The Great Macaron Fiasco

I love macarons. This love started in Paris in a cafe called Angelina. (The link will take you to the site in French but you can see the photo of the cafe and click on the arrows to see more pictures. Just look at those treats behind the glass!) The cafe is across the street from the Louvre and was frequented by Proust and Coco Chanel among others. It's been there since 1903.

The day I left France in the summer of 2007 my friend and his mother picked me up at the train station and brought me to Angelina for breakfast (which in France is jam on bread and an espresso). I had butter and honey on a baguette and was struggling not to speak French since I spoke English with them and had been speaking only French for the past three weeks in the program I attended. I also had macarons. They were magical.

I've been wanting more ever since, but as you may or may not know, meringue is tricky and I am too scared to attempt making them. When I was home for Christmas I saw macarons in the window of Sucre on Magazine Street but didn't have time to purchase some. Then I stumbled upon Albemarle Baking Company's (we'll call it ABC from here) website. They were making macarons for spring. I've had some of their yummy desserts and decided their macarons were worth a try. I usually don't bring money with me to school when I sub but I happened to have my card on me and after an especially rowdy day with pre-k'ers I decided I earned those macarons. So I went to ABC.

They had two boxes left. $5. Perfect. And then my card wouldn't work. Apparently it was my card's fault since it was the first time it happened that day. Awkward. So I left and seeing a hounds-tooth dog bowl place mat in the window two stores down I went in and bought it with my non-functioning card. I came home, found some cash, and went back to ABC. Those macarons were mine. My money worked just fine and I came home, poured myself some coffee, and savored all but one of the delicacies.

I got online to check the status of Michael's flight. Then I checked my bank account to see that I had indeed been charged for the macarons. Brilliant. So I call ABC and am instructed to print out the bank account info and bring it in. I take Theo out before I leave with my last macaron in hand. As I open the door somehow the macaron FLIES OUT OF MY HAND INTO THE GRASS. I cannot justify the 5 second rule in this case since my dog recently pottied in that spot. For shame. So I go back to ABC and since the charge is pending they can't do anything yet and it doesn't even show up in their system. (The charge did indeed post to my account. I deserve a free cookie or something.) Now I'm late to pick up Michael and 5:00 traffic doesn't help.

The macarons, they were totally worth it.

Lemon, Raspberry, Mint Chocolate, Chocolate, and Coffee (or the one that got away)

I saw this book at my favorite store on the Downtown Mall, O'Suzanna. It is beautiful and I'm thinking I might need to get adventurous. Wouldn't they make the loveliest gifts?

April Book

Maybe I've felt so strange during the past two weeks in part from reading Picture Perfect by Jodi Piccoult. The book is well written and easy to read. The subject matter is heavy since it's about an abusive relationship. That's really all I have to say about it. I'm trying to decide what I feel like reading in May. Something happy.

Movie Reviews

I was in quite a funk last week. Among other events, we started the week watching Precious which was seriously disturbing. Artistically speaking it was a good film. Later in the week we watched Towelhead which I had read about and did not think it would be as messed up as it was. I really don't recommend either. Let's all just be happy and pretend that these things don't happen in real life.

We also watched Where the Wild Things Are. I don't recall being in love with the book as a child, but I do remember making a paper plate "wild thing" mask in first grade. I painted it pink. Someone copied me and I remember telling my mom that it upset me. This led to one of the greatest lessons from her- when someone copies you it is a compliment. Back to the movie. I was sleepy when I watched it. After about 30 minutes it gets really dark. I would have been fine with it being a really short movie. I mean the book has what.. like 50 words in it? The best parts of the movie are the music and the owls Bob and Terry who totally aren't in the book. Well and the cinematography is lovely.

I have enjoyed two great films in the past two evenings. One is Coco Before Chanel. I've been waiting for it to be released on DVD since it started playing in France. The film starts with her as a child and stops at the beginning of her career in fashion. It is very well done, and of course my ears loved hearing French.

The second film is The Young Victoria which rightfully won an Oscar for best costumes. Like Coco Before Chanel this film covers Victoria's life up to the first few years of her reign. I won't lie. I love period films, and I greatly enjoyed this one. No violence, no scandalous-ness, just a beautiful film. I almost wish it was hours longer and covered more of her life.

Gettin' Smitten

Last week I tried three recipes from Smitten Kitchen.

