Macaron Madness

Well I haven't blogged in ages which goes to show that new year's resolutions are useless. BUT: It is now spring break which means I have all the time in the world and I have taken on a challenge.

At first, I was going to do a different craft each day and blog about it, but like usual I set my bar way too high and am now bringing it down.

Today's craft was to make French macarons...

What they're supposed to look like...

I first experienced these lovely little desserts last summer in Paris, when my friends and I went crazy over them in a little shop in Montmartre and ever since then I have been wanting to try to make some of my own.

After a little internet purusing, I found a pretty good recipe here and ignored all of the warnings about how incredibly difficult it is to make macarons.

Don't be fooled, I took a picture of the most mess-free area of the kitchen.
The rest looked like a war-zone. 

It was going pretty well until I added the almond flour/ powdered sugar mixture which made the batter incredibly lumpy because I hadn't put the dry ingredients through the food processor.

It got worse when I realized that one needs a pastry bag to put the macarons on the baking sheet. Using a spoon worked, but it was not nearly as neat.


After they came out of the oven, I had some hope that they might have turned out alright. I made strawberry buttercream (they didn't have any rose syrup at the store so I went with strawbery flavoring instead).

Until I bit into one with a loud crunch. (For those of you who have not had macarons before, they are NOT supposed to be cruchy!)

I had overbaked them.

Final product: Not so good. 

Not only had I overbaked them but they looked absolutely ridiculous because of my lack of pastry bags.

They didn't have the little ruffle on the bottom and many of the tops had cracks, as well as the lumps from my lumpy flour mixture.

I think I can only improve from here.


After today's macaron disaster I have decided to spend all of my time this week perfecting my macarons making skills. Starting tomorrow I will:

1. Figure out how to work the food processor.
2. Buy pastry bags with the right type of nozzle. (Maybe they have them at a craft supply store like JoAnn's?)
3. Sift the flower properly.
4. Watch the baking time!

Will keep you updated

XXXX Lily

A Poem...

How many calories in a peanut butter cup
Carol Kaye
Pink apps
Pink hearts
Be nice
Community Transit
Tiffany
Beyonce
47th Superbowl Beyonce
Dowager Countess Grantham
It's not about the money
Fortune 500
Kuwaii
Trumpet wake up song
Dictionary


(Okay maybe my Lit professor wouldn't call this a poem but I thought it would be cute to turn all of my recent google searches into a poem)

XOLily

Five Reasons Beyonce is Fabulous

 Today was the 47th Super Bowl, but Beyonce stole the show with her fantastic halftime performance.

So...

A Tribute To Beyonce  

And my favorite things about her:

 1. Her hair. She gives curly haired girls like me some serious hairspiration.

2. Her lyrics. "Who run the world? Girls!" None ring truer than this.

3. Her baby, Blue Ivy. And the fact that she's not strewn all over the tabloids as much as other celebrity children.

4. Her curves.

5. Her perfect mixture of class and sass. (She makes such an easy transition from a classy black gown to a leather and lace leotard with knee high boots.)

XOLily

Five Things

1. Rose gold nails. (OPI for Sephora: Chestnuts About You)

2. My style of note taking for my Intro to Literature class.

3. New music and strings for my cello.

4. Making birthday party invitations. 

5. Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2013.

XOLily

Haiku Wednesday

Waiting for the bus
in the morning my hair froze.
Better than hair spray.

XOLily

2013: What's IN and what's OUT...

 My theory is that trends are short lived and silly. There is no way I'm going to start my wardrobe afresh every January, so instead I like to come up with some of my own trends that directly apply to my life. It's much easier than trying to follow Glamour or Cosmo's guidelines to 2013 or whatever.

So here are the 2013 trends... according to me.

1.

IN: Body positive.
OUT: Weight loss resolutions.

Maybe you've noticed that the YMCA hasn't had it's usual January crush of people trying to keep their New Year's resolution.  That's because the New Year's Resolution to lose weight has gone out the window and instead, people are trying to be Body Positive. Which I think is way more fun anyway. (Although this doesn't mean I'm going to stop going to Zumba!)

2.

IN: Boots.
OUT: Moccasins.

A must have if you live in the Seattle area.

Clunky boots with knit, wool socks. There is nothing better. To be honest, I never liked the moccasin trend. They are very impractical if you live in an area where it rains a lot.

3.

IN: Jewels and sequins.
OUT: Glitter.

Bejeweled purse from Urban Outfitters.

For a while there glitter was my favorite thing EVER, but now I'm more into chunky jewels on purses and jewelry. Also, if you ever want to feel like a rock star, wear something with sequins!

4.

IN: Instagram.
OUT: Facebook.

I love Instagram-ing my cats.

I'm going to be blunt: Facebook has been taken over by middle aged people connecting with their old high school friends. And it is no longer fun.
Instagram, however, allows me to edit and post pictures of my cats in an instant.

5.

IN: The iPhone 5.
OUT: The iPod Nano.

Does the  iPod Nano even exist anymore? (I still have my old one, which I use to listen to music while running, but I have fallen in love with my new iPhone)

6.

IN: Sparkling rose.
OUT: White wine.

Bubbly is always in. 


XOLily

Haiku Wednesday

Today I wore flats.

I regret my decision.

It poured all day long.

XOLily