bonheur: Pierre Herme

Showing posts with label Pierre Herme. Show all posts

M comme Mogador

M comme Mogador, watercolor, 8" x 11"

Pastry has a geometry all it's own similar to cubes, cones, spheres.

Architectural details abound at patisserie Pierre Herme.

And not just in the window.

Rectangles and circles of his signature Fetish flavor, Mogador - a combination of milk chocolate + passion fruit + roasted pineapple.

Piles of pineapple surrounded by a protective wall of macarons. Attack!

But instead I chose the excellent Mogador gateau.

A thin leaf of milk chocolate rests on ganache flavored with passion fuit divided by another milk chocolate leaf sitting atop roasted pinapple on chocolate cake.

A good look inside was required to understand the 'floor plan' of this complex dessert. Luckily there's a plethora of fine knives where I'm staying.

Very handy for cutting cleanly through macaron et gateau. Voila! It would behove you to have someone to share these treasures with.

Best of Herme just out gives you step-by-step visual lessons on making Mogador macarons.

I don't think I ever gave passion fruit the time of day before tasting this mac and now it's an obssession that never disappoints.

Take your Mogador desserts to Metro Fulguiere on the #6 line

And sit in a pineapple seat for a heightened experience.

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C comme Collectionneur

Serendipity has so much to do with blogging. I reached up to pull some pastry bags off the shelf...

Out fell a very old macaron lurking within! Who knew?

Today Pierre Herme Paris sent out an email asking,

"Are you a collector?"

I'm in love with his Les Jardin collection - I dream of capturing these exquisite macarons in watercolor...

Perfumed macaron, 9" x 11"

This is a year-round collection for 2012 - a new flavor appearing every month.

In May I tasted the Rose-the jasmin perfumed macaron.

Each monthly macaron comes with an accompanying postcard - I got this one in May.

Herme worked with his friend perfumer, Jean-Michel Duriez the official"Nose"/"Nez" of Jean Patou/Rochas to create this rose-jasmin macaron.

Did you know the nose can distinquish 600 different smells and the tastebuds only 200? I learned this in wine tasting class. It's why you always sniff wine (3 times svp) before tasting. Perfumers, would of course, have a highly developed sense of taste.

"Taste is made up of odors, that is to say, the sense of taste is made up of a lot of smell - retro-olfaction, so we go back to the nose".

Yet when asked what his favorite smell is?

"It's the smell of kerosene. Because when I arrive at an airport I feel this atmosphere of kerosene - a sign of travel, departure, discovery and adventure," reveals Jean-Michel Duriez.

If you want to add aroma to your macarons shells (not the interior like Pierre Herme's Jardin collection) you can find these scents at Mora to add to the meringue.

October's flavor of the month is rose, fleur d’oranger et gingembre. You know I'll be running from CDG to pick this one up. In November violette + anis awaits. Miam.

Truth or dare? Would you eat this months old, stale macaron if found in your collections? Don't ask me. It's gone gone gone.

On a more mundane note, thank you for all the suitcase suggestions yesterday! After reading many reviews I found this bag made only for crew members online - the Travelpro FlightCrew4 22" Rollaboard. It's sturdier and cheaper ($139) than bags made for us lowly travelers evidently. I'll have it by Monday and fill you in. The seller is located at an airport so it's got to be good.

Back to dreaming about Jardin macarons...

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C comme Collections

Great minds think alike.

The fashion collections have been going on in New York, London, Milano and soon in Paris. Sophisticated Gucci designer Frida Giannini showed a lot of tarte au citron jaune (yellow) in her recent collection in Milan.

Paris' Pierre Herme got the jump with his every bit as delicious Infiniment Citron collection of douceurs (sweets).

Cheesecakes, gaufres, tartes, glace...

You name it and you can get it in 'Infiniment Citron' flavor

Herme's famous cakes with confit of lemon zest on top -
Infiniment miam miam

And don't forget his fabulous Rhum Babas!

Scroll down and read the descriptions. I swear a poet is writing his pastry copy. You will salivate.

Grab a bib. I mean it.

Pâte à baba imbibée au Limoncello, crème au citron, pâte sablée au citron, crème légère au citron, citron frais et citron confit, gelée de citron.

La puissance d’un baba où la liqueur de Limoncello se substitue au rhum. Où la chantilly citronnée est bouleversée par d’infimes morceaux de sablés. Où la crème nuageuse chatouille les sens. Où citrons frais et confits s’enlacent dans une exquise gelée acidulée.

Disponible en formats individuel, 3/4 personnes et 6/8 personnes.

Here's a neat trick I discovered to aid your French skills.

Copy the description and paste it into Google translate.

Note at the bottom there is a sound button.

Click and listen.

A not-so robotic French voice will read aloud to you the text and make you drool even more.

I meant it!

I hope you're sitting on your 'Infiniment Citron' Backjoy as you drool. I got a red one for travel. If I lose it at least another one is waiting at home.

Pierre Herme's Infiniment Citron will be disponible (until) 21/10/2012 Gone by the time I get to Paris on 27th October.

And hopefully these watercolors will be gone.

I'm showing a collection too.

Another little sale on Etsy this week to help get me to Paris to keep you amused.

Do take a look see svp.

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Dior Secret Garden

She didn't blog yesterday...

She was caught up in the mad search for visas

Up against the walls of bureaucracy

She went into hiding fearful, trapped

She would pretend all was well

Put on a good face

But inside terror struck

She wanted to run away from it all

But climb the steps she must

Lost in a maze of paperwork in triplicate

She would find her way clear

And breath l'aire frais

Get some perspective, calm down

Croise les doigts/cross your fingers she makes it.

On verra bien.

Have you seen the new Dior Secret Garden?

Don't miss it.

Shot at Versailles and features Dior-clad models running through the castle’s gilded halls. Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin shot the living campaign, starring Daria Strokus, Melissa Stasiuk and Xiao Wen Ju in Bill Gaytten’s last collection for the house.