Learning..

I was going to rant about how my chocolate chip cookies were oily, overtly crisp. I was going to rave about the success of my impromptu Garlicky Baked Fries inspired by The Purple Foodie. I wanted to attempt my first restaurant review. 

But I have just read the latest post by David Lebovitz and I’m in an introspective mood. The amount of effort and dedication he puts into his blog seems phenomenal.

I created this blog without scheming and planning for days on end as I usually do. And already my thoughts automatically turn to ‘what will I post next?’ But I now realize that mere content is not enough. I really need to pay attention to the way I write as well as what I write.

So, that’s lesson no. 1 learnt. Thank you Monsieur David. 

In keeping with this spirit, I have decided to give further thought and structure to my blog. How I want it look, what links do I want, what aspects of food do I want to focus on, etc

Hopefully, in the coming days this blog would reflect those decisions. 

 (P.S: Next up, Strawberry Cheesecake...this one better be good!)

Unmitigated Disaster!

With my blog created and my first post put up, I was excited to move ahead. I started scouring websites for potential recipes, purchased ingredients, etc. 

On Wednesday, I decided to bake a cake for a friend’s birthday. I, however, wanted to do away with the usual chocolate and cream combination and try something new and unique. Since many seasonal fruits are now available, I decided to use strawberries or pears to make something. Having recently found out that pears and ginger make for an interesting combination, I decided to try it out. I used the recipe by The Purple Foodie and adapted it to suit my needs.

And while I’m sure the cake itself tastes great, mine was a big flop. It was a gloopy mess of flour and pears. It didn’t cook through well enough, there was no taste of ginger whatsoever. I think the main culprits were the change in measurements, an egg that looked suspicious and the use of ground ginger instead of fresh ones. 

My friends very gamely tried it out and made encouraging noises of ‘Well tried’ ‘Something new’ etc. I however, will have to try it out again. Hopefully the next post on Pear and Ginger cake will be soon and a resounding success. 

In other news, I also made Strawberry Butter and Ginger and Honey Roasted Almonds; both of which were politely sidelined by my family.

All in all, a terrible culinary week.

(P.S: I plan to make Chocolate Chip cookies today. I seriously hope they are radically different from the earlier few experiments)

Poetic Macarons Realized

It was a long held wish finally fulfilled…

I probably should give some background here. The story goes a few months back when I was working at a photography company and I had to keyword images of the pretty multi colored confections in display cases. Tight targets and deadlines conspired to keep me in the dark about the same.

Cut to the present; being a post grad student with a newly discovered interest in food. A baking crazy friend of mine was the one who set it all in motion with the decision to bake ‘macarons’. And that’s when I started reading up about them. And my oh my! These delights had immense potential to be played around with and boy! were they difficult to make. I read up about the Italian and French methods, of aged eggs and lots of failures!! I had become such an expert on the subject albeit a theoretical one, that at an impromptu poetry writing session, I wrote a poem on them.

That’s when the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival and Rushina Munshaw Ghildayal’s workshop on Food Writing happened. And with that came an introduction Le 15 Patisserie who’d sent in 2 big boxes of culinary magic!

That moment is permanently etched in my mind! In the high ceilinged Media Room of the Elphinstone College, I tasted my first and long obsessed over ‘Macaron’. This is gastronomic delight at its finest. Two pale green macarons with the requisite feet; an egg like shell and meringue softness within were sandwiched together with a rich chocolate ganache. I could feel the tears stinging my eyes as I sat silenced. Now I am no Pierre Hermes but the macaron itself was quite perfect. I’m guessing mine was matcha flavored but I was too absorbed in the moment to tell with a degree of surety.

Wasabi flavored cream cupcakes were also up for tasting. The combination is a very unique one. The potent jolt of heat amidst the softness of the cake makes for an attention grabbing teatime treat. However, I found the edible silver balls quite interfering.

My day though was made by the first lingering bite of my matcha macaron. I bitterly rued being restricted to only one. I most definitely am going to the Le 15 Patisserie to get my fix on this confection that has become quite special to me.