Birthday

April 28th was my birthday, and it was a great one! Of course, the day began with some Starbucks. Lindsey Vonn popped into Starbucks as Julia and I sat outside enjoying the warm weather, so that was a fun little birthday sighting. After some wandering around in Park City, we decided to head down to Salt Lake for some birthday pastries.

And my, what amazing birthday pastries they were!! Julia found a French bakery inside the Grand American Hotel and I had the best macarons I've had since actually being in France! To top it all off, they had a gorgeous flower-filled courtyard at the hotel where we got to sit and enjoy them.

Seriously...this vanilla macaron was life-changing.

After a quick Olive Garden lunch in SLC (yes, I gave into a chain restaurant - I cannot resist the breadsticks and salad), we headed back up to Park City! 

For dinner, a small group of us headed down to Main St. for dinner at Oishi, my favorite sushi place in town. It was delicious and it was great spending time with good friends! Julia planned an awesome day...it's great having a friend like her around!

So, that's this year's birthday! I'm excited for summer to be here so that I can enjoy some warm weather, get outside to run (although I must say skiing is a much more exciting outdoor activity) and not wear a coat! 

Macaron Cooking Class!

I just signed up for a holiday macarons cooking class at Sur La Table in Salt Lake City!

If you've ever been to Europe with me, you know of my love of these delightful French cookies. They're a very unique sandwich cookie...some sort of delicious filling in the middle of two soft yet crisp (it makes sense if you've had one) meringue/almond meal cookies.

Even though I'm traditionally a straight up chocolate dessert kind of girl, macarons are fantastic in about any flavor you can imagine. I believe my love of salted caramel came from a macaron I tried at Laduree in France, long before that flavor was all over Starbucks and every other chain in the world.

When I was in London this summer and went to Paris for about eleven hours, I made a point of stopping in Laduree. When I returned to London, I learned there was one in Harrod's! So, of course, I had to go to Harrod's myself and see if they were as wonderful as the ones in Paris.

Of course, they were great...but I had to make sure ;) 

Anyways...the ability to make these fantastic concoctions has always escaped me, so I'm more than a little excited to take a class about it. Supposedly, the instructor is fantastic. The recipes are all holiday-themed, too, so it should be an introduction to some fun flavors!

Stay tuned for more macaron posts after I become an expert!