i am about to go watch “america’s next top model” with a cup of tea (green, vanilla) and a biscuit (macaron, rose), which is a grand way to spend a friday night with kid sleeping and boy absent.
last tuesday, as we parked the grocery-laden pram outside adriano zumbo patissier, a yelled-out welcome made its way onto the street: “hello, ragingyoghurt!” it’s nice, no? when the boy behind the counter knows your name? nevermind that your name isn’t actually “ragingyoghurt”…
we entered the shop, and my eyes automatically swung to 2 o’clock, where the macaron usually hang out. except, there were no macaron! not a single one. “where are all the little coloured biscuits?” i asked, perplexed.
turns out the entire zumbo workshop had been wiped out with the killer flu over the weekend. charlie the counterboy had been making pastries to keep the counter stocked. but no pink biscuits for us. the kid, who’d been chanting a mantra of “pink-biscuit-pink-biscuit”, was easily placated with a raisin snail. and i… i finally got a chance to try the cheeky charlie.
a figure eight of a danish, topped with chopped strawberries and pistachios. the surprise is, the brioche feuilletine has a ribbon of sticky red jam running through it, which makes your cheeks tingle with intense strawberriness.
i’d been eyeing this for weeks, but there was always something more enticing than a danish along the counter. plus i didn’t think i could ask charlie himself for a pastry named in his honour. tuesday, an extra countergirl was there to help me out.
thanks, countergirl!
anyway. i thought you might be interested to see the kind of more-enticing-something that’s been keeping me from surprise danishes.
the merry-go-round, from two tuesdays ago: like a regular strawberry custard tart, only crazier. behold the macaron biscuit topped with a tiny cube of turkish delight. beneath the ring of strawberries, a great dollop of creme patissiere — as you’d expect — but within this, a secret core of lychee mousse. predictably, the kid was only interested in the pink biscuit, so after i bribed her with it, she left me — and the merry-go-round — to our own devices. i took it to bed with me that night, and when i was done with it… well, you know how it is.
11 Comments
oh wow – so glad to have answers. hey i bet in no time there will be somethign named after you in that shop. well named ragingyoghurt anyway!
oh my god, look at that custard tart. it is so big. did i tell you custard tarts with fruit on it are my absolutele favourite pastry based custard filled dessert?
oh my, so many beautiful things in this one post.
i’m intrigued by that pattern in the top right corner of the merry-go-round … is it a glass of strawberry milk?
sonya: hey! so did you end up going back in saturday morning? and was the macaron situation back to normal? you must have just missed that single tray of pink macaron when you went in friday morning… it wasn’t me though! i only bought one.
sue: mmm… yeah, fruit and custard tart. because it’s refreshing and evil and virtuous all at the same time? this was a really nice one; the custardy bit was lush! have you made it to zumbo yet?
deb: and all delicious! the pattern is in fact a pink-paisley printed teacup, from target. i got it for maeve to drink hot chocolates out of.
i was there too early on friday – 8.30am trying to impress the pants off my editor with zumbo macaroons – had to get bickies instead, they worked just as well. heading there this afternoon! hope the deadlines ok! x
the deadline has miraculously vanished! sort of. maybe i should also head down to zumbo to celebrate.
hello all. the macarons are back ! today there was a new flavour introduced. caramel cinnamon. hope to see you all soon and please introduce yourself
argh! charles! why do i always miss the caramels? still hanging out to see the salted butter caramel macaron when i walk in. maybe you could do a daily sms service where you txt the mac flavours of the day? that would be cool!
ok weird. counterboy online.
oh its pretty, that cup.
we nearly made it to zumbo yesterday, except the baby needed shoes and then her milk and then fruit and then she drank half a cup of green relish tea from easy way. baby sitting is haaaaaaaaaard. i’d need a merry-go-round every day if i was a mama.
man that is so weird… MY you’ve started a zumbo fan club or something. i couldn’t work out what the cinnamon caramel flavour was exactly! i got the caramel part right at least and added at least 2 new macaroonies by sharing!