Happy Valentine's Day!

Is it V-Day already? This means it's less than 80 days days to our wedding. Wow.

Macarons brought Simon and me together. I'd never think that making macarons would be part of any love story, let alone ours. We were officially together less than 6 weeks by the time I filed the paperwork to start our company. I had attempted to open my own baking business before and failed, and had no indication that this time, it would fare any better.

For Christmas 2009, I was too broke to buy gifts for anyone, so I made Christmas tins filled with cookies, chocolates, macarons, and all sorts of sweets. Around this time, Simon had introduced me to his kitchen and let me use his massive counter to set up my own assembly line. As he sat on the other side, I could hear his feet pitter patter with excitement every time I took something out of the oven. He ended up dipping all of the truffles in chocolate and packaging them. He helped me pack all the boxes and ship them to my friends. When I made a batch of macarons that all turned out bad, Simon made a small baggy to put them in so he could snack on them like popcorn. I told him my macaron theories - what constituted a good macaron and why mine were bad. This was 8 months after the Pierre Herme class and I was still having trouble getting them right. He tried to reassure me that what I thought was bad still tasted good to him. After I finished all my Christmas tins, I retired my macaron making and decided to quit for good. I was tired of trying to make macarons, and always failing and I simply couldn't afford to keep doing that (retail almond flour is like $13 a lb! I was using almost a pound a batch!).

I "unquit" macarons in March 2010. I asked Simon if he wanted to start a company together, and b/c he says yes to everything, he agreed. I decided that we were going to do macarons b/c I had this feeling that we could do something different than what was currently being offered. I was in school at the time and I asked all my pastry instructors, who helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. Simon funded our business with like $500 and that's all we had to start, and we made it work.

Simon & I baked every Wednesday night for the Hester Street Fair on Saturday/Sunday. I still had a desk job and the schedule was brutal. There were days when I would leave work at 5, we'd get to the kitchen at 6 pm, and leave at 6 am...and when I cried about how exhausted I was, knowing that I would be back at work in 3 hours, Simon would plow through it. He would clean up the kitchen, put everything away, and drive us back home.

We fought all the time over our business. When it came to our relationship, everything seemed to be rainbows and shooting stars, but when it came to Macaron Parlour, there were plenty of punches. I would get disappointed with his recipe testing. He would get irritated with how I cleaned the kitchen. I'd ask him about business moves and the bigger picture, and he somehow didn't envision it as I did. He'd hound me on not sending Paypal invoices and I would get annoyed that he didn't learn how to use Paypal himself. When people say that you shouldn't go into business with your close friends, they mean it. We were at each other and I think I probably got in a lot more punches than he did. But at the end, we realized that if we weren't so damn in love with each other, we couldn't have gotten through those first few months. It was more my dream than his, so I drove a lot of the decisions and at some point, he really stepped up and helped me make it happen. He adopted my dream and it became our dream, our business, and our "baby." We realized that we could do so much more together than we ever could have accomplished separately. We balance each other out.

My parents own a business together. Simon's parents owned a business together. I suppose it runs in our blood to be in business with the one you love. It's not easy and I don't really recommend it to anyone. Our relationship is entirely dependent on being able to spend massive amounts of time together and you know what? Simon is the first person I haven't gotten sick of after spending a lot of time with him. I get sick of everyone. When I was in high school, I wanted to live on an island with squirrels because I was so sick of dealing with people's drama and how mean everyone was to each other (I think people in high school are meaner than people in any other age group. And no idea why I liked squirrels so much, except that for some reason, my high school had cool black squirrels.). I couldn't go on trips with friends because I would get so annoyed after day 3 that I would try to do excursions on my own and come up with elaborate excuses on why I had to go alone. I get irritated pretty easily, and had always been used to the independent life, so I never thought I would ever need a business partner, but I needed someone to balance that out. I got lucky that the one person I have never gotten sick of happens to both be my future husband and my business partner. I hope our partnership is much like our parents' and we have a long, happy marriage together, even if we have to yell at each other about work stuff once in a while.

