burnt sugar taste as caramel do often gives.

Lime surprisingly is not that tangy as lemon but I love the ganache cos it has a slight coconut taste, what is with all these hidden coconut in french macaron??? but don't take my word on that coconut cos I still have lots of research to do. Love the disco lime colour though, it's so retro and gosh can't believe I'm eating that!

What I did to my Ladurée box (I put all my macaron colours in there and the dust powder too!)

Macaron gift box

2009-09-29T15:21:00.000+10:00

So partly it was boredom and the other half I was anxious to do a macaron box. I know I know...doesn't she has anything better to do? well I love macaron, and what better thing than to do a happy macaron box! I got my inspiration from Sydney over the weekend, we went to this cute-retro-art gallery/store at Darlinghurst and the owner, Gary McEwan is a proud gay artist and he does so by exhibiting a lot of well I'm sure you know what I mean. Surprise-surprise, he used to have a shop at Acland St, St Kilda for 20 years! but moved to Sydney after all the bad chain stores capitalises good ol' Acland.

I actually got the box cover/card from that store and I just did my own drawings inside. It's meant to be a pop-out kinda card but yeah I was rushing it towards the end. Good news to come towards the end of next week about my macarons coming out into the Melbourne stratosphere! It's gonna be BIG and I'm still keeping it as a secret (I hope so, though a few people already know so by my twittering) but will post details as soon as it's confirmed! Will do more of these cards when I have the time.... :) happy macaron day!

My Dog Max

2009-09-29T12:37:00.000+10:00

Max in technocolour by Elly

Eat Ladurée Macaron

2009-09-28T14:06:00.000+10:00

Welcome to another round of macaron tasting from Paris, this time from none other than Ladurée. When I was in Paris I did went to Ladurée a handful of times but I've only tasted vanilla, caramel, chocolate and coffee so far, so...here we go, on an empty stomach with a cup of afternoon coffee.

Citron. A hard recipe to tackle since lemon filling to me visually should be like a yellow curd, but Ladurée decided on a lemon flavoured ganache instead and surely they want to create a strong contrast between the artificial yellow and white. Yes the lemon-tang is there, but so is the white-chocolate flavour (and somehow Ladurée's ganache has a slight coconut after-taste). I can feel shreds of either coconut or perhaps almond meal. Not particularly a favourite and I would avoid ordering this one.

Menthe Glaciale is mint. Again a mint flavoured ganache, but since I love mint candy and anything minty, this is a nice pair up. Great striking colour and definitely an attraction in itself.

Cassis violette is blackcurrant. Definitely sweeter and more bitter than raspberry or strawberry which gives sourness. Now it is not made purely of blackcurrant paste or jam since the texture is very dense and thick, so it is either mix with white chocolate or almond meal. I think it's both since there are hard granules in there, I could feel it between my teeth, and it's not the seeds I'm sure. I love this flavour, it's refreshing.

Ladurée l'eglisse or licorice flavour is veryyyy subtle, but beautifully combined with the ganache and I thought that it has slight coconut taste. Yes Aaron from a life worth eating is correct, this particular flavour is very special, it leaves a minty licorice after-taste and will also be in my flavour book. I felt like eating a charcoal though with the black colour, it was quite intimidating colour. Well done to this one!

With 50odd numbers left of macarons in my freezer, I am taking my time and definitely watching my waist too! All in moderation and you have to enjoy it.

A Swirl of Colour

2009-09-24T10:01:00.000+10:00

I am going ga-ga over this macaron clip! Previously from paris breakfast blog, I was curious to know how they create the trio of colours in one macaron. Wow. Crazy Cool big time!

Visit their website at http://www.fresson-chocolatier-patissier.fr

image 1 from amabilia.com
image 2 from blog-europeauto.com

Mini Recipe

2009-09-17T12:28:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Mini Recipe by Lady Macaron which will be posted very very soon.
For now click here for great recipe by Duncan from Syrup and Tang.com using Italian Method which I highly recommend for anyone who has tried baking them and failed or wants a better recipe that yields strong and glowing shells.

Pierre Hermé eat macaron

2009-09-16T16:27:00.001+10:00

This afternoon, like most other days, we had our coffee and macaron break. This time though we decided to trial the macarons from Paris, notably from Pierre Hermé. Today's flavours are Pistache et Framboise, Menthe Fraiche and Rose. I had the pistachio and raspberry first, the pistachio flavour is definitely subtle, actually reminds me of green-coconut taste like this indonesian cake I used to eat when I was growing up (pandan-cake). Even my mom said so. The raspberry paste centre is not as sour as I would have thought, pretty sweet and again subtle (it could've have been a strawberry or cherry flavour-like). It blends well with the creamy pistachio, overall PH macarons are definitely not as 'strong' flavour as the blogs and comments in the web says.

Rose: quite strong rose-aroma in the first bite, a definite white chocolate based-ganache and somehow my sister tasted lychee in there. But I am still unsure, next tasting to confirm. Again it is a light macaron in term of flavour, good I think.

Menthe Fraiche: Mint creamy white-chocolate based again in the filling and in the shells. Fresh minty flavour meaning they use real mint leafs I'm sure. Mint leafs boiled in the cream and poured over the white chocolates (similar technique when I was learning how to make mint chocolate macarons with professional chef). Overal the cream sort of took over the mint at the final after-taste. It's pretty Comme Ci, Comme Ça (so-so).

