beginners luck

So, as it turns out, macarons aren't all fun and games.

I really have no idea what went wrong here, but they were looking fine until just after the 5 minute mark, when they puffed up way too much. Once I took them out of the oven, they sunk like a stone into their little feet. I think it could be due to a few things I did differently from the first time.

1. 
   
   I went by feel when mixing the almonds and meringue together. I used the same recipe with the directions from another where it said that the batter should flow like magma. Based on what I've read about macaron failures, I think it's very possible I over mixed it;
2. 
   
   I tried tinting them with regular ol' food colouring. I used exactly one drop. Most recipes I've seen only use powdered or gel food colouring to minimize the moisture content, but I did happen on one that just said 'food colouring', so I thought I could get away with it. Maybe not;
3. 
   
   I traced out circles on my parchment as a size guideline, but I think I used too much batter to fill them. It spreads out quite a lot, actually (probably from the over mixing), so I really should have only piped the outline then slightly filled the rest in rather than gobbing it all on to fill the circle;
4. 
   
   I think they're overcooked as well. I can kind of see the pink tint to them, but there's an unsightly golden ring around most of the tops, and I don't like it.

Anyway, I'm not even going to bother making my filling (sob! I actually planned a nice rose buttercream). Instead, these are going to stick around to accompany some strawberry rhubarb sorbet I made today (Idle Husband loves these cookies no matter how they turn out).

You haven't seen the last of me, macarons!!

fluorescent poppy explosion

another lunch idea

As soon as I saw those cute little Gladware containers, I just knew they'd be perfect for Idle Husband's lunch. They fit the perfect snack sized amount of, well, anything you can possibly think of!

Last week, I made layered jello and it was the best idea I'd had, because it takes absolutely no time to make and pour jello into these little cups, and with them premade, I just have to grab one out and stuff it in his bag. It looks like I fussed, but I didn't!

the last of the Domino inspiration

dark wall + quirky art = <3

I love how fresh and bright this bathroom is with all the white. The tiles are especially inspiring.

Now, instead of sculpted hedges, I'd have a bed of peonies there and only poppies in that middle one and have I mentioned how much I love delphiniums? They'd look great up against the fence. Look at all that delightful (non-grass) pea gravel!

who knew purple printed chairs and a yellow printed couch would look so good together? It's hard to see, but the wallpaper is really great, too.

the wall colour doesn't translate well here, but it's a kind of minty, frosty green with chocolate accessories. Love it! 

I want to do white molding over dark walls, too!

the turquoise colour is so great, but look at that little picture on the lower right. They've used the flooring as a backsplash, too, they've only cut it into brick shapes instead of leaving them square. It's also important to note that that's my absolute favourite kind of flooring.

Back before Domino, Lucky magazine had a wicked home feature (I'd start buying that magazine again if they put that section back), and I used to rip all those articles out (along with design articles from other magazines) and keep them clipped together in a haphazard pile. One day, I realized I had too many pages ripped out to fit in one clip, and that's when I started organizing them into a binder. So now I'll go through my big binder of magazine pages and see if I can find anything interesting there! 

a week of obsessions

1. pearl barley. The texture is amazing! Why haven't I been eating this instead of rice all these years?! (more on this later)

2. getting a half decent picture of the super pretty waxwings that suddenly showed up. I was surprised to see that they were eating the juniper berries. So I'm sorry, junipers. Personal, heartfelt apology. I stand corrected. There is a purpose for you afterall.

not quite! damn focus

oh now we focus when the angle is dumb. awesome.

3. farmer's markets. T and I walked to our local one last night. It was it's first night of the season and you could tell. I think there were only about 10 vendors (and I'm counting the hotdog, popcorn, and mini-donut carts). We're going to give them a couple weeks to get their act together and then check up on them again. It would be so so so nice to have a useful farmer's market within walking distance.

4. the broken fence. I had a dream that we fixed it and then built a garage-like structure over our entire backyard. We couldn't see the motorhome, no one could see us, and everyone's garbage couldn't get into our yard and we sat out there all the time. We were like, haha! Who's obtrusive NOW?!

5. macarons. After making semi-successful ones, I only want to make more! Not to eat, just to make! I've never felt so satisfied and dance-around-crazy excited about baking as I was when I saw those little feet appear. Next time, I'm going to focus on fillings and I might might colour the shells! Eeep!!

6. poppies and peonies. My orange poppies are thisclose to opening.

poppy watch continues

Did I tell you how my neighbours mowed over their practically-a-hedge of orange, oriental poppies last year and subsequently killed them? And subsequently killed a little piece of me in the process? Well, this spring, I noticed a peony growing happily almost where their poppies used to be (never forget), and I've been watching it, excitedly wondering what colour and type it was. You know, since the peony easily ties with poppies as one of my all time favourite flowers (hey, guess what I've always dreamed of having an entire garden plot of!) And then Tuesday came (it shall forever be known as Black Tuesday), when he whipped out the lawn mower he suddenly owns (what?! what?! wait!!! NOOOOOO!!!), and, as I stood in my window and watched, vrroooom right over the peony. This man knows how to hurt me. Deeply.

7. lettuce and chives. I've almost given up on my poor tomatoes who've gone from getting kinda bad to are those dead? Oh wait, there's still a leaf growing. On the bright side, with all the rain and cooler weather, the lettuce I planted last year is doing extremely well! That's right! I planted this lettuce last year and it was so hot and sunny, that I gave up on all my lettuce dreams. The poor things kept getting majorly sun burned no matter what I did. Now that I've discovered these little lettuces doing their thing on their own, I planted some more seeds. If I can't have fresh tomatoes, at least I can have lettuce.

I discovered there were chives in the backyard last year, but I didn't use them as much as I should have. This year, I'm being more diligent. I love the way they smell.