Macaron Madness

Hi all,

It's been a while. I've been cooking up a storm, but alas too busy to sit down and take pictures and write it all down. Let's see, what has my stomach been up to?

Off the top of my head, a family bike ride to the docks in Steveston where we happened upon fresh lemon sole, shrimp and decapitated salmon. The fishermen stand around expectantly, looking forelornly at the 'sole' boat where the mob has gathered. It's fresh lemon sole, scooped out of the hold with a plastic laundry basket into a plastic bag, still flipping and slithering around.  The spectacle is interesting to watch, so being the looky loos we are, we spring for 3 fish. The thing about transporting live fish in a plastic bag on the back of your bike on a warmish spring day....brings to mind, animal activists waiting to spray you with blood. So husband smacks the fish on the side of the bike rack to bring them out of their misery, while second child screams and plugs her ears. Dinner comes with drama. Would you be a meatarian if your meat didn't come saran wrapped on styrofoam, cut into unidentifiable cubes?

Lightly breaded and fried in butter, sole was definitely more palatable than poaching method.  I tried to poach one fish, but there's some chemical substance in the skin that doesn't taste good. The maillard reaction rids of that taste. I'm geeking out, throwing $5 words around since I got page through a copy of The Modernist Cuisine . It was only $450US for the set of 5 in the States. Fascinating looking at the cut aways of pots cooking food, half barbecues and food reactions. Pretty upscale science to put some nutrition into your stomach! I'm just jealous, cos I'll never spend $400 for a sous vide, or for the books for that matter.

Another adventure, or shall I say misadventure...Since I was on staycation last week, I woke up most mornings to try my hand at macaron making. A few years ago, I went on a mission to find the best macaron I could get my hands on in this city. Back then, macarons were still hard to find, and the ones I could were not made well. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon since, even Costco sold a box of 20 for 5$ in their freezer. My mission was futile, and I the best ones I ever had came from Paulette in Beverly Hills, and from Laduree transported by my sister-in-law's suitcase from Paris. There is a new girl in town, Soirette on Robson street that I have yet to try. Only when I saw my friend's blog 'Cake on the Brain' recently, using egg whites from a carton, did I give it another go. Macaron making can be a real labor of love, which takes up too much time aging those egg whites days in advance and very technique driven.

After 5 batches, only 1 met my so called standards. No bumps, relatively round, high enough feet, no hollow shells, and they tasted good. My batch of matcha buttercream has run out, and so has my foray into macarons for now. It required using a food processor, sieve, blender, digital scale, piping bag...and that's just the French meringue method. The Italian meringue involves boiling simple syrup with a candy thermometer. My next baking will involve a wooden spoon and one bowl. Lol.