Another 'shock-surprise' for me, his macarons are also très fragile when I cupped it with my fingers on the way to my mouth, it breaks easily, but slightly harder than Ladurée. This is why I am constantly irritated when people say that "They are not as hard, and domed-like like the ones I saw at Laurent, Brown's and Lindt" well that's because they never went to Paris and taste french macarons before and they certaintly don't use as much almond powder as they should. They are very fragile cookies, not wait 'cookies' is not a great enough description, they are 'fragile creatures' that needs special attention and care. et voilà, a quick lesson on macarons and how they are supposed to be (physically, texture-ly, flavour-wise and handled).

From Paris...with sweet-love

2009-09-13T23:09:00.000+10:00

My sixty (yes that's 6-0) french macarons from Ladurée and Pierre Hermé to last me...forever. I got every flavour of PH's excluding his foie-gras and truffle combination (since they cost 8euro each!!) and all 15 flavours of Ladurée permanent range. Although they got squished, all I can say is, I'm glad they arrived safely and I am really looking forward tasting them again...this time to be documented (and blogged). I hope to dream of macarons tonight...hope to wake up with a flat tummy though.

Ladurée 15-permanent flavours:
Chocolat - Chocolat amer (Bitter chocolate)- Vanille - Café - Pétales de Rose - Pistache - Framboise (Raspberry)- Cassis violette (blackcurrent violet)- Caramel au beurre salé (salted caramel)- Fruits Rouges (mixed-red fruits)- Fleur d’Oranger (orange blossom)- Réglisse (licorice)- Citron (lemon)

Pierre Hermé flavours:
Mogador (chocolate passionfruit) - Infiniment Caramel (caramel buttercream)- Chocolat - Rose (rose buttercream with raspberry centre)- Cassis (blackcurrant)- Menthe Fraîche (Mint) - Huile d'Olive & Vanille (Olive oil and vanilla) - Mandarine & Baies Roses (Mandarin ganache with rose scent) - Jasmine (jasmine ganache) - Pistache et Framboise (pistachio and raspberry centre) - Americano Pamplemousse (grapefruit buttercream)

The Scent of Jasmine

2009-09-11T20:33:00.000+10:00

Jasmine Macaron would have to be my favorite macaron flavour at the moment. This is a newer version I did last week without the added lychee from a previous post. Everyone agrees that the lychee didn't really add anything special and the taste combined with the jasmine scent didn't blend nicely. This time though I use the new Essential-bought Lindt White Chocolate couverture specially for baking. The taste is definitely a masterpiece as my parents said, and it is here to stay...

By the way, I love the Essential store at Prahran market, I think it is the greatest thing in Melbourne for chefs, full-time bakers and the occassional-bakers alike. I drool everytime I see the Kitchen-Aid mixers on display. One day...One day...I kept saying to myself.

from bakerella at flickr.com. This is what I want! or perhaps what every baker wants...

Playing with strawberries

2009-09-10T11:42:00.000+10:00

Yup I actually made homemade strawberry jam for this one. It was really easy and the fresh natural red color, oh so mesmerizing! A great start for Spring actually here in Melbourne. Too bad the shells were baked in too hot temperature as a result of fixing the oven as I just moved house and it takes a while to adjust the temperature. Not all ovens are made equal, and 150C in my old oven is way too cool for my new oven so I had to upped it to 170C. Turned out that was too hot, so the magic number is 165C. Gosh even a slight difference makes a whole lot of defect!

The pistachio filling has a nutty texture mixed in the cream, quite similar to Ladurée's pistache macaron. The first bite is a sweet-nutty flavor, then the second bite (small bites indeed) you're surprised with a citrussy strawberry flavor stuck in the centre.

The great Pierre Hermé's pistache cherie macaron, with a thick smooth layer of pistachio (and I'm guessing white chocolate, or else it would not be so smooth) and a dollop of what looks like a half of cherry stuck in the middle. What a great visual colour, with the dark cherry red against the soft lime green. He is just a genius.

Anyone for licorice?

2009-09-09T13:40:00.000+10:00

So licorice is one of those snack where you either hate it or you love it. Most people I know hates the bitter-medicine-like taste of licorice. I on other hand, loves it, I craves it sometimes and it's a great snack. Yes we all know it has medicinal health benefits to your digestion and so on, but I doubt it with the ones on the sweet counter. Nevertheless it's one flavour I would like to tackle in the kitchen and see how the end result fair. I was pretty surprised many months ago to learn that Ladurée has licorice as one of their permanent flavor in the shop, called l'eglise, with chestnut also in the filling to saturate the bitter taste of licorice. With a pairing of dark black-brown macaron shells and brown-chestnut filling colour, Ladurée's l'eglise is known for it's mysterious flair. How does it fair in my kitchen? well since I already have a chestnut matcha green tea macaron already in my list of flavors, I thougth I should mix the licorice with caramel. The licorice took ages to melt so in the end after cutting it in tiny little bits, I gave up trying to melt the whole thing, but you know what, I kinda like the way the black bits were showing off from the macaron shells. So I guess my impatience does gives good rewards...sometimes.

My licorice-caramel macaron version. Definitely gotta change the brown-coloured shells for next time. Love the black bits popping out from the fillings.

Ladurée's l'eglise meaning licorice. Don't you just love the combination of that black and chestnut brown...

almost-final-six flavors macaron

2009-09-08T18:26:00.001+10:00

beautiful macarons
Originally uploaded by lady macaron

These are my almost-final-not-there-yet macaron flavors, I will want to add some classics like pure vanilla, just dark chocolate, (my famous date-caramel macaron (i ran out for these photoshoot) and one very citrussy flavor, either blueberry (most prob) or a mix of berries. Enjoy the photos from my flickr. Happy Tuesday.

le pistache fraise

2009-09-07T17:29:00.001+10:00

pistache berry slices
Originally uploaded by lady macaron

Yes it's definitely a Spring flavour, thanks to a blogger friend. Two similar pistachio macaron, the orange with sprinkled pistachio powder and pistachio with almond macaron. Both fillings are equally the same, pistachio cream with strawberry jam paste centre. Starts with a sweet creamy taste and then the crunch of the pistachio nuts to an ending of citrussy strawberry afer-taste. Oh sweet and sour indeed!

