Macarons à la Bouchon

-
Daddy and I made a stop over at Bouchon Bakery in Yountville on Lola Estay's death anniversary. There was a queue outside the boulangerie but it was moving fast enough that I haven't made a decision on what to order yet when we got in front of the counter. Our objective was to buy pasalubong for Mommy, Biboy, Barbara, and Anna. We ended up buying those colourful macarons which were encased in plastic moulds that fit sturdy boxes to prevent them from cracking during transport. 

(I only know all too well how fragile macarons are. I enjoyed Ladurée macarons so much that I splurged on them in Lausanne, Switzerland and flew more home to share with family and friends... I ended up gifting them fractured macarons and lots of crumbs.)



Honestly, though, choosing what to get them was difficult! There were so many goodies on display in the refrigerated glass cases! 


Mommy wanted us to buy more so we could bring them to Tita Babie's house but the macarons are so expensive! For the same price range, we could get bigger pastries (which was what Daddy did; I ate a brownie). These macarons really are designed to be enjoyed in small amounts when people are in the mood to splurge.

When Anna received the box of macarons, she wolfed down three pieces. I was barely fast enough to get a macaron while Mommy chose to eat only one.  

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma
Read more