In memory of the Macaroon.

I probably have mentioned already that my favourite sweet treats are Macaroons. I like them enough to give them their own label here. I once tried to make them myself, but failed so miserably that it almost put me off eating them forever. Luckily Cassis was close so I just bought myself a cheer me up pack there and all was good with the world. I haven’t attempted since and just accepted that it will be one of these things I just won’t make myself. Same as the fishcakes and that’s okay. Not everything has to be homemade, because it just tastes so much better. Sometimes it actually doesn’t and one has to accept the facts.

I have tried my way through Cape Town’s pastry shops, but the best I have found are still at Cassis. I thought they were a special-occasion-only for their price – I find R5 for a mouthful, well, a mouthful. That was till this morning. I was at the Cape Quarter and decided to use the chance to nip into Daniela’s as I had had one of their chocolate brownies the other night at the blogger meeting and thought it the best brownie ever. Thekla then told me that they were also famous for their Macaroons.

I bought only two and almost fainted when I was asked for R20. That would mean they would have to be double as good as the ones from Cassis. I carried them around in my hand like the Holy Grail for the next hour as I know Macaroons don’t like to travel in purses and tend to crumble when you just look at them.

I may have to add that I usually only eat Vanilla and Coconut, so my choices today were quite out there as far as Macaroon flavours go for me. Maybe not quite an even start into the competition, but Rose and Mint flavour just sounded too enticing to go for plain old Vanilla. Were they as good? Objectively no, but the Rose one tasted like a soap, which I had as a child, smelled. Before you cringe - they didn’t taste like soap! I had a tiny container of little soap sheets I would take for travelling and absolutely adored the rosy smell of them (and therefore probably never used any). Eating this Macaroon just brought that feeling back of me as a kid and the excitement of going on a trip. R10 for a childhood memory preserved – that’s priceless actually.