I'm loving...PROVINCIAL

2009-09-01T11:29:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it took me 8 years of living in Melbourne to find Provincial Home Living, a french-inspired home stores specializing in furniture, home accessories and simple cutlery. I love it. They have pink french toile fabrics just like the ones I slept with when I was in Paris. It's a nice peaceful world in there, the only downside...well almost all the accessories are made in...well you guess it right....China.

It did put me off at first, but you know what, they need to if they are making hundreds of thousands of pieces made-to-order. They have about ten stores throughout Melbourne and Victoria and it is definitely my favorite shop at the moment.

The furniture-look is country but not too shabby, it is very french with lacy carvings around the wood edges and dark oak colors to complement that mystical ambiance of french homes. The surfaces aren't shiny, yet are matt polished.

Beige tones with dark brown are paired, soft hazy blues and whites. Their natural soaps are great too, I bought a rose and a vanilla soap, the rose with little green specks of petals, visually appealing. They smelled very strong in my room, so I had to hide the rose in my side table bed.

Do visit their websites and spare a time to go there. Relax and enjoy a bit of french provincial.

How To Eat a Macaron

2009-08-25T14:56:00.001+10:00

Click here to watch how to eat a macaron from petites boutchées, a patisserie that specializes on macaron and cupcakes. So funny and utterly true! macarons are gifts from Heaven above!

Country Living

2009-08-23T21:51:00.001+10:00

white kitchen country living
Originally uploaded by decorology

Now this is a kitchen-look I want...

A Tongue-in-Cheek

2009-08-20T19:19:00.000+10:00

Le Marron et Thé Vert Matcha a tribute to Pierre Hermé who created the original flavors.

These are photos collages from my trip to Paris, from the window display of Bon Marché department store to Marithé François Girbaud concept store somewhere in the right bank if I remember vaguely. It looks like a wall that's been vandalised by graffiti but still looks very cool with all the clashes of crazy colors. Another image is from le jardin du luxembourg, the prettiest public garden I have been in my life! and I saw that lady painting that sculpture and I was like oh my goodness I have to take a picture of that! Paris is so abundant with the spirit of art of la liberté.
Above is PH original Chestnut Matcha macaron with it's signature green tea paste centre. Since I haven't tried it (but will soon hopefully in September) I don't know exactly what it's made of, whether it's buttercream or ganache based. It's at times like this I wished I have his sell-out-out-of-production Macaron recipe book. His original is light-brown to complement the chestnut flavor, he then cut squares of matcha paste to add onto the half macaron shells and then piped the chestnut filling on top of it.

Mine on the other hand is green, but I like the green better and it's different that his. I used chestnut powder and milk to make the paste and combined the cream and white chocolate to make the ganache. The matcha paste centre is made from the chestnut paste combined with matcha powder. The contrast is very subtle between the matcha green and the chestnut brown filling. But taste-wise is a success because the chestnut flavor is pretty strong and the surprise matcha centre leaves a sorta oriental flavor and the sweet is an after-taste delight.

The matcha squares. Don't hesitate to ask me for recipes, it really depends on my mood if I want to write recipes then I'll write them...but sometimes I really can't be bothered. Sorry, but do ask me if any of you would like any of the recipes of the macarons posted here :)

chestnut matcha innards

2009-08-20T14:21:00.001+10:00

chestnut matcha innards
Originally uploaded by lady macaron

New flavor of the day. Marron et Thé Vert Matcha, a tribute to Pierre Hermé, the master macaron chef. My chestnut is a bit too dark and taste v bitter but I really like it, not sweet at all so it's good for all those diet-conscious people...me included. I'm keeping the green colour, PH is beige-brown colour. I have to create a point of difference right...

In The Mood of Jasmine

2009-08-18T20:34:00.000+10:00

I miss Rue Saint Dominique in Paris, a close two minute walk from where I lived, with its little church and the small park surrounding it, what a comfort to walk past. On the opposite site chic boutiques and small artisan boulangeries pride themselves on having a street that faces to right up to La Tour Eiffel. On a misty Sunday morning, the silver tower lay hidden amongst the gray cloud and I would search for it when I walk to church, wondering where it is and why it has disappeared...
Paris in...May, on my Sunday walk. There the Eiffel Tower greets whoever sees its towering giant.

I would love to go back to Paris one day, somehow the air feels different than any city I visited. Oh well that's another story. Back to my macaron! Jasmine is bittersweet as it is, but with lychee cream it gives it subtle texture. I use white chocolate to hold the ganache and it's great that I can hardly taste it as I am not too enthusiastic of using white choc in all of ganaches.

The cream coloured ganache is from the jasmine leafs that was cooked in the simmering cream. Drain the cream to get rid of the leafs and add the white chocolate. I sprinkled bits of the leafs, looks prettier doesn't it? mellow mellow. With the colour, it's hard to explain what colour it is, I do hope it resembles a bit of a mix between jasmine and the creamy lychee, a few drops of blue and yellow creates that very very soft green/lime/yellow = creamy lime. Flavorwise, well I feel the lychees aren't pureed enough and needs to be dried longer to remove excess water. It's not very sweet so that's a positive I think, some flavors are meant to be as is, bittersweet right?

I hope Pierre Hermé is proud of me :D

la crème de lychee jasmin macaron

2009-08-18T20:29:00.001+10:00

leaf leafy macaron
Originally uploaded by lady macaron

I love the scent of jasmine, it's sweet but at the same time it's quite bitter...that makes it so bittersweet.

