I love all things “tiny” and “detailed”. It’s a natural for me, but I suspect most people don’t like detailed things…too hard to see and maybe frustrating. But I enjoy the challenge and intricacy of small designs, especially those involving royal icing, namely flowers.
The prep for royal icing flowers is easy. I use meringue powder as my base. The piping is a skill, but like with everything, persistence is key.
The “tiny” things I love involve small decorations – especially for the French Macarons. I know….they are sooo cute anyway, why spoil them? But I can’t help myself…..I love the tiny toppings such as crystal sugars, dried edible flowers (here, hibiscus) and lavender buds. And wait for a following post to come…..French Macarons with a very “young girl” in mind….can you guess the topping I used? Come back and visit my blog for a picture of what I baked and designed.
A bientot!
Our next port of call was Livorno, Italy. We surely did not want to miss Pisa this time around…namely the famous “Leaning Tower”. Some had said not to bother, but I am glad we “did bother” to go. It was truly amazing to see not only how it leans, but it’s full construction of marble. And the tower is not alone in this area (as I had believed). There is a huge baptistry here as well. The entire historic piazza is called the “Field of Miracles” as some of you make already know.
On our way through Pisa, we took a lovely boat right on the Arno River…..a very peaceful river. (see below)
Of course, before we boarded a trolley which drove us to the piazza containing the “Leaning Tower”, we had just enough time to get our hands around a most delicious cappuccino……perfection in a cup!
We visited Marseille just following our tour of Sanary-Sur-Mer. As you can see from the photos that it is a very large and close-knit city! It was a gorgeous day with a slight cool breeze….true perfection. The city has been a port for over 2600 years, named the “gateway to the East”. We are touring a cathedral here, but had a picturesque tour of the villas, mansions and beautiful sights of this lovely city. We would surely need to return to see it all!
After dancing the night away on the ship…..it was time to begin sampling the confections in France. I posted on Sanary-Sur-Mer recently, but focused on the scenery and the amazing cappuccinos! This is the first confectionery shop we had time to stop into, after a lovely walking tour. I wanted to buy the whole case! No French Macarons here (Paris and St. Tropez for sure), but they had the famed “Calissons”, a delicious Provencal combination of almond paste and fruit paste – mainly glaceed citrus peel and sometimes melon. They are lightly iced on top with a sweet royal icing and are traditionally in diamond shapes. Here is what they look like:
I have many photos to share now that we are back from our European trip. The weather was perfect, summer-like each day – not one drop of rain!
