Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Macarons For Breakfast

La Maison du Chocolat told me their macarons have a 2-day shelf life. Last week I brought home a box of 8 on Thursday and they hung around for 4 days waiting to be painted and photographed. On Sunday morning at 9:35am they disappeared.
They tasted fine to me. Then I found out they come over from France to New York 2 times a week. I bought another 3 today. They only lasted 2 hours...Their flavors come in pale neutral colors, not the crazy wild colors you see at Bon Marché for example. Even the chocolate was on the pale side but tasted deeply of Valrhona, who make a special proprietary chocolate for La Maison. Plus there is Vanilla, café, caramel and lemon. Sometimes they have raspberry and in the Fall, chestnut.

La Maison Macarons, 2006, watercolor, 10 x 12"

The outside biscuit has a nicely crunchie texture and is glossy. The interior is a creamy ganache but not too excessive or maybe I'm just getting acclimated to buttercream...Sugar is an undertone not a top note. Nice.
These beauties are not the easiest subjects to shoot or paint. They shed crumbs like crazy and roll off their assigned perch at will. As uncooperative as they are, I could paint them forever. The round shapes contrast nicely with the square box and make for compositions that are fun to play with. Plus there's a reward when the painting is done. I'm wondering if there are any openings for macaron painters on Craig's List...?
If you're not in the mood for macarons, you can always get some of their delicious creme glacée.
2 flavors in 1 scoop. Last week I tried raspberry + caramel...today pistachio + caramel. This is seriously habit-forming...

9 comments:

  1. wow, i love your illustrations of the macarons. and of course, i totally love the idea of macarons for breakfast. yum.

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  2. UMMM! Everything is delectable: paintings, photos, narrative, and food!

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  3. Anonymous12:23 PM

    Macarons for breakfast - Carol you are driving me crazy! The colors of the ones from Maison du Chocolate are just gorgeous - so soft and pastel-y. Looking forward to your renditions of them!

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  4. anytime anywhere, breakfest lunch dinner or in the bathtub, these are the best cookies ever!

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  5. Anonymous1:40 PM

    wheres the breakfast in paris breakfasts? let us in on what you and your fellow parisians eat in the morning! *_*

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  6. Hey Carol, I love the watercolor. There's something about the colors you mixed that looks great!

    luis

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  7. Oh my god oh my god the ice cream! I've never tried it! ALL THESE SUMMERS AND NO LA MAISON ICE CREAM...um...so, should I try it or is that a stupid question? ;)

    And damn, so many macarons! I've never tried the small ones, just go for the large. Oops, I'm piggish!

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  8. Anonymous8:27 PM

    robyn -that's so funny :) I don't dare trust myself with the big ones..easier to rationalize wolfing down the small ones. Yup and their ice cream is only $2.50!!

    Seafoam- where's the sea? I started out writing about cafés and petit dejéuner and then things evolved.

    TICA :) Macarons in the bathtub...hmmm..macaron-shaped soaps?

    Anita - I bet LMDC would ship them out to you so you could get your fix!! Did I see the Bittersweet Cafe on the Chocolate channel?

    Thank you Kate and chubby hubby!
    Paris breakfasts

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  9. our blogs are soinviting and charming, how many hours do you spend creating such feast for our eyes?

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