Le Pamplemousse Tropical

2009-08-14T17:59:00.000+10:00

At last after almost a two week macaron hiatus, I am back on the roll. Yes I still have a bit of nagging cough at the back of my throat, but my hands and mind are itching to bake macarons. Especially since I was recently inspired by Paulette rose macaron montage but I did mine using a paint brush, Paulette does hers by airbrushing the macarons. I just added a bit of water in my colour paste and lightly brushed the sides of the macaron in one go. Turned out pretty okay, quite sell-able but perhaps I would use a finer brush. Now I had a bit of fun with filling, I did use grapefruit obviously, and I also did a buttercream filling on the outside with an orange and grapefruit curd in the centre. The thing is if I use all the curd as the filling, it's too thick and heavy, so I thought the buttercream will balance it off and it does.

Sorry the photo is pretty blurry but I couldn't wait to show the insides, the filling hasn't cooled off completely, some of the buttercream went sideways, but I could taste the curd immediately and it spreads as well. Yum, I think I'll keep this flavour if I get to sell my macs. I have been experimenting with flavours and I have been resisting doing just vanilla or just chocolate cos they sound a bit boring, but I guess at the end of the day people wants to know what exactly they're eating, and mixing too many flavours does gives a confusing look? however this is the era of abstraction and avant-garde isn't it, so why not I say. Or has it moved to new age??

So I've tackled grapefruit, using a buttercream recipe from Melanger, and the grapefruit recipe I followed Cuisine Campagne lemon curd recipe but I substitute the lemon to grapefruit. If the curd turns a bit too liquidy, add a few tablespoons of almond meal so that it becomes pasty. Try it, it works for me.

News & Events

2009-08-13T17:14:00.000+10:00

COMING SOON!
Happy Macaron Day and Everyday!

Contact

2009-08-13T17:09:00.001+10:00

Ask me questions, orders and purchase related at

Email: emmelyn_g@hotmailcom

Follow me on twitter: ladymacaron or http://twitter.com/ladymacaron

Facebook fan club for Lady Macaron

Pierre Hermé Minis

2009-08-11T10:08:00.000+10:00

Wow I am loving 8tokyo.com it is a very cool website by (I'm pretty sure it's a girl) who loves shopping for sure, cakes, sweets and desserts and blogs it out in short forward writing. I am in craze of Pierre Hermé mini cake miniatures and macaron. Oh they are so petit petit petit I just want to collect them all. I'm gonna check in ebay see if they still have it, I have to have one!

Ah I can't stop staring at them...They're so tiny, so adorable.

A little bag for the little mini cakes. They are all mini representation of PH's signature cakes. In Japan, they sell the miniatures in PH shops as well as freebies from Lipton drinks.

Cute Macaron Boxes

2009-08-10T16:53:00.000+10:00

From Ladurée in Paris to Paulette in San Francisco, macaron boxes is as important as the goodies inside. Christian Louboutin, shoe designer for stars with a long list of clienteles recently collaborated with none other than Ladurée to create three individual macaron boxes with Louboutin signature drawings. Available in September, I bet it'll be gone in a couple of days. Ladurée always work with other artists wordwide to unveiled a new box designs, sometimes they do a different theme for each season.

Their doggy collection is also very popular, in particular the character Fifi, there is even a bag with her on it that sells in Ladurée. For a couple of Springs ago, Ladurée did a box just for the flowery season. I think anyone who buys one of Ladurée macaron in their carton boxes which does cost more will always keep their boxes for keepsake, how could you throw such a cute little thing! I can't wait to collect them...

Pierre Hermé used to work at Ladurée as a consultant and made way for modern flavours. Then he opened up his own macaron shop and suddenly he's the new macaron god. I red a review of his book, and the writer said there is only two type of macaron person, a Ladurée person or Pierre Hermé person. Sadly...or interestingly....or dullingly...I am a Ladurée lover. I stand for classics and Ladurée caramel au beurre salé is to die-for! nothing beats french butter.

What an ingenious thing to do, Sempé or in full Jean-Jacques Sempé, who is a very well-known french cartoonist actually did the illustrations of Pierre Hermé macaron boxes. One of his most recent popular exhibition was of Le Petit Nicolas, a small boy character he made that eventually catapulted him into a super cult-icon of french cartoon.

Of course between the two famous macaron giants, there is always a rift competition and Pierre Hermé who has set up his own macaron shop in Tokyo for a few years, has also collaborated with Lipton to make some of his miniature cakes as freebies attached to Lipton everyday drinks! Call him a genious, or just plain marketing savvy. They come as keyrings, as you know Japanese girls love to decorate their mobile phones with cute little danggly sometimes sparkly things. Just makes me want to go to Tokyo even more now.

They sell them now in Ebay and I am itching to get them...but oh they are free when you buy Lipton drinks in Japan...They look pretty real don't they, ohh even the pink macaron with the rose petal, called ispahan, looks so real...gosh and they're freeeeee.... I bet all those Jap girls are buying dozens of Lipton drinks just to get the key rings, I would...

Oh now I'm going to sleep knowing I'll dream of macaron in Japan. Yikes!

Sydney Macaron Hunt

2009-08-07T13:59:00.000+10:00

My four-day macaron hunting Sydney has left me with a very bad cough, a blocked nose and a dizzying headache...and half a dozen boxes of macarons from all over Sydney stuck in the fridge. Yes I am terminally obsessed with macarons, but I should be if I want to be serious about it. The Ladurée macarons I brought back from Paris have long been gone and I am waiting for a friend to bring them back in September. Although Sydney's macarons were slightly better than Melbourne, none of them are even close to Parisian macarons, sadly.