Mushroom Marsala Pasta with Artichokes. This was delicious and a nice break from eating meat all the time. I used the "wrong" kind of pasta but it was still delicious.

Cranberry-Walnut Chicken Salad. I made this on Sunday for a break from sandwich meat. Next time I'll put less shallots since I had less meat than the recipe called for. It's definitely one of the best chicken salads I've ever had. Panera's Napa Almond Chicken Salad is my other favorite.

Cream Biscuits. SO much easier than recipes that have you cut in the butter which means I have to pull out the food processor. Who wants to mess with that in the morning? These were awesome. The outside was a little crumbly and the inside was perfection. I even liked them plain. If only I had some Steen's syrup!

Honest Scrap

I've been contemplating changing the blog's setting from private to public. I think I was waiting until I found my niche, and I was hesitant- wondering if any of this is actually interesting. Since I ramble at times.

A friend and excellent blogger, Lacey at Our Life: Narrated by Lacey honored me with a blog award yesterday. So I've decided to put the blog out there. I started it for family and friends, but if you like what I have to say then cool, stay for a while. I'll put some coffee on. Or tea. If that's how you roll.

Well here's the award. The "Honest Scrap" Award. And it comes with rules.
A) List 10 honest things about yourself—and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers who you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap and whose blogs you find brilliant in design or content.

A) 10 Honest Things

1. I am a perfectionist. Do it right the first time. All or nothing.

2. Wendy's square burgers freak me out. I know the burgers are square because they "don't cut corners", but that's my point. Burgers shouldn't have corners. It's weird.

3. Hotel bathrooms give me the frissons.

4. I love cupcakes. I could eat them everyday. I work a block away from a cupcake shop. This is why I don't bring money with me to work. (Really deep, I know.)

5. I hate horror movies. I even cover my eyes when a preview for one is on.

6. I wish I liked lip gloss. It looks like fun and I have several different kinds, but my hair always gets stuck to my lips and it DRIVES ME CRAZY. Therefore I stick with my berry Blistex.

7. I feel guilty when I read celebrity gossip.

8. My parents are two of my very best friends.

9. I love to make lists and to cross out completed items.

10. Needles and blood make me woozy.


B) Seven bloggers that I enjoy following because they are awesome:

• Alicia Paulson at Posie Gets Cozy
• Andrea at hula seventy
• Monique at I'm Just Me (Simple as That)
• Sarah at {SHC} Something
• Heather at The Clan of Ross
• Rebecca at Put the Fork Down
• Ysolda at Ysolda Original Patterns

Theo the Portuguese Water Dog

We hope you all enjoy Theo's latest passion, water fetch. Today we decided to try a new dog park that is about 15 minutes from our house. Theo was sure glad we did. He had the best day of his life, even managing to attack a 70lb American Bulldog. Biting that dog on the throat and hanging in the air for a few seconds was the 2nd best part of his day.

Cherry Blossoms

On Saturday night I forced myself to dye eggs. It was the sixth day I worked last week and I was spent. I used electrical tape to create the designs a la Martha Stewart. Michael made the Arsenal egg on the left. Normally my patience level for dyeing eggs is very low, but the electrical tape was a quick and really neat way to decorate the eggs. I made the dye the old fashioned way with food coloring. Next year I might invest in some neon colors.


On Sunday we woke up and had Mr. B's waffles and I added blueberries to mine. YUM.


We opened our Easter baskets from my parents and got ready for our adventure to D.C. to attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Michael spilled coffee on his new shirt 20 minutes into the trip. We stopped for some Tide To Go which only created a coffee ring around the still noticeable stains. Target was closed, but we found an Old Navy and scored another polo on sale. We parked at a metro station outside the city and navigated our way to the Capitol City Brewery near Union Station for lunch. There was a ton of people in the city and we saw people walking on the ground around the trees, pulling on branches, PICKING blossoms, and CLIMBING in the trees. Wow.


Anyway, we caught the end of the blooms. They peaked on the 31st and the freak hot weather, wind, and rain caused the blooming period to be shorter than normal.However, we did see a few trees with lots of blossoms still in tact.


We had a lot of fun on our adventure. Our friends watched Theo at their house and he is still sleepy from all the fun he had. It was so nice to get out of Charlottesville and do something semi-spontaneous. This wasn't on my New Year's to do list but it should have been. We were impressed with how easy it is to get around on the Metro and we're planning to take more trips so we can go to the museums.