Today we're at the point where when we're in the kitchen, we can work without talking. We can anticipate the other's next move. We don't really argue about what's going on in the kitchen, we haven't been burned in a few months, and we watch movies as we work to pass the time. The other day, I picked a movie that Simon liked so much that when we had a little break, he pulled up a chair next to the laptop and I could hear his feet tap excitedly as he waited for what came next. We had work to do, but I pulled up next to him and we both took a half hour break to finish the movie. One of the reasons why I think we don't claw at each other is b/c we know how to step back and take breaks so we don't let ourselves get too consumed by the present task at hand. Last month, we didn't time our day in the kitchen right so we were stuck with nothing to do while we waited for our macarons to bake, so what did we do? We went on YouTube and practiced Michael Jackson dance moves for an hour. We finished early, in great spirits, and with new moves.



February 13, 2010 is the day Simon asked me to be his girlfriend. Well, actually, it was probably like the 4th time he asked. It was just the first time where I actually agreed to it. He asked over a heart-shaped Papa Johns pizza, the actual pizza is pictured above. That was the first time I ever had a real boyfriend for Valentine's Day. I'm not into the big hype over Valentine's Day, but I think the heart-shaped pizza was a winner in this relationship.

So, I wish everyone a Happy Tuesday. Regardless of your relationship status, it is important to remember to not get so caught up in the flow of everyday life to miss out on taking a break and doing something fun today and every day. Michael Jackson YouTube videos are free to watch & practice with. I hope that you enjoy a macaron today.

Union Square Holiday Market!

Tomorrow, we kick off our first day at the Union Square Holiday Market. After a successful month at Madison Square Eats, we're excited to be back at a market where our followers can visit us every day from tomorrow through December 24th (except Thanksgiving!). We have been preparing like crazy and over the next few weeks, we're going to roll out specials beyond just macarons. Like our special chocolate chip cookies and apple pie bites.

I hope everyone gets a chance to stop by and meet Simon. As a native born New Yorker, he is a true diamond in the rough. There are very few things that ruffle his feathers and he is the most naturally happy person I have ever met. It is WEIRD, but very refreshing to find that the crazy fast paced life of New York hasn't stopped this guy from smiling. That's us above in a photo taken by Nicholas James White when he visited our booth at Madison Square Eats. Clearly, we both have food in our mouths and we're trying to smile like we don't, but it's not successful...at all.

Anyway, a little relationship story about us for all of you to barf over. When I first met Simon two years ago, I had a completely different life. My friends wouldn't even try to introduce me to guys b/c I would tell all of them that I simply didn't want a relationship. It just didn't fit into my planned life schedule. I totally didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted to quit my dead end job and go to pastry school. I was especially moody at the time because I would have to take out a loan for the entire program - I could only get the loan from one place and 2009 was not a good time to try to take out a loan.

Simon had recently been let go from his position as an attorney recruiter and he was enjoying the single life. He, too, did not want a girlfriend. How he decided that he would like to go on dates with me is beyond me. I ignored him a lot because I thought he was weird and I said things to try to make it clear that I wasn't into it, and he thought I was annoying and wasting his time. The guy is so nice, he figured that since we had friends in common and they thought I was ok, he would try to see if I was ok. WHO DOES THAT? THAT IS SO WEIRD.

Then a number of things happened. My school was approved for Title IV funding - so my loan options completely opened up and I was able to get one immediately. I got my first pastry job. I started school two months later. A month after that, Simon and I decided to become official. A month later, we decided to open Macaron Parlour. A few months later, I was assigned a wonderful mentor and got my dream pastry job with a talented Pastry Chef I had met a year earlier. Then I decided to go back to school to learn the business side of the food industry and Simon encouraged me to apply for every scholarship possible to pay for the program - and I got all of them. Then I got engaged. And here we are, at Union Square Holiday Market. Two years ago, I was trying to figure out how to pay for pastry school, and now we are in a holiday market that I have been visiting ever since moving to NY 7 years ago.