My first visit was to Adriano Zumbo was on a Monday afternoon at 3pm, little did I know that he is already a cult-icon in little town Balmain. His café chocolat had to shut early because everything was gone just after lunch hour. His little bakery less than 50 metres away painted a sad grin, his entire goods were basically all gone, what was left behind was a few pieces of rustic breads. I was pretty shocked to be honest, so we promised to come back in the early hours the next day.

Next was Lindt cafe in Sydney's George Street and a second location in Martin Place. They have the best filling in the terms of taste. Although they looked visually appealing with high feet, nice pastel colours and smooth tops, none had the chewiness that of french macarons in Paris. I like their vanilla and dark chocolate best, vanilla because I can taste their signature ice-cream flavour in the ganache, and dark chocolate because Lindt chocs are pretty good.

La Renaissance Café Patisserie is located at The Rocks, a small french bakery, this tiny gem has a colourful selections of macarons. Eventhough texture-wise they were crunchy, their passion fruit with milk chocolate ganache using Valrhona chocolate is refreshing. I can definitely taste the passion fruit.

Finally it's Adriano Zumbo, yes his macarons has a very abstract after-taste. Evethough it might say pistachio or pinenuts, there is definitely a grey area. Meaning he experiments with flavours and I have to give praise for that. He does not just stick to making a pistachio ganache out of a pistachio nut. He is definitely leading the way in Australia's dessert world and Balmain will never be the same again.

Adriano Zumbo
296 Darling Street, Balmain
Café Chocolat
308 Darling Street, Balmain

Lindt
53 Martin Place
259 George Street

La Renaissance Café Patisserie
47 Argyle Street The Rocks Sydney

Lady Macaron Café

2009-08-01T12:44:00.000+10:00

Once upon a time, if I have a small cafe on my own it would be pink, as clichéd as it sounds I spent my entire childhood until I was about 10 playing polly pockets and barbie dolls. I keep my polly pockets in a glass cabinets in my room and always imagine myself living in one of their little pop-up houses. So it would be naturally easy for me to pick a wall colour or a little sign with pink lightbulbs and decorate my interior with lacy countertops.

Polly Pockets I've collected since I was about three years old. I still buy them if I see one in markets and garage sales, though prices have skyrocketed.

When I was in Paris and bakery-hopping, I found many boulangeries that were almost a decade old, still with their painted cherubs ceilings and ancient looking counters. It would be a cool idea, something I've been thinking, to open a little cafe in a restaurant, a concept whereas a fake façade is installed in a small area inside the interior of the restaurant or bistro. Guests would have to enter from a fake door and they would feel a totally different ambiance.

A beautiful tea room called Crown & Crumpet situated in the well-known Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco is the epitome of my idea of a very chic cafe. The space used both as a sitting room and a modern shop, it is filled with items for sale as well as for decoration. I especially love the pink and white chested floor and old English paintings of children on the walls. It is a forward interpretation of an antique English tea room, and as it specifically said in the website: There is no ‘Granny’s front parlor’ look for Crown & Crumpet.

I believe that macarons are best devoured with a cup of black coffee or tea, and in the company of good friends and family....or simply alone. Whichever suits you, I can't wait to have my own macaron café!

Ref: First, third and fifth image from Crown & Crumpet website.

Le Haricot Rouge avec Litchi

2009-07-31T16:22:00.000+10:00

Red bean, my favorite beans over all the asian-beans, green beans, black beans and soy bean. Originating from China with a Japanese-inspired name of Azuki bean paste, this particular bean is delicious as a sweet soup or as fillings in mochi cakes and breads. My mom makes a good red bean soup just like below which you can find the recipe here. After getting rave reviews from my black sesame macarons, I thought perhaps I should try all the beans out there. Of course in a perfect world I would boil raw red beans and mashed them so they become a paste or I could get a packet of red bean powder from my local Asian supermarket and mix it with hot water. I'll let you decide...

Now...lychee? Why Lychee? well as you know red bean soup with lychee fruits mix together is pretty delicious, and I was afraid of my macarons turning into a mochi-cake with pure red bean paste so I think it's a good pairing having some lychees in the ganache. My brother could not taste the lychee though so perhaps I should make two different flavours next time. I've experimenting with pink colours for awhile and after seeing the red bean sandwiched between my macarons, they kinda looked too candy-candy.

Well I'm off to a birthday party tonight and is bringing a few boxes of macarons for after-dessert-dessert. Okay I might be off for a couple of days, going to Sydney til Wednesday for some catching up with families there, and in between I have to go to Lindt to check out their macarons! have a great weekend ahead!

L'amour de Pêche Macaron

2009-07-30T14:06:00.000+10:00

Yes it's been a few days since my last macaron post, but I've come back with a big bang! let me introduce to you my latest macaron, the peach love or in seductive french...l'amour de pêche macaron. Peachy, sweet & sour with a citrus after-taste and just beautiful montage. I am so proud of these, and I must thank Lilo from cuisine-campagne for this great great recipe. The recipe calls for a french method macaron, and I substitute that with my Italian method that I have been using since I started. Some macarons in the website has Italian method macaron, but I think if any of you are using home ovens, Italian (sucre cuit) method makes more stable macs. I did follow the peach jelly recipe and it turned out great.

Macaron with a peachy montage*
70g almond flour
67g powdered sugar

50g egg whites
67g caster sugar
16g water

For the peach montage, I brushed a light pink-peach powder dust over the macaron using a small thin brush. Only brushed at the edges and don't overdo it. Ta-da...a peach-looking macaron!

