Tea Stains on Parchment

I've dreamt of French patisseries filled with croissants, mille-feuille, and, of course, macarons. I don't think I am going to France any time soon, but I have always thought I was pretty good at baking. That is, before my many failed attempts at macarons. For such a small cookie, they offer an unnecessary amount of work. And there is a steep learning curve; so many things can go wrong: hollow shells, no feet, flat shells. Macarons are impressive, delicious, and beautiful. Though everyone wants a batch on their table at their tea party, no one wants to pay the often $2+ price tag or fail at making them. Let me help save you from both of these fates and teach you everything I have learned making macarons professionally the past few months. 1. There are a lot of recipes out there, but to know that the recipe is decent, the amount of powdered sugar is double the amount of almond flour. Some recipes work more than others, but t his one is my go-to, though I do have a few alte...

Few people have read Gone with the Wind , but many have watched the movie, hailing it as a classic piece of American cinema. People, myself included, get swept up in a love story filled with swishing Southern belles and chivalrous gentlemen, but the story is one that isn't exactly always sweet. Scarlett O'Hara is named by many as a heroine, a strong female character that is as beautiful as she is independent. Well, there is some truth in this, but it is also filled with many, many flaws. Firstly, the opening line of the novel actually says that Scarlett was "by no means beautiful." She was charming, so let's all be honest and say she was charming and seductive because that speaks more to Scarlett's character than genetic beauty does. Scarlett uses her charm to catch husbands. Notice the plural! She marries one man to make someone else jealous, steals her sister's beaux to save her beloved Tara, and marries Rhett to live a more lavish life. This sums up t...

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I had never really realized that people placed so much emphasis on lip color. It wasn't until watching "Cake Hunters" that I heard that red lipstick was somehow suggestive or inappropriate for a 16 year old (but any other shade was perfectly acceptable). This seemed silly to me. I wear lipstick everyday, and I had never put much thought into what the color supposedly "said" about me. I only thought "does this match my outfit?", "does it look good?", "is it too bold or outlandish on me?". I never once thought that light pinks made people assume I was kind or flirty, that oxblood meant I was sultry. Color doesn't define a person, does it? When choosing lipstick colors, the only "feelings" I thought about were the vibe or mood of my entire ensemble. I might choose bright red if I was going for a vintage look, calling to mind Victory Red. Or plum if my outfit consisted of dark colors,...

On July 11, 1960 Harper Lee published her first novel. In fall 2011, I read To Kill a Mockingbird. Who knew my life would be changed for the better? It was seventh grade, and one of the assignments in my English class was to read a novel every two weeks or so and then take a little reading quiz. Early on, I decided to read To Kill a Mockingbird  because I had heard such good things (meaning I had heard somewhat meaningless blurbs like "great book" or "one of the American classics"). The first copy I found was a large print addition, which made the book slightly larger, which allowed me an extra two weeks to read it because it was a "long" book. This may have been a bit of a loophole...Anyways, I set out to read this book. I remember absolutely loving it, being captivated by the story, being drawn to every symbol. I wanted someone, some person in my grade, to be reading the book so that I could talk about it-- a good book makes you want to analyze and dis...

Happy World Chocolate Day! I hope all of you celebrated with some form of chocolate, but I doubt many of you celebrated a day as chocolate filled as the one I had at Markham & Fitz. Markham & Fitz is a local chocolate maker that sources cacao from all of the world, curating unique flavor combinations in the form of bars, truffles, desserts, and beverages. I had been familiar with the expensive chocolate bars of this company formerly known as Hello, Cocoa, but I was excited to see a new storefront and cafe. What had once been just chocolate and a very tasty cocoa tea had expanded to include three sipping chocolates and a few pastries when I visited for the first time a few months ago. Coming back to Markham & Fitz for world chocolate day, I found a chic cafe filled with a much wider variety of treats. The world chocolate celebration began with a tasting of chocolates made with cocoa beans from different countries, highlighting the differences in taste based only on whe...