The Feeling of Hectic

I don't know why, but when I have nothing planned out, I feel so restless. Don't get me wrong, I love a day of R&R, but if it was an unintentional one (as in I had nothing planned for the day) I feel like I'm wasting my day, and it becomes a really unproductive day.

For some reason, I love packed schedules - shuffling from one place to another, there's some kind of a rush. I don't know what it is. The feeling of not wanting to be late, the hurrying and trying to walk fast but still calm. It's weird, I can't explain it.

Sitting at home on my laptop right now, all my clothes are staring at me. My whole room is staring at me. It's begging to get a reno, if not, at least a makeover of some sort.

I'm going to make breakfast instead.

Très Français, Non?

Ok, so what's very french? Me? I wish. But, I'll be faux French just for a bit. How am I possibly going to achieve that? By attempting to make the very delicious Parisian Macarons.

As promised, I'm providing a step-by-step with pictures that I did to make my very first ever batch of macarons. I've always heard that they're hard and has a high failure rate, but I did it, and boy, are they ever yummy!

Macarons

- 4 egg whites
- 200 grams cup icing sugar
- 110 grams ground almond
- 2 tbs granulated sugar (aka regular sugar)

Before you do anything, take your egg whites and 'age' them overnight. Then, go to sleep.

Next day, begin by preheating your oven to 300F. Take your egg whites and whisk them on low speed with your electric mixer until foamy. Then add your 2 tbs of sugar slowly. 

Until your mixture looks like that. Kind of meringue-like and whipped cream-like. Can you believe that's from egg whites and sugar?

Take your ground almond out, and measure 110 grams on a scale. Put it in a bowl. Then measure 200 grams of icing sugar and put it in the bowl with the ground almonds. 

Get a spoon and mix it together, and make sure it's nicely powdery and loose. No chunks of ground almond sticking together. Done? 

Then, you add it to your whipped cream-like egg whites and fold with a spatula. It should look evenly mixed and kind of grainy and sandy-ish (because of the ground almonds)

Take out a cookie sheet and parchment paper, and measure your parchment paper to fit perfectly to your sheet. Get a pastry bag and tip and squeeze small circles on your sheet. (I didn't have the right tip, so mine were a little big)

Set your oven to 300F and bake for 20 minutes. Let it cool for a white. Then, you put filling in the middle on one shell and place another on top... like a sandwich! 

And voilà! Your macarons are ready! I used blackberry jam, strawberry jam and nutella as filling. My macarons came out a bit nutty, so I personally prefer the nutella filling, but the jams make it more dessert-like. 

Success to me! I was actually very scared that it wouldn't work, but considering this was my first time, I quite like the results. I didn't get to make my own filling because I was running out of eggs (I made meringues the night before). But throughout the summer, I will be experimenting with these tasty treats and tweaking them a little bit, and trying different flavours.. exciting right? 

Try them yourself. It's really fun. 

And super yummy! 

Enjoy and bonne chance! 

Summer Comeback!

So, the last time I said that I had recover from my hiatus, clearly, I was lying. (Although, I had every intention of returning.. but you know, life is so unexpected sometimes)

So voila! Summer has arrived, and I'm feeling fabulous.

Before leaving Montreal, I had a chance to sublet a place (with a communal kitchen) that led me to do some quick (but super yummy) cooking, party a bit (or a lot) and chill with some lovelies before I left town.

I decided from now on, I'll be taking my own pictures and share them (because I never take pictures, and if I do, they stay on my camera). So equipped with my new camera (just a Sony Cyber-shot with 14.1 aka my new companion) I'm ready to be "that" girl (oh, you know the ones.. the trigger happy, must-take-a-picture-of-everything-in-my-life type)

the boyfriend came to visit

did some shopping for a new wardrobe & styling for him 

olive + gourmand in old port

amazing sandwich !

mac + cheese w/ salad 

made snapper fish with cabbage
took a while... especially since I got home from work at 11

old port steakhouse

we got the same dessert 

m cafe for lunch

apple crumble pie

chicken club blt. 

enjoying this

macarons at m cafe

so delicious

morning

she doesn't cook often. so we made breakfast together

french toast !

cabbage 

my favourite veg

my little student

My last few days in Montreal summed up in pictures.

I made meringues and macarons! Did I forget to mention that? Well, I'll post step-by-step instructions for those tomorrow. So, keep a watch out. 

This summer, I'm going to be cooking, making, doing, reading, typing, taking and hopefully blogging. 

I love soaking up that sun. And the space there is for me to do that here.

PS. I was just looking at my last post and my new has collection barely started. I have my concepts and fabrics. Waiting for my machine and dress form to return back to me before continuing. Details soon.. hopefully. 

Greta Constantine S/S'11

Greta Constantine showcased their Spring/Summer 2011 collection at LG Toronto Fashion Week. Let me first comment on their take on the greek goddess. When you think greek goddess, what comes to mind? Togas. White togas. Kinda takes you to a college party doesn't it? 

Mais non! Not Greta Constantine! The duo made their pieces so light and airy, I feel like just by looking at it, I feel like I'm by the Mediterranean breeze, not the need to down a few shots. The draping and flowy-ness on the dresses makes it such a versatile dress. I could wear it to the resort and just lay by the beach with my bikini on underneath, or glam it up for night wear. But seriously, draping. It's a Greta Constantine thing. It kind of reminds me of their S/S'06. But like I said again, they're draping obsessed. Doesn't matter to me, I still think it's fabulous! 

I like how in this collection it's a very earthy feel to it. The nudes make it very neutral, and if you're not feeling the nudes, the colour choice is very subtle. It's not a loud look at me, I'm an eccentric attention seeker! colour scheme, rather it's a reserved kind of chic that people can't help but to look at you. 

Favourite look? The first picture. Note how cropping out the middle section and making them into two pieces looks as if she's wearing a belt. I thought it was kind of fun, especially since how the middle belt trend blew up. The middle belt is to emphasize your waistline... this shows it off, which does emphasize it! I thought it was genius.