The step-by-step instruction is from Syrup & Tang's. By adding 3g more of almond flour (70g) my macarons turned out shinier, more chewy and has better feet. Again I think it all comes down to your oven at home, the temperature correction (my oven is way hotter than others I think) and I also reduced the heat to 135-140c and increasing the baking to 14-15minutes.

I am over the moon with cuisine-campagne website, it has great macaron recipes and the photos will blow your imagination! especially the one with the green apple montage. It is in french but it is easily translated in google translation service. Find macaron recipes in french google and the results are pretty original. My brother thinks that the peach jelly is slightly too pureed, but my mom loves it because she loves anything fruity. I am still sticking to Italian method even though I found a LOT of macaron bloggers using french method, I'm still intimidated since failing each time. I am still thinking about taking another macaron course at Savour School for three hourse instead of the full-day I took a few months ago, cos I need to ask more questions and find out why I kept failing at french method. We'll see...

Life in Melbourne is still good, we are moving house next month and everyone is pretty excited. It's a lovely house, has a homey ambiance like a small cottage. Has a bigger lawn so dog can run around, he loves sleeping though and sunbathing definitely.

oh Max, Max come and look! Max...Max...MAXXXX!!! he loves curling up and napping. And eating 24/7. But he's a good dog.

Le Pistache

2009-07-29T13:03:00.000+10:00

The Pistachio...it is definitely a hit or miss with this one. I've made two different fillings so far, one pistachio buttercream and the latest one, pistachio paste with a higher pistachio percentage and melted white chocolate. Aesthetically, I loved the idea of a pistachio jelly, but has not found a great recipe just yet, when I meant pistachio jelly, I meant biting into a salted caramel filling but with a pistachio taste. See if I mix pistachio with a caramelised sugar then it would be too sweet and strange of a flavour. What I like with this latest filling recipe is that the white chocolate has tiny pieces of nuts so when I melt it, the nuts are left behind and has a crunchy texture to it however the only slight problem is that it doesn't look that nice with white brown bits sticking out of the macaron.

This is Ladurée pistachio macaron from here. As you can see, their macarons are pretty dense and a lot thinner than Pierre Herme's macarons in general.

PH pistachio macaron with preserved cherry stuck inside. Wow, what a combination. You can see the full post of his macarons here.

My quest for le pistache is not over yet. Perhaps I should be more daring and stuck a chestnut inside? or lychee? Time to ponder away.

L'équivoque, the ambiguous

2009-07-25T09:17:00.000+10:00

(the ambiguous café macaron w caramel date ganache)

Morning macaron fans, lovers and followers like moi!

Today is I present to you...L'équivoque, the ambiguous macaron with slightly ash-violet colour, all natural, with a mix of hazelnut and almond flour (17g and 50g), flavoured with a dust of vanilla bean and a nutty dark filling of coffee and date. Can't seem to make up your mind, well choose the ambiguous, let your senses guide you to the next flavour...

L'équivoque, sitting pretty next to pink vanilla macaron.

What a lovely day to start a Saturday morning, visually...you don't want to have them straight for breakfast right? No, I would not think so.

A good friend and a great baker messaged me yesterday and gave me this quote:

"A moment of bliss in the mouth, forever on the hips"

So everything in moderation and enjoy them in every moment.

Pink Vanilla Macaron

2009-07-24T23:17:00.000+10:00

Le Pastel with caramel buttercream

So tomorrow there is this church gathering at my pastor's place and I promised the organizer that I would bring my macaron as an-after dessert 'dessert'. It's only been three weeks since I started baking them, and I think it's time for my little babies to be introduced to the world. I know 21 days is a very short time but it has taken me about 15 batches and so I can confidently say that I know how to bake them...as a beginner...Ok I have been saying that for quite awhile now...I am still following step by step recipes in how to make fillings from creams, egg whites... butter..sugar...well coming from someone who hardly every cooks let along bake pretty little things...Gosh what a difference it makes when I skip a step or thinks I know better...NOT...

I followed the recipe for the caramel buttercream from Julia@Melanger but I also added about 100g of white chocolate into the hot cream mixture. Let it sit for a minute and they just easily stir away. I thought the pink colour is not too strong, quite a nice one don't you think? I made a dark chocolate ganache before and had it filled between my macarons and they looked horrible! pink and dark brown does not go together...no matter how good they taste.

With the second batch, I made the caramel buttercream again and when it has slightly cooled, I added about five teaspoon of dark bitter coffee. I notice the texture is creamier and you get spicy tang in the air. The macaron baking is slightly better, their feet is still getting burnt too fast, I've lowered the temperature at the last six minutes and found out it was too early so some of the tops flattened out. I've added more baking trays under it but still didn't improve. So next time, off they go to the middle rack and stacked with heaps more of trays... :)

Oh brother is arriving shortly at the airport now...I'm such a lazy sister, I slept...while my parents go and pick him up. Well blame it on the macaron, I was baking til 10...and did a macaron facebook group til 1ish. Come check it out at http://www.facebook.com/emmelyng?ref=profile#/group.php?gid=102518728806&ref=mf

happy macaron day!

La Cerise Macaron

2009-07-23T17:29:00.000+10:00

Cherry Macaron with Dark Chocolate ganache (with cherry bits)

I call it La Cerise

*Macaron Shell
67g almond meal (ground to fine powder in food processor)
67g icing sugar (pure sugar, no starch) mix with the almond meal

50g egg whites (cleared and at least 24hr old)
67g caster sugar
16g water

Mix almond powder and icing sugar (called Tant Pour Tant) and sift into a big bowl. Halved the egg white, pour in 25g egg white into the TPT and mix to make a shiny goey paste (I used a wooden spatula). You can add the colouring now and flavours like vanilla bean. Takes about 4 minutes to make into a paste. Put aside.

