Sucre

Did I just stumble on a gem of a place: Sucre in New Orleans.

If you are lucky enough to live in New Orleans, you no doubt have stopped by Sucre for one of their many fantastic looking artisanal desserts/pastries/chocolates.  This place truly looks like a one stop shop for all your sweet tooth entertaining needs.  If you live in the US you at least can access their products via shipping.  If you are like me and live in Canada, you can only drool from the border 🙁 like I am.

view from the exterior

view from the inside

via the cobbled path

Madeleine Patisserie

I was in New York last week visiting a good friend and taking another yoga teacher training certification with Yoga Works.   Before my course started, I had a good couple days to do some exploration as well as stop by some local favourites of mine (cupcake cafe, crumbs bakeshop, buttercup bakeshop, pinkberry).   

New and notable for me was my stop in at Madeleine Patisserie 

My macarons

on West 23rd street between 6th and 7th avenue where I couldn’t resist sampling some of their colourful macarons which drew me in from their window display.

A sampled macaron

I sampled the strawberry apricot and passion fruit raspberry.  Overall, solid A- macarons.  A bit on the soft side when you bite in but the balance between crispy exterior and chewy interior was upheld for the most part.  I took pictures of the macarons I tasted on my blackberry and I am excited because the shots look just as good as what I would take on my digital camera.  What an easy way to share an experience. 

two sampled macarons

I have included a picture of other flavours from Madeleine Patisserie and a shot of the display case in the bakery below.

Inside the shop (photo via alwayshungryny.com)

Madeleine Macarons (photo via stephanie does.com)

In doubt of a colour palette? Laduree for inspiration

The start of the wedding season is soon upon us.  Brides, grooms and their wedding planners will be frantically making last minute decisions to ensure every charger is laid straight on the table, every petal is in full bloom and every favour is standing ready in its basket. 

For those of you who are commencing the planning process and have some time on your hands to sit back and digest all the upcoming decisions over your breakfast tea, I urge you to check out Laduree’s (Paris) website for colour palette inspiration.  If you read this blog regularly, you know I have a thing for macarons.  Laduree’s products are so stunning that they cross over from afternoon treat to event palette inspiration.  That’s right, I said that a dessert can inspire an entire event.

Here are some of my favourite colour combinations:

Pink and brown with an accent of lime green

Laduree Macarons (photo from Tartine Gourmande)

 Peach, creme with an accent of turquoise/bright blue

Laduree Macarons (photo from Such Pretty Things)

Earth Tones: Green, brown with an accent of orange

Laduree Macarons (photo from WenDaLicious)

For more posts on Laduree, the store, the macarons, the colours, the flavours and everything else wonderful about the Parisian brand click here, here and here for inspiration.