for the longest time, my dad have searched endlessly for the mandoo (korean dumplings) from his childhood memories. similarly, my brother - marketman - have searched for the hwoe-neng-myun (korean cold & spicy noodles) that comes close to that of soo-ra-myun-ok, a restaurant in downtown daejeon, south korea. i guess it runs in the family, because i have been searching for some good macarons here in nyc.

many of you would probably be asking, "what are macarons? are you talking about macaroons? macaroni?"

my answer is, no, they are not macaroons or macaroni. before the story goes on, i would like to define macarons, with the help of our mighty wikipedia.

"Dating back to the 18th century, the macaron is a traditonal French pastry, made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar, and sugar... (They) are sandwich-like pastries made with two thin cookies and a cream or ganache between the cookies... At the Versailles Court in Paris, members of the Dalloyau family, whose decendents later founded the gastronomy house of the same name, served macarons to royalty in the then ruling House of Bourbon."

<from the movie "marie antoinette" - look at the mountain of macarons on the left!>

as most of my family and friends have noticed, i've been very persistent on the subject of macarons. however, my first experience with macarons was not very pleasant. during my trip to paris, my friends and i went to a famous patisserie (it's a shame that i've forgotten the name), where we bought a small bucket of macarons. at that time, we did not know what they were, but since that was pretty much all that the patisserie carried, we decided to give it a try. at first bite, we thought, "what is this?! it is unbelievable too sweet!" (and that's coming from me, who LOVES sweets).

nearly two years passed since that experience, and i stumbled upon a blog which posted a variety of baking recipes with step-by-step pictures. among the posts, there were several for macarons, and i was awed at how cute and pretty they looked. it made me want to try macarons again. i tasted a pistachio-flavored macaron at star bucks in korea, and i LOVED it. it was absolutely delicious. yes, a bit sweet, but delicious nonetheless. so that got me started on baking macarons myself. (i LOVE baking.)

FYI, macarons are extremely difficult to make. they are made with egg whites whipped up to meringue, and meringue cookies are very hard to handle properly. no matter how well you follow the recipe, it's all about technique and experience. it takes many trial and error to get the batter to the right consistency. i failed six straight times before i actually made a successful batch of macarons. (and i failed again the next time after that. sigh.)

anyway, since i can't really bake here in my dorm, i decided that i shall found a patisserie in nyc that carries macarons. however, only select shops carry them, since they are not the ordinary, everyday kind of cookies. i searched online and did find a couple of places. so, about a week and a half ago, i went to one of them and bought some macarons. wee!!

this is where i went:

MADELEINE PATISSERIE

128 W 23rd Street (between 6th and 7th Avenue)

Tel: 212-243-2757

i wish i took pictures of the store, but maybe next time.

aren't they cute?! i got four flavors: pistachio, strawberry, almond, and ginger chocolate.

i believe they were about $1.75 each.

i wanted to get chocolate, but they had run out of it... boo.

for size reference :) just the perfect size for a treat.

this is pistachio, and my favorite flavor for macarons. this was my favorite out of the four too.

this is ginger chocolate. err... not so great. i didn't like the ginger taste.

this is almond. the filling had a lemony taste to it, which i didn't like.

this is strawberry. this was good too.

my overall exeprience? well... it was okay. maybe 3.5/5 for ratings. i guess it's because the macarons i had at starbucks in korea were so good that these were just okay.

what i look for in macarons:

1) a crispy outer layer

2) chewy insides

with these macarons, 1) was so-so. they were kind of crispy, but they also felt a bit soggy. i'm wondering if freshness has anything to do with this, or if it's just the way their macarons are. for 2), the chewiness varied with each macaron. some were chewy enough, some weren't as much.

here's me with my favorite, pistachio macaron!!

my search for macarons shall go on...