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Monday, June 3, 2013

Final product. 

Alright, I'll admit it. I disappeared for quite a bit and you have every right to be mad at me right now for not posting anything. The Amy's Baking Company was a good filler though, you have to admit it. Most of you probably deleted my blog from your bookmark tabs but let's just be friends again, slowly.

So the reason for my disappearing act was because I had a huge macaron order to do. My sister and I baked over 570 macarons, yes, five hundred seventy macaroons for my friends wedding.The whole process took about 3 months. It started off with just an idea but turned into reality when I convinced them that it was well worth it and it was!

I am still pinching myself while carrying a big smile on my face, remembering the look on the groom's family's faces when they saw the final platters of macarons delivered. They were in disbelief that it came from my kitchen and frankly, I was in dismay myself too. I am going to try my best to just pack all these months of brainstorming and taste sampling into a short post, since we all had ADD here, well, at least I do.



The recipe, I am not going to post so just refer to my previous posts. First and foremost, I want to give credit to my good friend Calvin Lee for helping me take some pictures during the process. He is an awesome photographer and friend, please check him out. My sister deserves a shout too for helping me out in the biggest possible way, I couldn't have done it without her.

Challenges
I guess I'll first talk about the challenges during this whole process. One thing that I cannot defeat is my inner voice, it keeps telling me that I am going to fail and let the newly weds down. I felt very down and was stressing myself out. I couldn't do anything, all I thought about was macarons and the feeling was insane. I woke up, went to work and was looking forward to going home just to bake. So, number 1 rule from now on, drown out your inner voice that tells you, you are going to fail.

Second was the timing of all these baked goods. My trusty old man kept on telling me to stop making small batches and just devote a couple of days to bake the whole day. Having this mentally made it worst and it just freaked me out knowing that if I failed, the wedding would be ruined. But the old man was right in the end and it actually had a lot of beneficial factors to it. Colour's were consistent, saved energy and production was more effective.

Third was a lack of sleep. I went through a week of poor hours of sleep. My day would start off with work, gym, dinner and then macarons. I had to share the kitchen with my sister and we took turns, I always seem to get the grave yard shift but it didn't matter, I was driven and would do anything to be successful.

Pros
Ah fine, Ill admit it. This macaron journey has really been a special bonding experience. My sister and I spoke the same language for once and it was for the love of perfect macarons. We discussed many tips and even compared notes. It was beautiful and for sure, we will do it again. I asked.

Seeing the happy faces of friends and family was just priceless or maybe they were shocked for the fact that the macarons were made by me and my sister. Overall, the image of guests happy faces were amazing and of course how can I forget about the bride and groom. They were more then grateful. I was so happy that they loved it and for the fact that they believed in me.

After all the countless failed batches, I finally mastered the macaron and I can now make the macarons work all the time! Now I just got to figure out what am I going to do with the rest of the extra macarons I have. Do you guys want some?

Backup Plan
There was no back up plan.


I think that's all I have to share for now. Let's try to keep things short and simple for the both of us. Here's a mix of my journey. Take a look!



Waiting for the skin to form is the best part because you do nothing.


Quality control

Wasted and burnt macarons. 

Feet

I love the smell of a fresh batch

Two A.M. and still finishing up on a work day. 

So Pink. 

This was only 234 macarons. 

Calvin took a break from the assembly line.
Overall it was a crazy experience, filled with ups and downs. But in the end, it was well worth it. Macarons just give a big smile to everyone's faces, no matter what age group you are in, they are a dessert for anyone with a sweet tooth.

If you like what you see, leave a comment below and of course, feel free to place an order. See you soon! 

One last shot.