I’ve never been involved with something so complicated and wonderful and frustrating and…ever. 

This is not a role that I ever thought I would be likely to play and most days it is play.

What I am surprised with too is the “mother club” that you instantly become part of and how easy it is to bond with complete strangers.  I’m very wasp and my people just don’t do that. 

I have a mom who is very touchy feely and she produced two daughters that aren’t.  I find though I could cuddle my little girl literally until the cows came home.

What I am also surprised with is some of the interesting advice that people feel comfortable with giving you out-of-the-blue. 

I remember the day that I was feeding my baby a bottle of expressed breast milk and the lecture that I got from another mom at the park.  I apparently was dooming my child to a life of not being able to love due to lack of early attachment and  obesity. 

Thanks for letting me know because the horrible infection that I had gotten from breastfeeding “wrong” hadn’t made me feel badly enough. 

I’m not a cryer but I cried in the car after that comment.

As the babes has gotten older I’ve gotten better at just nodding, smiling and filing these gems of advice into “good to know” until the other day. 

I took my sweetie to the farmer’s market for a walk around and to get some of these fabulous french macaroons that one of the stalls sells (yumm…lemon and raspberry).  The babes now walks runs and I run after her but in a large crowd with dogs and bikes and the possibility of cars I get panicky.  So I have invested in a rather cute solution that gives me piece of mind.  It’s a bunny-shaped, backpack with a thing that comes out of its mouth in the shape of a carrot and you hold onto it. 

We’ve used it a fair amount and get stopped by similarily worried looking parents who REALLY want to know where I bought it (FYI: FabBaby gear). 

As usual, this happened a fair amount of times at the farmer’s market and when yet another parent made eye contact with me I had my answer and a smile at the ready.  Much to my surprise they felt more comfortable telling me that I was scarring my child for life by treating her in an inhuman manner. 

I was mildly shocked. 

Here was this spotless, giggling little girl in her organic, cloth diapers full of healthy food and wearing fairtrade shoes but apparently doomed to a loveless life of despair due to my crappy parenting skills-again.

I was embarrassingly pleased with myself though by working through my shock quickly enough to say to the person that they were obviously and thankfully a much better parent than I ever would be and I was willing to pay for her longterm therapy. 

Did I mention this was Mother’s Day?

What I should have done was just nod and smile.  That would have been a more charitable thing to do.  I’ll work on that.

Here is my emotionally damaged child eating refined sugar.

Since becoming a better and more forgiving person is obviously going to be a long process, why not a batch of those wonderful macaroons? 

These are fussy to create and should be good penance for the snotty remark that I made. 

In earlier posts I’ve given a different recipe, this one reads like it will be way more bullet proof that the previous version. 

Don’t try and make these on a humid or rainy day they just won’t work and you will have to put a lot of money in the swear jar.

http://www.elledecor.com/entertaining-travel/articles/french-macaron-recipe

Vanilla Macarons
Ingredients
• 1¾ cups almond flour
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 7 egg whites, divided
• ⅓ cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

Directions
Preheat oven to 275°F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with a piece of parchment paper. Sift the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl and set aside. Using a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, begin to whip three egg whites to a medium peak.

Meanwhile, combine water and sugar in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat. Simmer while monitoring with a candy thermometer; be careful not to overbeat egg whites. Remove syrup from heat when temperature reaches 240°F.

Continuing to whip the egg whites on medium speed, pour the syrup down the side of the bowl to incorporate slowly. Increase speed and whip until whites form glossy, very stiff peaks.

Using a spatula, stir the remaining egg whites and the vanilla seeds into the flour mix, making a smooth paste. With the spatula, fold one third of whipped egg whites into the batter; then gently fold in the rest. Stir until the batter falls in a ribbon when you lift the spatula.

Using a soupspoon and your finger, place round dollops onto the baking sheet, about an inch apart. The batter should be stiff enough that the macarons hold their shape. (Cover batter with plastic film when not scooping.) Lightly tap the sheet to settle the batter. Let the cookies sit at room temperature until a light crust forms, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with your choice of toppings (see below). Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the pan 180° and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove the cookies and let them cool. Repeat the process until all the batter is used. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for two days, or frozen. Makes 70 cookies or 30 sandwich cookies.

Suggested Toppings
• Cocoa powder
• Candied orange zest
• Chopped pistachios or other nuts

Suggested Fillings
• Fresh strawberry slices
• Fresh raspberries
• Nutella
• Fruit jam
• Orange marmalade
• Ganache (recipe follows)

Ganache
Ingredients
• 14 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
• 1½ cups heavy cream
Directions
Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely dissolved. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. Assemble the cookies by placing filling of your choice on the flat side, then topping with another cookie to make a sandwich; or serve open-faced.