C comme Collectionneur

 Serendipity has so much to do with blogging. I reached up to pull some pastry bags off the shelf...

 Out fell a very old macaron lurking within! Who knew?

 Today Pierre Herme Paris sent out an email asking,

"Are you a collector?"

 I'm in love with his Les Jardin collection - I dream of capturing these exquisite macarons in watercolor...

 Perfumed macaron, 9" x 11"

 This is a year-round collection for 2012 - a new flavor appearing every month.

 In May I tasted the Rose-the jasmin perfumed macaron.

 Each monthly macaron comes with an accompanying postcard - I got this one in May.

 Herme worked with his friend perfumer, Jean-Michel Duriez the official"Nose"/"Nez" of Jean Patou/Rochas to create this rose-jasmin macaron.

Did you know the nose can distinquish 600 different smells and the tastebuds only 200? I learned this in wine tasting class. It's why you always sniff wine (3 times svp) before tasting. Perfumers, would of course, have a highly developed sense of taste.

 "Taste is made ​​up of odors, that is to say, the sense of taste is made up of a lot of smell - retro-olfaction, so we go back to the nose".

Yet when asked what his favorite smell is?

"It's the smell of kerosene. Because when I arrive at an airport I feel this atmosphere of kerosene - a sign of travel, departure, discovery and adventure," reveals Jean-Michel Duriez.

 If you want to add aroma to your macarons shells (not the interior like Pierre Herme's Jardin collection) you can find these scents at Mora to add to the meringue.

 October's flavor of the month is rose, fleur d’oranger et gingembre. You know I'll be running from CDG to pick this one up. In November violette + anis awaits. Miam.

 Truth or dare? Would you eat this months old, stale macaron if found in your collections? Don't ask me. It's gone gone gone.

On a more mundane note, thank you for all the suitcase suggestions yesterday! After reading many reviews I found this bag made only for crew members online - the Travelpro FlightCrew4 22" Rollaboard. It's sturdier and cheaper ($139) than bags made for us lowly travelers evidently. I'll have it by Monday and fill you in. The seller is located at an airport so it's got to be good.

Back to dreaming about Jardin macarons...