I hope everyone gets their own Simon this holiday season - just a good luck charm that draws everything good your way.

Madison Square Eats

Come and visit our booth down at Madison Square Eats through October 21st. We're here every day from 11 AM through 9 PM. We're close to the corner of 25th street and 5th Ave.

Having a storefront isn't part of our short term plans for Macaron Parlour, but our 4 week participating at Madison Square Eats is a glimpse of what that life will be like for us. In the past week and a half, we have slept around 4-5 hours a night, hired staff, worked until our feet felt like falling off and quitting, and gotten into really long fights about whether we sold 24 or 25 of a particular flavor. This is our temporary storefront and we realize that we have a long way to go before we're ready to open our own. That is something for after...

After what?

After our wedding, duh! Simon and I are getting married next April! We're going to be business partners, roommates, and married. So, we won't have a giant macaron cake, but we will have Macaron Parlour wedding favors! I spend 25 hours a day with this guy and I'm not sick of him yet! We'll see what I have to say about this in 15 years.

That is all! We can't wait to see your smiling face so come and visit us soon. We have more than just macarons here - we have apple pie bites, and cookies. I'm about to head to the kitchen to start prepping for our fall flavors - pumpkin pie and caramel apple. We should have them in the next few days, unless they sell out, of course.

See you soon!

Looking for Interns!

I have a nasty sweet tooth. The other day, I found myself nibbling on bits of brown sugar when Simon wasn’t looking. Who does that?

Well, I do. One time, I built an entire castle out of sugar cubes and I’m pretty sure that for every sugar cube that went onto my castle, another one went in my mouth. Surprisingly, I apparently also have very strong teeth. After not visiting the dentist for over four years, I finally went two weeks ago. Guess what? Even the dentist was surprised at how little damage that working with sweets has done.

Macarons are by nature, very sweet. Two of the four ingredients are sugar! Obviously, they appeal to my sweet tooth, but I also love other practically sugar stuff like streusel. Macaron Parlour has tried on numerous occasions to branch out past just macarons. We tried cookies, brownies, cobblers, and banana bread. Banana bread fared the best (who doesn’t love some banana bread?), but really – we’re known for our macarons. While it’s great, I also began to really miss making flour products.

So I recently took a job where I’ll be able to try out new recipes and give them a home. I have a personal fight with myself every day to make sure I don't throw streusel on top of everything (definitely tried a streusel topped macaron before). I also have to force myself to stop adding more sugar into every recipe. So far, I have been able to resist the sugar urge - somewhat.

Anyway, the great news is that next to my streusel topped everything, you'll soon be able to find Macaron Parlour macarons. We'll be able to give a more permanent Brooklyn home to Macaron Parlour. I can’t wait for MP to blow up in BK! Once Macaron Parlour becomes more integrated, we’ll share the details with our happy (and soon, new) fans.

But this means we’re looking for some good help. We're rapidly expanding and we want to add more people to our team (of just Simon and me). We could use some interns in the kitchen for Macaron Parlour – we’ll teach you about running a small business and making macarons. If you have a lot of free time, we can also offer the opportunity to learn more about café production and restaurant desserts. Contact us through the contact page on our site to get in touch!

Too busy to post...a good problem

Last year for Fashion Week, we baked, filled, and packaged something like 10,000 macarons. Simon cried twice. I sobbed once. We watched the sunrise as we sat around tying ribbons on baggies and came home hours after the sunset. We thought we would be able to rest the following Monday, but ended up filming the clip above for Kelly Choi’s Very Appetizing. If you can’t tell, we’re both pale and exhausted and I’m sweating bullets. They spent something like ten minutes filming me standing in front of the stove watching sugar boil to the soft ball stage and my whole face felt like it was on fire. That, coupled with the bright camera lights, made me feel like an egg slowly frying in a very hot pan. Sizzle, sizzle, pop. However awkward I felt, we were thrilled.

