[UPDATED: PRODUCTION HAS ENDED FOR NOW. SEE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT]Some people are organised enough to document a project and then tell their readers all about it, blow by blow. Not me. All good intentions of snapping photos evaporated as I juggled the eccentricities of an induction stove, the buttons and dial of a fancy Rational oven (it does almost anything, except tell me why it's not doing what I want!), and the largest macaron batter I've ever made! You see, on Monday I stepped into the kitchen of the new food venture, EARL Canteen, by Jackie and Simon.
Of ovens and baking (and macarons)
On the occasion of Jour du Macaron 2010 (I'm a few hours late) and the approximate occasion of Syrup & Tang's third birthday, I have decided to write about ovens, rather than presenting more pretty domes of deliciousness. Why ovens? Because a lack of understanding of how ovens work is one of the main causes of so many home bakers' problems. And I promised to write about them a year ago. I hope there's something in here to hope any inexperienced home baker.
Masterchef Australia's macarons: bad crunch
Every contestant in Masterchef Australia episode 61 had crunchy macarons. (Ok, except Andre, who didn't have macarons at all.) The microphones captured the powdery crunch. It should never have been like that. I think I know why it might have happened. NOW UPDATED with extra stupid stuff.
Spring harvest in Paris
All sorts of things grow when the weather is going crazy. In Paris this week, the temperature fluctuated between 14C and rainy and 35C and excruciatingly humid. I got home from a day of walking around the rive gauche (Left Bank = mix of university, studenty, somewhat wealthy, public service, cultural and dawdling tourist population). Look what had grown in my bag from the curious cultures floating through the air…
There was a strange box containing…
TASTY PRESERVES
Travel 2008 – returning to Portugal, Elvas
"In Portugal, every website is broken," says the concierge as we try for the third time, in vain, to book a bus ticket online. I suggest that he is exaggerating slightly. Three or four years ago I might have agreed, but nowadays the situation is...
Read more Fri 13 Jun, 2008Macarons, desiccation and prettiness

I am lining myself up to compete with Pierre Hermé himself. And I've done something completely new. These beauties are the first completely desiccated macarons ever presented for public delectation. Read more about this limited edition from Maison Duncan. Gasp in awe! (And there's a pretty surprise at the end too.)
Read more Sat 14 Feb, 2009End of year notes (with extra chocolate)

The last breath of 2007 has been exhaled. As well as wishing all a wonderful 2008, I think it's time to clean out all the pieces of deliciousness which I didn't get around to writing up properly. Think of this as being the end-of-year/start-of-year food porn clearance.
Read more Thu 03 Jan, 2008Three flavours of macaron

Many of my readers know of my macaronic obsessions. As the latest batch, made for the foodblogger get-together in March, was well received I thought I'd publish some pretty photos of them and tell you more about the flavours, add a tip or two, and alert you to a macaronic...
Read more Sat 21 Mar, 2009It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… macarons!

It seemed time for a little Christmas spirit, though most of it seems to be passing me by at the moment. On the occasion of a little lunch at my place for friends, I wanted to serve some new flavours of macarons to my faithful tasters. Some very...
Read more Sun 14 Dec, 2008
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