Start whisking the egg whites in medium speed, after about 20 seconds boil the water and sugar. When the egg whites turned foamy and has bits of peaks, the sugar syrup should be around 110c, when the temp reached 116c, stop the heat and slowly pour the hot syrup into the sides of the bowl (use glass Pyrex bowl!) with the egg whites. Whisked in high speed until all the syrup is inside and whisked until it turned stiff and shiny (this mixture is called an Italian meringue (hence the Italian Method). When you lift the electric whisker, the ends of the meringue should fold down. Takes me about four more minutes to create a stiff meringue after all the syrup is in the bowl.

In two additions (if you are using less quantity of ingredients) fold the meringue into the almond paste. I use a wooden spatula and I move my bowl around so I create a circular motion while folding the mixture. Do a quick folding when you first pour in the meringue, once they are starting to blend together with the almond paste and create ribbons, fold slowly. The mixture should flow like a magma like everyone has been telling me, it should retain its shape but at the same time it should flow when you lift the mixture over the spatula. At the end of folding, I use a plastic spatula and fold one last time.

When you piped to a test first, count how long you pipe, mine is three seconds then I stop, see how it expand, if they size is good then keep going. It's trial and error and practice makes perfect...

*Cherry Dark Choc ganache
50 g heavy cream
100 g pitted cherries (blend in a blender til they become almost paste-like)
100 g black chocolate
20 g unsalted butter

Boil the heavy cream, pour to the black chocolate and butter. When they are blended smoothly, add the cherries and chill.

I have to be honest though, my macarons still come out slightly different to every batch, I made four batches today, two were waaaaaayy too stiff...the last two were better but somehow I kinda lost my magic....and patience. I guess being a full-time chef de macaron takes more than three weeks to master ey?

On another tangent, that reminds me, Chéri the movie and the story by celebrated french writer Colette is out in cinemas. I watched it in Paris last time, it was very...well I think it is suited for someone with an acquired taste. Definitely recommended for someone who gets excited with all things french (and I'm proud of it), loves macaron (a MUST) , loveees Michelle Pfeiffer (in an awe-inspiring way) and is into movies set in classical period...well it might be just for you this weekend! and Rupert is so-darn-macaron hot!

a demain!

Black Sesame Macaron

2009-07-21T21:29:00.001+10:00

Tuesday macaron is black sesame flavour. I followed this recipe from a macaron enthusiast/blogger like me and she is definitely a pro in her field! As you all know I am a beginner so I think it's important to follow the rules first before I start inventing my own recipes and flavours. I actually made three batches of black sesame macaron today, since I was getting furious their feet kept getting burnt too fast and even after I reduce the temperature in my oven. I started at 150c then reduced to 130c, but did not show any improvement. The third batch was better though because I actually sifted my top rack (that I normally used) to a lower level and stacked another baking tray over my macaron silpat. The fourth batch I brave myself to try the french method (after failing each time last week) and this time I succeeded but the large amount of sugar in contrast to the almond powder made the macarons too soft and fragile. If I have a convection professional oven, I probably used the french method often but I'll stick to italian method for now...

Yes everyone has been telling me to sell these and start making $$$ but I gotta perfect my baking skills first and really stick to the rules and guides before I truly say, yes I can make macarons. Right now, I am still learning and you can tell that as each macaron batch still turned out slightly different and I still have to match my macaron halves before I fill them because my piping skills aren't up to scratch yet. Lovely day though today, dog didn't bark at all and I was listening to a really good french soundtrack from this blog with great macaron recipes.

Next...I'll tackle chocolate/peppermint macaron (since I got a natural peppermint concentrate already from a cake specialist shop at Flinders St.)

Pistachio & Pink Cinnamon Macaron

2009-07-18T19:26:00.000+10:00

Pistachion macaron with creamy pistachio ganache and pink cinnamon macaron with caramel date filling.

Saturday is suppose to be a great day to make some macarons, after all it's the weekend and I am all alone with Max, my Jack Russel Terrier, who behaves wonderfully on Saturdays as the postman is having his day off. But guess what! my macarons didn't turn out so wonderful! The first batch I made were too small and the colour of green monster, and the rest, well they had burnt feet. I mean from the photo they look pretty good but the feet were uneven and I think their tops were too stiff. I like the way the colours turn out though, I would def use both colours if I have a macaron cafe one day. I'm not sure where I'd gone wrong, I know for sure that the oven had some major issues since I emptied all the racks last night and somehow I rearrange it the wrong way. Also I bought a different batch of almond meal, these are from South Melbourne market, not the ones from supermarkets. I would think they would be better, or perhaps I grind them in my Cuisinart too long? I hope I can work all those issues on Monday. Wish me luck!

I like this image of this jack russel, it so describe my dog perfectly if he was confined like that. He would be jumping non-stop until someone gives him the right attention! I love him so much.

I'm not particularly into those macarons with sprinkly tops, tops that are sprinkled with nuts and tid bits. I love my macarons smooth. So I grind the almond meal, pistachio and icing sugar alltogether until they're smooth.

I used the Italian Method for all my macaron, for the pistachio ganache I kinda made one today combining half a cup of thickened cream that's been whipped at max speed, half a cup of icing sugar and 1/4 cup of pistachio meal. Then I just refrigerate til they're firm enough for filling.

The caramel date is from previous post, I added ground cinnamon so that's it's not too sweet and for aroma as well.

Have a great weekend. See you all on Monday!

