Strawberries, downfall

Tuesday night, on a whim, I made a strawberry tart. That is just what I do. Forgoing making dinner (I had some grocery store veggie sushi), I whipped up some pastry cream, made a pastry shell, and cut up a lot of berries. I guess the occasion was that the strawberries were buy-one-get-one-free, and I had a new tart pan with a slick removable bottom. The results, below, don't betray the fact that the cream soon went from solid-ish to relentlessly soupy:


The day's other events included lunch at a new Belgian restaurant (bread with good crust!) and my bonking my head on my mat/the floor at yoga while attempting "eight-limb staff pose." I think this photo of the pose, demonstrated by someone who apparently used to teach at my studio, will explain my face-floor collision:

Macaroooons

After cobbling together a few recipes this weekend, I succeeded in making macaroons. (In my head, that sentence actually finishes with a "!!!".) Maybe next time they'll be pink or purple/rose or violet, but for now I did vanilla/chocolate.


Things I learned:
1. Almond flour is expensive (about $14 with tax).
1.5 Almond flour is worth it.
2. Leftover ganache is never a problem.

I'm looking online for recipes/recipe books, but not surprisingly the only macaroon-specific books I see are through French chain Fnac...So basically I'll just have to make it up as I go along + get better at converting from grams.

My outrageously beautiful Busby Berkeley dream #1: Macaroons

I'm going to attempt to make macaroons (the almond, not coconut kind) this weekend. We'll see if that doesn't become a total disaster. Per the directions I've already got the egg whites sitting out in the fridge, and I'm going to be forced to pester someone at Whole Foods about almond flour. (Is there a bourgier request?) If I am successful in making anything vaguely resembling some of these, I will feel damn self-sufficient (left on my to-do list will be learning how to cartwheel..for real). If not, well, I'll have Batman and 2 Amys to console me.

Dessert first

According to Erik Wemple, blogging about what you ate for breakfast is boring...but I don't think that puts tiered French desserts off-limits. The sweets in the caf today made me giddy. They served religieuses! These "nuns" weren't violet flavored like the La Durée pastry in the photo, but they were very, very, chocolate-y. There were also strawberry macaroons.

Famous people

1. On Friday I discovered the Etsy site for Alison Kelly, someone who got an untimely boot on the third season of Project Runway (I yelled at the TV). As of posting, there are a few necklaces left, and I'm not so impressed (a dagger dragonfly necklace? wha?)..
2. I just got an invitation to the reception on Friday for French prime minister François Fillon. I like my events to be alliterative. There will be macaroons. I might even wear heels.