Macarons at Home!

I fell in love with macarons years ago, first Laduree graced my screen in the Marie Antoinette movie, then they peaked out from various skirts and dresses, and finally after a trip to Paris the love affair was sealed! I love them because of their diminutive size, rainbow colors, and the fact they so often show up tasting like flowers!

Whilst my love was strong, getting a fix was hard. So many shops sold rather dry under filled macarons that leave you wondering what the fuss is about, or they rocked but had to be special ordered, an my home efforts were rather pitiful . That is until I was presented with enrollment in to a macaron class for my birthday!! I had to wait for months for the day to come but after it did the macaron method mystery was finally revealed!

The class took a good 3 hours, but we all came home with some great little pastries, and this last week I finally had a try on my own with success!

It seems the biggest thing was to follow the rule of "let them sit before you bake" the 15 minute wait gave them a bit of a skin on top, and that let them rise soft and puffy into the sky, and they came out pretty and tasty!

I had a try coming up with my own flavors and have to admit my favorite home macaron was my favorite Laduree flavor, rose.

for mine I made a classic French butter cream filling with a splash of rose essence. I spread a generous layer of the butter cream onto the bottom cookie, followed by a dab of rose petal jam on top of the cream before sandwiching and leaving to set up in the fridge.

If you are a fan of flower flavors it's well worth a try, rose flavor can be hard to find, but I have been able to source a rose jam here in the states as well as rose extract, you can also use rose water instead of essence, and top with a dab of raspberry jam which are pretty easy to find in the local grocery stores these days(rose and raspberry go great together!)

Some Quaintrelle macaron Tips!
1: Wait: Definitely leave the whites out at room temp for the 3 days recomended, and let the macarons rest for the full 15 mins before baking them, and wait till the next day to eat them. I could never cope with all that waiting before but it really pays off!
2: Extra bang: To get multiple flavors from one batch, make a classic french butter cream to fill them, separate it into as many containers as you want flavors and flavor and dye each batch separately.
3: Remember art school: If doing say 3 flavors, pipe the first set plain white, the second add a little pink dye before adding to the piping bag, the second a little blue or yellow to make lilac or orange colors. You'll be able to get so many combos from one batch and really make a splash when you serve so many varieties for the same work as one!

I already have my next batch of egg whites sitting out on the table ready to go with batch number 2.

Building a Wardrobe of Jewels

Since as far back as the 17th century, a "lady of quality" would own at least one suite of matching jewelry called a parure, which would tell the world of exactly how much "quality" the lady was made. These precious gems would have been passed down over the years for generations to enjoy.

As a modern day quaintrelle and the Duchess of Fancy, I felt it was time I acquired a stately parure for myself! Of course I didn't have a suite of family jewels coming to me, so no diamonds here, but some dazzling paste! (even Marie Antoinette wore paste)

My first parure here consists of a pair of earrings, necklace, a hair pin (which can transform into a brooch), and of course a custom satin lined box fashioned after the style the old Georgian parures would have been kept in.

The design was inspired by a 1770's necklace and grew out from there.This set was started in the middle of last year and only just finished this weekend

One of the best finds for this project was the vintage drops in a mock alexandrite. The colors is a lovely delicate lavender in the daylight, but under florescent light the color turns a bright apple green!

As well as the changing colors of the stone, just like in the parures of old the aigrette is modular so that it can be worn as either a hair ornament, or as a slightly smaller brooch.

I've been wearing this set lately for dressed up occasions, but even for those jeans and a pretty top days, to give an other wise boring outfit just enough history for it to be something fit for a quaintrelle to be seen in!

As for whats next? I'm already working on my second parure which has many more pieces, and will soon be available for sale in my Candy Violet shop as a set or as separate pieces (as well as being open for custom work)! This months Quaintrelle life article will be all about parures too, so keep an eye out over the next few weeks for those!

Pretty as Pie

More Cooks Country adventures, this time Stained Glass cake! I opened up the Cook's Country 2009 Annual, and there was this bright cake shining back out at me, and it was so colorful I had to make it!!

Apparently this cake was used in Jello ads back in the 1950's and was something of a retro favorite. I love a good bit of Americana and when it's tasty as well as fun and kitschy it has to happen!

I took one to our friends house for 4th of July and it was a big hit. Right now I'm trying to come up with a recipe for an elegant miniature rose flavored version for tea parties?

Here are a couple of vintage broken glass cake pictures from the late 50's...

Cat Head Biscuit?

A few years back we were eating in a gas station/diner/place that sells kitschy fairies and knives, and the menu featured a "Cat's Head Biscuit" which was explained to us as "a biscuit the size of a cat's head" they were pretty good!