Caramel Date Macaron

2009-07-16T19:12:00.000+10:00

I love dates, I love munching them, I love having a couple for desserts and when I get hungry at night, I take a few upstairs to my room. So I have not found a ganache with dates so I made my own... :)

*Caramel Date
120g caster sugar
90g thickened cream
30g unsalted butter
6-8 pieces of dates (pitted!)

Cut the dates in little tiny pieces first. Heat the sugar, let it melts into a caramelly liquid, not too brown or it'll harden! add the butter quickly, then add the thickened cream and then add the dates. Drop the heat to simmering and stir until the dates are almost melted but you can still feel their textures in the mix. Let it cool and refrigerate or freeze them until it becomes firm enough for filling.

With my second batch, I added more almond meal more than the icing sugar as most of the macarons I made using the Italian method has become a bit stiff, although the have a very smooth top. I notice adding more almond meal they are more fragile but they feel like how the should feel when I had macarons from Ladurée. However I could see tiny specks of almond dots, they look like they're still raw but I could a lot of bigger specks in Ladurée and Pierre Hermé. Also my colouring is very subtle so that could be why. For next time, I'll try using slightly more almond meal and cooked them for a bit longer. We'll see.

Genmai-Cha Green Tea Macaron

2009-07-16T14:57:00.000+10:00

Genmai-Cha Green Tea Macaron with roasted-rice aroma.

Hellow everybody, so today I decided to make a green-tea infused macaron with Genmai-Cha green tea. I liked this particular brand because it has roasted rice in its tea bags, and the aroma is very rusty and reminds me of burned wood actually. Weird but I seem to relax whenever I drink this tea after a long hard day of work! Green tea flavoured macaron is not new in the macaron stratosphere, so I thought I should try it since I know there would be a lot of my girlfriends who would prefer eating these (perhaps they thought it's healthier??).

For the ganache I melt some white chocolate in the cream ganache because the green-tea is partly just for aroma. I tasted a bit of the ganache before I refrigerate it and although you can taste a slight white chocolate taste, the green-tea with roasted rice taste is stronger, which I find works wonderful.

The lightly brown macaron on the right is also green tea flavoured but it was my second batch and I was experimenting with the colours, no! They are not overcooked!

I use all natural-colouring in my macarons, hence I think the colour is very subdued. I haven't tried powdered ones yet but I think I need to if I want to get serious with all this macaronning.

*Genmai-Cha Green Tea ganache
150g of thickened cream
50g of white chocolate buttons
four *genmai-cha green tea bags (I would prefer green tea powder, so I have more research to do)

Stir the thickened cream over simmering heat, when it starts bubbling add the white chocolate buttons. When everything is mix, let it cool. Infused the green tea bags in four tablespoons of near-boiling water, drain the bags until the last drop and add to the cream mixture. Refrigerate for an hour or so, check twice and stir to get a smooth texture. Then I whipped it hard in max speed for 5 minutes to get a thick creamy ganache. Voila!

Le Premier Macaron

2009-07-15T18:55:00.000+10:00

From Left to Right: first row- macaron with salted caramel, cinnamon macaron with white chocolate caramel cream; third row- filled with cream caramel.

Voila!! Mon premier macaron...!

I would not call it a perfection just yet but it is definitely a huge step forward to making the perfect heavenly shaped macaron with delicious ganache filling. Today is the third day of baking macaron since I started on Monday, the fourth batch with countless of washing, kilos of almond meal, a few kilos of sugar and about 15 egg yolks that will turn into a lemon custard tart tomorrow. Yes I am in love with macarons, you can read a quick history of it in here, in my other blog which I started when I ran away to Paris for three months, kidding! about the running away part, but I did spent three months in Paris earlier this year and it definitely changed me in a lot of ways! initially my parents disagreed letting their youngest daughter ventured away by herself to Paris, alone, single and without a care in the world, but I survived (phewwww, as my dad would say from time to time) and had the best experience ever! For the first month I interned with Collette Dinnigan for Paris Fashion Week and the last two months I studied intensively french language at Alliance Française. Fashion is my background but at the moment, I am sooooo over it, well not really over it but I am taking a break from all of that designing and living in my own little shoe box.

Setback: they have the unfortunate cruch* (macaron is suppose to be pretty goey, soft and fragile) these are pretty hard. However the cinnamon flavoured (yellow) did had a more supply texture as I added more almond and icing sugar mixture.

Now, back to my love-affair with macarons, funnily when I was in Paris, I wasn't obsessed with them, yes I passed Ladurée everyday on my way home from Rue Bonaparte and once when I lived further away in the 15eme arrondissement, I missed a bus home and had a stopover at Ladurée and scored a vanilla and caramel macarons. Yes we all know they are divine, but I was cool with them, perhaps because I see them everywhere. But when I went back to Melbourne, I felt something was missing around me, and to my surprise there were a few places selling macarons here but as Duncan from Syrup and Tang wrote, Melbourne macarons are pretty bad. So that got me thinking, mmhhh maybe I should make my own, haha and so the journey began, first I enrolled at Savour School for their full-day macaron class and it was worth every digits!

So since then I was hooked and been making them non-stop. Here is le premier macaron and I am pretty proud of them!

La Recette as adapted from the Italian method

macaron shell
Tant pour Tant (almond meal and icing sugar mix)
70g of fine almond meal (ground to a powdery texture)
67g of pure icing sugar

50g egg whites (divides into two equal amount in separate bowls)

67g caster sugar
16g water

Now, the step by step formula is adapted from Syrup and Tang's. There is limitless formula in the Internet world, and I find that the Italian method is best so far. I chose this one because it has the less grams quantity so that I can make more batches if I make errors.

Ok now I'm happy and thanks to Duncan I did a pretty good job. And welcome to my macaron blog!