Dear Microsoft Office (and all you other people who can’t differentiate between a macaron from a macaroon),

Macaron is not a macaroon. Every time I write “macaron”, you always highlight it, suggesting I misspelled the word and replace it with “macaroon” instead. How atrocious. I am not sure how Seattle’s gourmet food scene is, but I
Read More →

PREFACE Martha, You Want Me

Last week was intense. News reports on the Sendai Quake was getting worse by the hour and the number of victims had already exceeded that of the Kobe quake in 1995. It is still increasing. Radiation has been detected in spinach and milk. The Japanese government is slow in
Read More →

My MO-obsession (baking with rice flour) has returned, and this time, it’s the MOcaron. Now that I know exactly what to do when it comes to macaron-making, substituting almond flour with other ingredients is not that hard. Having said that, I had no idea whether rice flour would work.

Since the first
Read More →

My neighbourhood is changing rapidly these days– for the better. The whole block used to be really sad, shopping-wise. A nasty old bakery with day-old bread, Christian-sects’ offices, and three different Thai “massage” parlours (last year a war broke out between them, and the hookers smashed each other’s glass windows with bricks every night, what
Read More →

Thanksgiving dinner has become such a tradition in my household, and we hosted an early Thanksgiving dinner over the weekend. I am off to Florida now to enjoy the sun, beach, and a hassle-free Thanksgiving (if the TSA would just hire HOT men/women at the airport body check points, people wouldn’t complain so much, right?).

Since
Read More →

PREFACE Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Part 1 & 2) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (The Battle Continues) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Trial 4, 5 & 6) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Matcha Macarons)

I know, I know, I have to revisit the Flødeboller Battle, but it takes too much effort so I diverted to macarons
Read More →

PREFACE Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Part 1 & 2) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (The Battle Continues) Yamahomo vs. Ladurée (Trial 4, 5 & 6)

Since winning my Ladurée Battle at Trial #6 two years ago, I haven’t made macaron for a while. But when looking through the Best
Read More →

You didn’t think we’d go to Paris and go on a sugarless diet, did you? Of course you didn’t. Angelina’s is a famous pâtisserie on rue de Rivoli across from the Tuileries Garden.We went there the first time we visited Paris as a family over 20 years ago where I remember eating
Read More →

Since I recently gave up my nearly lifelong commitment to vegetarianism, I have been trying all kinds of wonderful things, and foie gras was at the top of my list of things to
Read More →

Lurid macarons. Ladurée in Paris, France.