I know, I know... it's not the beggining of the year but it is the beggining of my year, 2014 starts today for me. I been quite disconected from the blog and that seems to be an issue (at least for me, dont have a loyal Audience yet) but is because i live on Venezuela and we have a certain situation with the food and is that you CAN'T find it anywhere. Basic Pastry ingredients like Butter, Sugar and Flour are out of the stock on ALL supermarkets and stores and when ou find it you need to wait for hours on a line in order to buy a pair of flour package This year i been counting with some luck in the Ingredients departament so it's time to bake and cook again.
You also can probably note that i have change the entire layout, if you follow me on my Instagram you should know that i got inspired by one of my favorite ties. The blog got a certain British Vintage look that i love because looks manly and fresh and that's domething that i was looking for.
For this Second Season i'm willing to fill pages and pages of great sweet treats, good wishes, tons of music, books and of course let's raise our champagne glasses and drink up!
If you wanna be my lover, you gotta love to eat...
Isn't how goes that pop song?, well it is true. If you dont love eating you cant be with me. I mean, food for me is important but dessert is even important for me. Dessert can make that 2 persons falls in love, can make kids smile, makes someone feel special. It is the reason that i love to cook sweet dishes. Create instant happiness for others. Except for me! This bring instant unhappiness to me. Well at least my latest dessert project Macaroons does.
The very first time i saw those little cookies called "Macaroons" was on a cookbook 3 years ago. In that book i saw those adorable mini cookies, with different flavours and fillings and an endless posibilities to add flavours on it. I though "Javi, You really needs to learn how to make Macaroons"
Later, when i start to writte on this blog i said to myself "What a great way to start my blog by doing macaroons, dont you think?" So i spend half of my salary on ingredients to make distintic macaroons like, french vanilla, chocolate with Limoncello, Brandy, Cardamom, Brazilians nuts, and other very expensive things. I study like a mad man looking recipes from all the web to make the "Perfect Macaroons" and well the result wasn't how i expected. It is SO FREAKING HARD!!!
My first batch, Burned! Problem? Oven too high. The second Batch went Dry, WAY dry. Sahara desert Dry. The third batch it looked good at sight but the i realize that all of them were hollow on the inside and that's how i decides to quit on them. Until yesterday when i try to get back to the horse and see what i can do.
I try to make it simple, so i choose a classic chocolate macaroon. I measure, follow exactly the recipe until my worst fear "the macaronage" in that step is when i try to be the most methodic person on the planet! Well as you can see i failed again. It doesn't form that little distintic "foot" on the macaroon it also they are flat. as you can see but the taste went perfect (at least) that's why i named "Wannabe Macaroons" (Also because i was listening the Spice girls)
Hope the next time i can actually bake some Perfect Macaroons...Tell me, have you done macaroons before? what is your secret?
It's Sunday night again, At least it is here in Venezuela where ALWAYS is hot. I really cant stand the hot over here, it's like Summer all year round and i'm sweating all the time it's quite unconfortable when you use a suit and a tie every single day of the week and you are addicted to wear jackets and sweaters. Well, in my past entry i was talking about the book that i'm reading called "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame - Smith and the kind of music that i'm listening like Avant Garde Rock and Electroswing so i started to think, If this week have a theme, it will called "Opposite Week". Mixing clasic things with modern twists and that's the kind of thing i did this Sunday. Pies! Opposites Pies. Doesn't sound like fun? I did 2 pies. The first is a "Fudge Chocolate Baked Pie" and the Second is a "Cold Chocolate Crust Lemon Pie"
I have some good and some Bad news. The good news is that my boss returned from her vacations and found her cats alive (i'm not sure if this is a good news because i wanna to kill those cats myself) and left the office Cat-Free. The bad news is that the office still have that soft odor of cat poop, bleach and pine air freshener which is a bit better but i feel like still Smell Hideous. At least i dont spend too much time on the office these days. "Accountant Javi" leaves every single morning across the city about 30 mins away from my home to work as an External Auditor in a place called "Alimentos Oriente" (Orient Food) who is a food distributor, He feels so sick to go there and check every single little paper from their sales and buys. But from something band i found something good, just at my right i found a place where i can buy ANY nut or dry fruit. Almonds, Nuts, Macadamia nuts, barbacue corn and more... so after my payday i spend a bit and got Cashew, almonds, Pistachios and hazelnuts quite a feast. and i only spend about 230 Bs (Like 37 American Dollars) i think i made an excellent purchase.
