j'adore des macarons...

You might say I am a little obsessed with these petit cookies. Their crisp chewy shell and the rich dense fillings of raspberry, chocolat or even caramel. Their lustrous brightly hued shells in fuchsia, Robin's egg blue, rouge red, and mocha brown. Biting into them is an innocent nostalgic bliss only comparable to days on Daddy's shoulder at the fair with giant elephant ears in your hands. Even just staring at these mini luxuries give way to an instant smile. Your eyes gleam, your mouth salivates, your heart beats faster. Could it be? Are macarons my soul mate? Will I meet them on my next blind date? Are they the new equivalence of tall, dark and handsome for the single gal? Maybe so. I would certainly trade a full box of Laduree's macarons with a glass of wine and some Sandra Bullock flick over a night with a cute stranger any day! What's worse, is that I just discovered, not even 12 hours ago, a quaint little cafe by school that sells macarons for only $2. That's a steal for NYC. And get this. They have mini choux too! I had to try them, as I am suddenly finding myself in an absorbency of French culture mode and have always heard of this infamous choux pastry. I opted for the caramel filled mini choux, generously sprinkled with sugar and perfectly browned. OH MY GOSH. Can we say heaven on Earth! I'll do a full bakery review later this weekend.

What I really wanted to tell you lovelies is that I am going ahead with my foray into professional baking early. Why not right? There is inspiration all over the place! Reading A Homeade Life at our book club. Surfing through my fave blog Franish Nonspeaker. Seeing all the writers turned foodies enjoy life the way Europeans do. Its my turn darn it! So I am going to go pick up a catalogue at the Culinary Institute which has been on my New Year's resolution list for months (maybe even years...ouch). I'll do a pastry course, see what I can learn, and go from there. I might even have a few tricks up my sleeve with my ami nouvelle Mandy. Etsy comes to mind. Shhhhh. And then when I finally make it to Paris on my study exchange program, I'll take a master course on macarons so I can really give Pierre Herme a run for his money. Ah, oui, more like a walk, but you can find my confidence endearing for now. And who knows, maybe a small bakery in San Francisco, that is, if I fall in love with the city the way I'm expecting to, come this November. Life is full of dreams. Its time I make some come true...

What about you? What are you going to cross of your list?!