Couscousit

You might have noticed that the deadline for the "Asian Persuasion" food blog event came and went, and since it is quite evident that I haven't posted anything on the topic since, you've most likely realized that I have failed in my mission to be more social...food blogging social, that is. I was going to join in a cookbook swap, I intended to get in on a food blogging secret Santa event, but apathy kicked in and I didn't take the plunge. No matter, however, I have other things to tell you about.

Before I continue, though, I'd like to ask ya'll a favor. Please click on over to Accidental Hedonist's 2005 Food Blog Awards and nominate your fave bloggers (me, included -- vote Couscousit for "Best New Blog" of 2005!). I've already submitted my thoughts and I hope you do the same. The deadline for nominations is this Friday, so get on it!

Now turning to the topic of this post: after returning from NYC's pastry adventures over a month ago, I was on a serious baking kick. So much so, that I finally was able to convince my parents to buy my a KitchenAid 5-quart Artisan mixer for the holidays (thanks guys!). I had been doing lots of online searching for a French bakery/patisserie here in Atlanta, with no avail (I have since found such a location...but I'll write about it this weekend when I go visit), so when my cousin Galit, who lives in Las Vegas, said she was coming to visit my sister and I a couple of weekends ago, I thought I'd ask her to pick me up a bite or two from Jean-Philippe Patisserie. I soon found out that my parents were coming to visit us that same weekend, so I put in an order with my dad: financiers, canneles, and macarons from Payard.

My dad and I share the same anal-retentivity, so when one of us asks the other for something, the other normally comes through, and we both come through quickly. And I know that I don't normally ask for things that I don't deserve or that are outrageous, so when I so ask, I usually get. And so it went, that after telling me that he just didn't find time after work to swing by the bakery to pick up my goodies, he finally surprised me with two distinctive yellow cardboard boxes at my doorstep.

Although significantly sweeter than those I tasted at La Maison Du Chocolat in NYC, these came in some fantastic flavors. The white colored macaron is vanilla with passion fruit ganache, the yellow-orangy ones are butternut squash, and the green is traditional pistachio. There was some chocolate-espresso-mocha action going on with the brown and tan colored ones.

Unfortunately, by the time my dad had arrived at Payard, they were out of the canneles. Or maybe they didn't understand what my dad, in his heavily accented broken English, was asking for. Regardless, it was an excellent surprise-not-so-surprise gift, and I enjoyed the suckers every hour on the hour, all weekend long.

# posted by Unknown @ 11:35 AM