{"id":84,"date":"2009-11-08T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-11-08T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/blog\/?p=84"},"modified":"2011-08-07T21:10:47","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T21:10:47","slug":"macaron-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=84","title":{"rendered":"Macaron challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcEkI6cfjI\/AAAAAAAAAHQ\/cSpCowhWo2w\/s1600-h\/August+2009+055.jpg\"><img style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcEkI6cfjI\/AAAAAAAAAHQ\/cSpCowhWo2w\/s320\/August+2009+055.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401791296968621618\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>I got totally sucked into MasterChef &#8211; The Professionals, this year. It was a hot contest, and one episode near the end in particular sparked something of a mania. A macaron mania.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">I&#8217;d seen and tasted these Parisian macarons a couple of times, but the thought of the challenge to actually make them was a little far fetched. That was, before seeing them being made on the show. Beautiful in their delicacy, very pretty. Sure, how hard can it be?<\/p>\n<p>Not for nothing are these noted as perhaps the trickiest of things for a pastry chef to master. Despite this, my half-baked ambition has known no bounds, and I&#8217;ve gradually built up the kitchen purchases over the past couple of weeks so that I have everything I could possibly need to pull these things off. Thermometers, hand blenders, edible paper, a hundredweight in free-range eggs, icing sugar and almonds.<br \/><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcCkcbTD0I\/AAAAAAAAAG4\/wCQNgAWskRg\/s1600-h\/August+2009+051.jpg\"><img style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 121px;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcCkcbTD0I\/AAAAAAAAAG4\/wCQNgAWskRg\/s320\/August+2009+051.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401789103183433538\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> I&#8217;ve now worked my way through two attempts and think that by the time I get to the third batch,  I&#8217;ll be pretty happy with the results. Third time&#8217;s a charm, right? I hope so. My family might be sick of eating the damned things by that point, but at least I&#8217;ll be able to sleep again at night without wondering &#8216;<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">what if&#8230;.&#8217;<\/span>. Until the next mania takes hold, that is.  Today I saw a great recipe for Scotch eggs. Yes, it&#8217;s only a matter of time&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcCkj5f80I\/AAAAAAAAAHA\/zOkYiqZL2l0\/s1600-h\/August+2009+053.jpg\"><img style=\"margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 256px; height: 341px;\" src=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/_v0UdCJPF7lg\/SvcCkj5f80I\/AAAAAAAAAHA\/zOkYiqZL2l0\/s320\/August+2009+053.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401789105189155650\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>I got totally sucked into MasterChef &#8211; The Professionals, this year. It was a hot contest, and one episode near the end in particular sparked <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=84\" title=\"Macaron challenge\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}