Hope you like the new layout! Bare with me as I'm still tweaking it and getting it to out I want it. 

I thought I was stumped for green week. I had two soups as possible ideas but then remembered things like green curry, green tea and then of course; pisatchios. I am still working my way through my massive bag of pistachios I got from Costco. Looking at the expiry date on it, I better use more pistachios before July!

I've tried making macarons before (the Australian Women's Weekly spells them macaroOns... don't ask me why). The last batch was pretty woeful. Whilst they tasted good they didn't really look like a macaron the day after as the ganache had made them all soggy. This batch was my most successful batch. Whilst they looked browner than the picture in the cookbook, possibly from a slight overcooking; the macarons had feet and stayed together overnight. I was rather chuffed to actually have something that looked like a proper macaron!

Biting in, the marshmallowy centre was slightly overcooked, but all flavours worked well together. My ganache was still fairly runny by the time I used it. Perhaps putting it in the fridge might have helped it set a bit more. Next time I won't leave them in the oven for so long!


Pistachio, White Chocolate and Honey French Macaroons
The Australian Women's Weekly

Get your hands on:
1/3 cup (45g) unsalted, roasted, shelled pistachios
3 egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 150°C/300°F. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper. (I would do this after you have finished making the macaroons as they have to set for 30 minutes before you put them in the oven)

2. Process nuts until finely ground.

3. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar and few drops colouring, beat until sugar dissolves; transfer mixture to large bowl. Fold in 1/4 cup of the ground pistachios, sifted icing sugar and ground almonds in two batches.

4. Spoon mixture into piping bag fitting with 1cm (1/2 inch) plain tube. Pipe 4cm (1 1/2 inch) rounds about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart onto trays. Tap trays on bench so macaroons spread slightly. Sprinkle macaroons with remaining ground pistachios; stand 30 minutes.

5. Bake macaroons about 20 minutes, cool on trays.

6. Make the honeyed white chocolate ganache: bring cream to the boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat; pour over chocolate and honey in small bowl; stir until smooth. Stand at room temperature until spreadable.

7. Sandwich macaroons with ganache.

Makes 16.

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We sat inside, surrounded by other eager breakfast patrons, with attentive staff bustling around.
We were given menus and a nice amount of time to deliberate over what to get. So many delicious choices, I know I'll be back again.

Hamsley got a mug sized latte, and I opted for what the cafe was called; a moka.
The moka was fantastic. It wasn't bitter at all like you get with some mokas, and it wasn't sweet, it was just creamy and so pleasant to drink.


Hamsley was very impressed with his ham benedict, with it's thick crusty bread; a far more filling serve than at our other favorite breakfast haunt, Brown Sugar Cafe. The bread was nice, the ham was slightly seared, and the poached eggs were perfect and runny.
It is called 'ham benedict' rather than eggs benedict, as they also have salmon benedict on the menu; which is served with, you guessed it; smoked salmon.
Because Hamsley is a good boyfriend, he said my eggs benedict were still better.
For me it was a toss up between the salmon benedict, bircher muesli or the pancakes. I wanted my eggs scrambled, but the menu said no changes to dishes on weekends; so I left that out as an option. Then I decided, I don't have enough pancakes in my diet; so pancakes won this time. We were both wide-eyed and impressed with the size of this serve.

Fresh, sweet strawberries, drenched in maple syrup, upon the two biggest, fluffiest, most delicious pancakes. They reminded me of my breakfast at Zum in Tasmania. In fact the whole cafe had that lovely vibe that Zum had; which I have been searching for in Melbourne.
The pancakes were just fantastic. I didn't think I would be able to finish them, and I probably would have even if Hamsley didn't have a few bites so he could taste how fantastic they were.

On the tables, there was also a macaron menu. Being a sucker for all things macaron and cupcakes, I walked away with one of each flavour.

The contents of the above plate cost me $20. I believe it was the tastiest research I've conducted so far, and well worth the money spent. You may like to spend your money on shoes, or video games; macarons it is for me.

