I haven’t used this particular writing prompt recently, but, if we were having coffee together this morning, it would probably be a virtual coffee date. Everything else is virtual these days, right? I don’t remember the last time I sat together with someone to enjoy a cup of coffee and conversation. I guess maybe it was over the summer before I left Fredericksburg. No wait, it was in Fredericksburg in November, that’s right. Haven’t had a chance to do that here in Greenville yet, but maybe soon.

Cooking theme: Thai

But if we were sitting together for a cup, I might tell you all about what I’ve been doing in my kitchen so far this month. My cooking theme was Thai and last weekend I made the Thai Coconut Yellow Curry Chicken and Rice recipe. I think the only modification I made was with the curry. I didn’t have yellow curry so I used curry powder, but now I’m thinking that’s the same thing?

It was delicious and very easy to make, so not that much of a challenge, really. I’ve discovered though that either the curry powder or the turmeric leaves a strong aftertaste on my tongue. I’m not sure which yet. But I had this for dinner three times this week, I think, and once for lunch. Normally I don’t like eating the same thing so many days in a row, but it was that good.

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Baking theme: Lemon

Bad news: Many of my macarons stuck to the wax paper

Good news: That meant I didn’t have a whole bunch more I had to eat by myself?

Today I made Strawberry Lemonade Macarons and I’m almost reluctant to link to the recipe because they look nothing like these. I think my biggest mistake was taking them out of the oven a little too soon. I think that’s why they stuck. I don’t know if they would still have stuck if I’d used my silicone mats, but I think they would still have needed more time in the oven. They were too pale and soft. But the flavor was really good.

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I had been planning on going to Trader Joe’s this weekend to look for freeze-dried strawberries for the filling and then accidentally (literally) bumped into them at my Harris Teeter on Friday so that saved me a trip. The buttercream filling with the lemon and strawberry was really good and not overwhelmingly sweet.

I also need to work on my piping skills. My macarons weren’t uniform in size, and the bigger ones stuck more. In the end I think I ended up with about ten complete macarons. They weren’t as puffy as the ones in the recipe pictures, and I’m not sure what caused that.

All in all, not too bad for the first time? I think I would try baking macarons again, maybe try a different recipe, or maybe this one again since I still have plenty of strawberries.

Anyone have a good macaron recipe?