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| The best little French Macaron in Sydney |
"Much like a first date, there's a good chance that your first batch could end awkwardly."
This is one of my favourite quotes concerning baking French macarons, and the reason why I would never bother making them at home. Now, I know I'm a great cook, but when it comes to matters of measuring down to 1/4 teaspoons and anything to do with "whisking" I have no grand illusions about my baking abilities - I suck. Which is why I much prefer strolling around the city trying macarons that other people have laboured over.
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| Rose & Vanilla. OMG good. |
It was the perfect day in Sydney: a crispy fresh day with brilliant sun sparkling in the harbour... and an insane amount of French macarons to conquer! I had two lovely ladies from Chicago book my Macaron Treasure Hunt experience and I was like a kid in a candy store - I was so excited to have an opportunity to show them around Sydney based on a mutual love for the world's perfect little sweet treat, and I admit I was super excited to get paid to eat macarons - imagine that!
We started off in The Rocks, winding through tiny streets and soaking up the historical architecture and bustling current day street activity. It's a great old-meets-new part of Sydney with so much more than just macarons, but we knew what we had to do and there was no way we were going to be distracted from our mission of finding the perfect macaron for each of us.
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| Apart from macarons, we also encountered wagons |
We went above and beyond the usual strawberry and chocolate flavours... in fact there were so many flavours to choose from that I can honestly say choosing was the single most difficult thing we had to do all day. Here's just a a few of the crazy flavours we tried: Cherry & Pistachio, Passionfruit, Mango, Lime & Coconut, Salted Caramel, Green Tea, Lavender, Cassis, Lychee & Raspberry.... and that's not even 1/4 of the flavours that were available!
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| Mysterious and magical |
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| Lychee & raspberry on the left, Lavender on the right |
This was the first time I shared my macaron experience with anybody, and just like the baking process I was a touch nervous that it was going to end awkwardly. Not a chance! Bonding over similar interests meant that we always had at least one thing in common, and that gave us a starting point to discover all the other things we were mutually interested in. The best part (apart from tasting so many macarons!) is that as we were strolling from one mecca to the next, I got to see Sydney and all it has to offer through their first-timer eyes - an inspiring experience for me and made me remember just how awesome Sydney is.
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| Happy campers: Kathryn, myself and Hillary |
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| Stairway to heaven? I made a quick stop to show the ladies QVB. |
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| Look out, we're on a mission! |
What I ultimately realised is that sharing this experience on Arribaa means that I commit to spend more time doing what I love. I gave myself permission and a reason to pursue my passions more often. And it was so much better sharing that experience instead of eating macarons by my only lonely self (which is a bit tragic if you think about it). I started seeing my passion as something special and valuable, and being able to share that experience through Arribaa totally supports my sugary habbits!