•  Blueberry Cheesecake: I'm pretty sure it was cheesecake. It was amazing however. Creamy with a jam center, no other words to describe it than 'just awesome'.
• Mint Chocolate: My favorite of all the macaron flavours. Had a subtle mint flavour, not over powering and perfect with the chocolate filling.
• Dark Chocolate: Creamy with a distinct bitter dark chocolate flavour.
• Turkish Delight: A light, yet somewhat powerful rose water flavour, but not potpurri-ish like the Lindt Cafe rose flavour. A lovely jelly/jam centre to emulate the Turkish delight.
• Pistachio: Far better than the Lindt pistachio flavour. You can actually taste the pistachio, but also the almond used in the macarons. 
• Lemon Tart: Tangy, but not too tart. Perfect and soft.
• Salted Caramel: Sticky and sweet, with a nice deep caramel flavour. The caramel taken to the point just before burning.
• Licorice Chocolate: The aniseed flavour is not over powering. It goes perfectly with the chocolate creamy centre. I was told there was a little bit of Sambucca in this one. 

Overall, the macarons were far better than Lindt Cafe. My favorite macarons in Melbourne so far. And with delicious flavours like this, I'll be back for more.


Speaking of macarons, Billy from A Table For Two has a monthly t-shirt in his new shiny online store. There are only 50 units of each t-shirt, hand made and designed by Billy himself. 10% of the profits go to KILT landmine victims in Cambodia. So I couldn't resist buying a funky macaron t-shirt which helps those less fortunate than me. For more information, check out Billy's store here: http://www.atablefortwo.com.au/shop

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Masterchef inspired lots of us to make things we had never made before. A few weeks ago, I attempted the art of macarons. Having just bought the latest edition of the Australian Gourmet Traveller because of it's gorgeous looking macarons on the front cover, I was keen to give them a go. Although, for some stupid reason I decided I was going to make them at 8.30 at night, which meant I was rather rushed. But I figured, if the Masterchef contestants could make macarons, pannacotta and a passionfruit slick all within 1.5 hours, surely I could do it too!

The Australia Gourmet Traveller website has a lovely history of macarons, if you wish to read, click here.
I ran out of time that night, so I had to make the raspberry ganache the following day and sandwich the macarons together.

They aren't the best looking macaroons, they were meant to look like this:

But for my first attempt they had the gooey centre and the macaron taste. I know alot of people that have thrown out their first batches of macarons so I was stoked that most of mine worked out! The hardest part was sifting the icing sugar and almond meal 3 times. Almond meal is very hard to sift, so my arms got a nice work out.

Next batch mine will look like the picture and I will take a photo to show you all, but for now, it's on with the recipe!

Macarons with White Chocolate & Raspberry Ganache
Alice Storey

130g pure icing sugar
110g almond meal
105g eggwhites (about 2), at room temperature, left out overnight
65g caster sugar
4-5 drops rose food colouring

White Chocolate & Raspberry Ganache
50ml pouring cream
100g white chocolate
45g raspberries, coarsley chopped

1. Process icing sugar and almond meal in a food processor until finely ground, triple-sift into a large bowl and set aside. Whisk 90gm eggwhite in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (1-2 minutes). Add caster sugar, a tablespoon at a time, whisking continuously until incorporated and mixture is thick and glossy (2-3 minutes), then add food colouring. Stir in almond mixture in batches until incorporated and mixture slowly slides down sides of bowl when bowl is tilted. Add remaining eggwhite to loosen mixture, spoon into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle, pipe 3cm-diameter rounds of mixture onto heavy baking-paper-lined oven trays, stand until a crust begins to form (4-5 hours).

2. Preheat oven to 140C. Bake macarons until firm but not coloured, swapping trays halfway through cooking (10-12 minutes), set aside, cool completely on trays.

3. Meanwhile, for white chocolate and raspberry ganache, bring cream just to the boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, add chocolate, stand until melted (5 minutes), stir until smooth and glossy. Refrigerate until firm yet still pliable (45 minutes-1 hour) then stir until smooth. Add raspberries, stir to form a ripple effect, then spoon a teaspoon of ganache onto half the macarons. Sandwich with remaining macarons and refrigerate until set. Macarons will keep for 1-2 days refrigerated in an airtight container.


Serves 40.

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