The antidote to Monday Blues

Mondays are the worst of all the days in the week. For one, that snooty boss of yours keeps piling up the workload and the weekend seems light years away. Another thing that I was noticed about Mondays is that no matter how quickly you try to wind up all of your work, the days never seems to end.

The same thing happened this Monday. I was pressurized with so much of workload that I was nearly in tears. So after a really stressful day, I was walking back home and to my annoyance it begins to rain. Brilliant! Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse than this.This was when I spotted the Sign Board which said Mad over donuts. It
was anyway raining so I headed into the palor. The first thing to hit me as soon as I entered into MOD was this warm, delicious, soothing aroma of freshly baked bread. It was extremely soothing. So there I was, whiffed by this delicious aroma and my stomach was grumbling. So I ordered for a donut called as the Original Sin. The
donut was so damn delicious, that all of my Monday blues were forgotten and I was actually smiling to myself.
The bread was so soft, the chocolate was of the finest quality. Indeed, Mad over donuts is worth going mad after. Brilliant donuts I must say.

Threadcakes Baking Competition

When it comes to decorating cakes, anything could be your source of inspiration. How about turning your favorite t-shirt design into an edible work of art? Well, the creative folks at Threadless.com have done exactly that. They started this fantastic online baking competition called Threadcakes and it's going on right now. Here are some of the winners from last year (photos courtesy of Threadless.com and Threadcakes.com)

I had a chance to browse through their cake gallery this week and the entries so far have been amazing. There were quite a few cakes that I was really impressed with, including Zombie at Tiffany's,  Bitter Teeth , Why is an Owl Smart? and Phascolarctos Cinereus. What's so cool about this competition is that each participant shows you the step-by-step process (with photos!) of how they made their cake. I really enjoyed reading the stories submitted with each cake and I got to learn some new cake decorating techniques for use in the future.

It's not too late to participate. Bakers and non-bakers are welcome to enter. The contest ends August 16 so check outThreadcakes.com, pick a design and start baking!

Macaroons from My Valentine

Last week, I saw a video on Desserts Magazine about how to make French macaroons and it left me wanting to make a batch of those addictive little cookies soooo badly.  But after my first and second attempt at making them, I just knew I didn't have the patience to make them from scratch.  So I just watched the video to learn the proper technique and admired the French dialogue.  Maybe I'll make them again when I'm not in such a hurry to devour them. Quick confession: I understand very little French and speak even less. Oh but I"m trying.  I do have the best intentions to learn more; I have a stack of books and cds to prove that. Je parle francais..someday.


Anyway, I still wanted some macaroons. So what's a girl to do? Well, there's only one place I know of that has French macaroons here in San Diego. Opera Cafe and Patisserie offers a gorgeous selection of French desserts and pastries as well as a delicious breakfast and lunch menu.  And best of all, they have a beautiful assortment of macaroons that come in adorable pink boxes.  They sell them for $10 a dozen and you get six flavors in each box.  Whenever I have a craving for macaroons, this is where I go. 
I actually interned at Opera for a short time when I was a pastry student.  I guess my instructor, Chef Yves, thought it was the perfect place for me to go since I'm such a francophile.  Thierry and Vincent were great teachers and it would've been nice to learn more from them. Too bad I didn't get to watch them make macaroons.  I would've loved that!



Since Valentine's Day was coming up, I decided to drop a few hints and told Hubby that I would LOVE some Parisian macaroons. No roses. No chocolates. Just macaroons, s'il vous plait. And thank goodness he got me some.  Oh...have...mercy!  



Just in case you're looking for Parisian macaroons, I stumbled upon a list of where to find macaroons around the world over atSerious Eats.  If you have a favorite place to buy macarons, please feel free to share it.  You might be helping out someone who's searching for them in your town.  Let's spread the love for macarons!