Since starting work full-time, I haven’t had the opportunity to post. Well, a lot has gone on since then. We went through our first holiday season. It was both exciting and exhausting from mailing out 15-20 boxes a day to making corporate deliveries early in the morning and Simon holding a presence at the Big Social Holiday Market the week before Christmas. Truthfully, Simon held most of it down as a one man show.

Most importantly, without being prompted, Simon has tried to bake on his own. It happened once, but once is better than never. When I met him, Simon immediately friended me on Facebook and I rolled my eyes and groaned. But his first status was, “What should I bake today?” By that, it turns out he meant, “Which bag of packaged cookie dough should I throw in the oven? Peanut butter or chocolate chip?” However, I didn’t know about that until a few months later – he is so sneaky! That status got me more interested in him and afterward, I was able to teach him how to bake properly.

Recently, Simon has rolled out and folded croissant dough and he prepared his first pate brisee for a pie. He was a little too aggressive with both, but on the flip side, the first time I tried making our caramel filling, I was too impatient to let the caramel cool so I tossed in the butter right away and made caramel/butter soup. Then I did that about 6 mores times before I started to wonder what I was doing wrong.

ANYWAY, I just wanted to say that I have been really proud of Simon. The person I met baked off packaged cookies, the person I’m in love with now helps me test out new cookie recipes and makes new filling flavors. When I started working, he really stepped in and adopted Macaron Parlour as his baby.

Also, as noted in previous posts, we have really been working on our wholesale accounts. We went from only being represented at the Hester Street Fair to having a few very steady accounts. It’s so flattering that other people want to sell our product! Woohoo! Even more flattering, many people have been turning to us to take care of their wedding favors. We offer these beautiful packages that hold 2 macarons and we design a custom sticker that matches the wedding invitations so everyone walks away with their own tasty keepsake of the wedding (which will probably end up in many tummies on the way home). I have watched enough Bridezilla shows to find it an ultimate compliment that people trust their tasty gift to us.

Last week, the Hester Street Fair reopened. This was our first home and we love being able to interact with our consumers. The weather was beautiful and the response was great. We had a wonderful time meeting new fans and catching up with old ones. It was so busy, I hardly had a chance to speak to our many friends for more than a few seconds and Simon didn’t get to chat with the other vendors until the after-hours of the fair. We miss everyone and we hope to get to spend more time with you soon. Please visit us this Saturday at the Hester Street Fair!

Park Slope Brooklyn & Saks Fifth Ave!

Exciting news!

We're available in Saks Fifth Avenue. We've teamed up with Charbonnel et Walker to provide our little treats to hungry shoppers in their Chocolate Cafe. They're located on the 611 5th Ave. 8th floor so if you're shopping and you need a sweet fix, you know where to go!

What if you're in Brooklyn??? Do not worry! We are also available at Blue Apron Foods in Park Slope. Ted and Allen do a great job curating their food selection in this wonderful gourmet shop. You can also find our friends SCRATCHbread and Robicelli's there.

Our etsy shop is open 24/7 and we ship to all states. You can always email simon@macaronparlour.com for special requests such as catering, parties or weddings.

Charbonnel Chocolate Café
Saks Fifth Avenue
8th Floor
611 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
(212) 588 0546

Blue Apron Foods
814 Union St
(between 6th Ave & 7th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 230-3180

We're back! Actually we really never left.

We're finally back! Well, we've always been here and there but we're finally back and blogging. The blog has been a little quiet. It's really been an amazing 2010 and the response to our macarons have been great. The people we have met during our start up have such a positive vibe. It really drives us to make a great product!

Today (1/22) and next Saturday (1/29) we're going to be at the "Park Here" indoor park at 201 Mulberry Street. OpenHouse Gallery has been getting amazing press for their "Park Here" indoor park. The nytimes, urbandaddy, and time out ny all seem to approve.

Come by for treat if you're around. If can't make it you're welcome to order online through our etsy site or email me, simon@macaronparlour.com, for delivery in NYC.