PARIS Macarons

As a kid I insisted on Lemon Meringue pie instead of birthday cake. In Paris I always made for the meringues, the ancient Italian granny of the French macaron. These wildly-colored meringue sandwiches were a mystery till I became addicted to foodblogs. Then I couldn't take my eyes off them. Besides macarons fall nicely into my pastry-geometry theory. They're both circular and a cylinder and you can view them as an elipse too, when seen in perspective. I didn't even eat my 1st macaron till last November at New York's Fauchon. It was lemon of course. I did wine research in Saint Emilion and you can buy another old relative there - almond flavored "lids". They come still attached to the parchment paper they're baked on. You peel them off - delicious. I saved this paper as a souvenir. Don't ask me why.
While you line up for your macarons, there's a black and white 18-page catalogue you can plough through with detailed descriptions. Plus a small accordian brochure describing the macarons flavors. This you get after you've bought your macs, I suppose to keep you coming back for more. As if that were even an issue.
An example of a Hermé macaron description:
"Une fine envelope croustillante, une forme rounde, légèrement bombée, de belle couleurs chatoyantes et un coeur moelleux..."

A very rough translation would be: A fine crispy envelope, a round form, slightly bent, beautiful colors (I'm getting nowhere with chatoyantes or moelleux) and a marrowy (mushy?) heart...hmm

There's a macaron war going on. Who has the best Paris macs? A city-wide competition with an annual winner- Jean-Paul Hevin won last year.

It's just a smidge of jam, not the whole jar. It doesn't overwhelm of the basic bisquit lids IMO. The Pierre Hermé macarons are tres riche, filled with a multi-plex of buttercream flavors.
An example is: biscuit macaron choclat, ganache chocolat caramet et éclats de chocolat àla fleur de sel...Along with being anti-birthday cake, I'm not a buttercream fan. I won't even have mit schlag (whipped cream)on my hot chocolate. I don't have the slightest problem when it comes to ICE CREAM though...But if you LOVE buttercream than Pierre Hermé is your place. Paris Macarons, watercolor, 11" x 9"