hem. i’ve been hiding.

you know how it is. you go away for a few days. and you come back, but don’t tell anyone, and over the next couple of weeks you realise how unfettered you feel without the blog attached. and then a couple more weeks go by, and then a couple of months apparently — some people have been counting, evidently, and leaving heartfelt secret messages on their blogs — and suddenly, you’ve even forgotten what size to crop your photos, necessitating some resaving of pictures so you can post them.

i really didn’t know if i’d be back. i hadn’t planned it, but along the way, as i luxuriated in this pocket of time that not writing afforded me — a pocket of time that i squandered finally finishing “gilmore girls” and starting “six feet under”… and laying out an annual report [note to self: send invoice] — becoming a reader of blogs rather than a writer of one became a very attractive option. (i also thought of maybe writing this as an anger blog rather than a food blog after an encounter with the ridiculous and exasperating seagull woman of darling harbour on an excursion to the aquarium a few weeks ago.)

well. it could still happen i suppose.

but not today. today, i bring you macaron! we stopped by the lindt cafe at cockle bay wharf after the aquarium, me and the kid, for a dark hot chocolate and a babycino. they had recently introduced a new macaron flavour — blackcurrant — and had organised a festival of delice to celebrate. the festival, as far as i could tell, consisted of a free third macaron for every two you bought. i think that perhaps stretches the conventional definition of “festival”, but at the same time, i wouldn’t turn down a free macaron. so, fine.

they look like fat, perfect specimens, don’t they, nestled in their fancy lindt-paper-lined box? but their shells were brittle and hollow, and their fillings unyielding, though undoubtedly quite tasty. tchk. i ate them during a workbreak the next afternoon, swiftly and joylessly. i wished they could all be zumbo rice pudding macaron.