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.