honestly, i just don’t know how to begin telling you about this one. houdini. at first incredulous glance, it might appear to be only the biggest macaron you ever did see. take the glistening strawberry for comparison: it is a normal-sized berry, admitedly, but still.
i’d had my eye on this, at adriano zumbo patissier, like, forever, and it was the threat of it forever disappearing off the menu that finally brought us together, on tuesday. what it is, is two enormous macaron biscuits, lime and basil creme, strawberries, raspberries.
it’s weird: on their own, the pastry creme is beyond limey, and the biscuits don’t particularly taste of anything except sugar and almonds. but eaten all together in a big mouthful of crunchy-creamy, the flavours soften into each other, mingling to create an almost savoury —
gah! i can’t even write a cohesive sentence. clearly, it’s some kind of genius alchemy at work, and the complexity is beyond my grasp. it was lush though, and now i wish i had a little more on hand, just to see.
i had half to begin with, and i thought i would wrap my head around the other half in a quiet moment of the evening. but the kid, who was with me when i bought it, and whom i was hoping might not have taken too much notice of the shiny pink and black cakebox, awoke from her afternoon nap to utter the words: “shall we share the cake? the pretty cake, with the berries and cream?”. so we did and she licked her plate clean.
i took the first photograph, and then right after i cut it, and prepared to document the inside — because truly, you have to see the biscuit-to-filling ratio — the sky went dark and it began to rain, and the shift in ambient light really changed the colour of the cake, and — what’s that? you want to see it anyway?
well, ok then.
12 Comments
oh such a beautiful emerald green. it’ll always be my favourite colour i think. i still think of the beautiful sari i left behind in kandy, sri lanka. the green was just like that second colour, so thank you for sharing the change in ambient lighting…
the cream on the other hand. wow!
what a gorgeous mac! wish i could have a taste… ;(
your child is very polite, and she makes Good Suggestions.
May i just say,WOW!
OMG! is all i could think when i saw that picture! oh wow, i think i have my saturday cut out for me. are they open this long weekend??
MY your email wouldnt open so ill only guess what it said. but i got a food copy so if you dont you can definitely borrow it. ironically ive already dropped food on it.
xx
hi bowb – i have just linked you in my blog and used one of your pics (credited of course) – but please let me know if this is not ok, cos i’m happy to remove it.
kxx
deb: oh, i am pleased to have captured a happy memory! will you get it back, the sari?
and, yes, the cream! this is the pastry-to-cream ratio i like!
maria: hello. i am sorry you had to miss out. is it diabetes holding you back, or geography?
nellie: ah! my child can be very polite, but just minutes ago she was very rude, and making very bad suggestions, like, “i don’t want a nap,” and now she is asleep, and hence, polite, again.
miss k: ha. i think deborah beat you to the wow, but yes, i believe houdini deserves the upper case WOW. 😉
sonya: yes, they are open all weekend, but when we went in this morning, there were no houdinis out. it was an overwhelmingly chocolatey selection of cakes, but they may well have more fruity ones on by tomorrow. i think it is most appropriate that you dropped food on your magazine!
kristy: no worries, lady. thanks for the linkage. i look forward to the unfolding of your blog. i ♥ breakfast too! but you may have already known that. 🙂
i did guess that we shared similar loves!
emerald green sari was left at the sari shop. the shop where you request a particular colour …say … green … they will bring out every shade of green imaginable. that day i came away with a pastel green and a two tone purple and cobalt blue, and thought i’d go back for the emerald green. it was not to be.
That green actually looks a bit scary. Or maybe it was due to the lighting then. Love the filling ratio though, and the strawberries that are red all the way through.
Boy, that is… Green. Very christmassy though!
ambient light, honest! the first picture is much truer, on my screen anyway. don’t you guys like eating green things though? mmm… broccoli macaron…