The other week we got our copy of Cook's Country and lo and behold a recipe for cat's head biscuits!

Sunday morning my husband and myself baked up a batch and they are super delicious. The size of our cat's head, and light and fluffy.

It seems the secret to getting your biscuits cat head size was to scoop the dough into the pan with a 1/2 cup measuring cup. You can probably try this super scoop with your regular biscuit recipe. but I can heartily recommend the Cook's Country one for a great biscuit. I'm thinking I might try some with raisins for a kind scone like concoction (proper English scones are more like what our American friends call biscuits than scones a lot of the time), or sprinkle some with sugar for strawberry shortcake. Either way I'm baking up cat head size from now on!

Fancy Quaintrelle Hair and Clothes

So I have very thin hair, but always wanted some nice big puffy vintage hairstyles a la Carole Landis. The secret I have found is all in the hair rats! Check over at the main Quaintrelle Life site for more info and a how to, on finding rats in the craft stores and getting hair to new heights!

It's been a while since the last feature was added to the site, but now we are in our new home (well, domain) I'll be back to adding a new feature every month!

The article also features one of the new Petitie Trianon dresses newly up at Candy Violet for those seeking a bit of a fashion fix.

The chemise inspired dresses have been a favorite of mine for a few years now, I was really excited to be able to add them to the shops at last!

Red and Sparkly!

They said it couldn't be done!!! (ok exaggeration, they said "it shouldn't be done") but we finally got our hot new sparkly red counter top installed and it's everything I had hoped it would be!

We're still waiting to get the tile and paint up that will set everything off in a red+turquoise retro perfection, but things are already really coming together.

I have to admit as soon as it was down I spent a good 10 minutes playing around in the kitchen admiring the sleek shiny red surface and got to thinking, what if I had listened to all the people who told me to consider something less, well, red? I know I wouldn't have been as thrilled as a kid on Christmas like I was when it went down, and I know if i was buying this house I wouldn't squee for an Uba Tuba counter top the way I would if I walked in on a property to find this lipstick colored wonder slab. How many other people feel the same way? I wonder how many people do decorate in a way that makes their place "easy to sell" but secretly want something much more fun, and how many buyers really want something much more fun too?

There was a story someone told on Retro Renovations about how they went to look at a house which had a lilac bathroom suite and were crazy excited about it, but when they went back again later the awesome lilac toilet was gone and a  regular white one now stood in it's place (much to their disappointment)

I'll admit when the time comes selling this place with all the colors we picked and wallpaper we are about to pick (sin number 2!) might be tricky and I might be eating my words. But there might be a young couple coming in and losing their mind over the sexy red counter top the way I just did and thrilled to have found it.

I do know one thing though, as the white walls a beige carpets slowly disappear from our house, I find myself wanting to be in it longer and longer, and my husband and myself are happier and happier decorating for ourselves and not so much for the next guys who are going to live here.

(Edit: For all the people who've been googling for red counter top photos, check out the newer posts in the decorating tag for some bigger better photos)

Show Time!

Last weekend my quaintrelle clothing label Candy Violet was featured in a fashion show with 3 of Japan's top lolita designers. I sadly wasn't able to be there in person, but here's a little bit about the outfits we were showing on the Saturday!

I decided to chose a color pallet that represented the brand going with purples for candied violets, and pink for candied rose petals, all with a little fluff or sparkle for sugar. Since I have a long time passion for historical and vintage fashions the show moved from 1770-1950's, every eras dream girls!

Grand Habit a Lolita

This outfit was inspired by an old 18th century fashion plate of a lady dandy, the book talked about how she was over dressed and I thought isn't that what a lolita strives for!?

Chemise a la Reve

The outfit I made for a visit to Versailles and based on the clothes worn by Marie Antoinette and her clique at the Petite Trainnon. (This dress will be available soon for purchase at last in a few different colors!)
Romantic Stroll

I found a lot of beauty in the rather difficult and overlooked romantic era styles. I wanted to include this one as something a little bit different.

Ribbon Bouquet

This outfit is based on one of my favorite designers during the early 20th century. I'd wanted to make an outfit like this for sometime, although I opted for a more mid century silhouette.

Hollywood Rococo

This outfit was to represent our new direction! The inspiration came from the Hollywood epic Marie Antoinette from 1938, and the kitschy Du Barry was a Lady from 1943. The mix of period costume and Hollywood seemed the perfect place to end the show, just like we started but with a bold new outlook!


The exciting news too is that all the items from the last 2 outfits are now available for custom orders in our shop! The chemise dress will be finally joining the catalog too, just waiting on a few details to get the photos taken and up on the site, should be up in the next couple of weeks.

I hope I'll be able to show the video soon, though I'm still waiting to see it myself!