The Year in Review

It's that time of the year, for saccharine lookings-back to the year that was.

For many, 2009 was the year of the hoax. The screw-up. The year that our confidence in money, luxury, success and all that we hold dear was, if not shattered, then at least shaken very badly.

GFC. Tiger Woods. Balloon Boy. Madoff.

But for me - 2009 was the year of the macaron.
For the uninitiated, let me do the Wikipedia-ing for you. Macarons are a traditional French pastry, made of egg whites, sugar and almond powder. Two crunchy meringue like bits, sandwich a layer of ganache. The colours and flavours of the macaron are only limited by your imagination, as Adriano Zumbo rightly showed us on his birthday.

So when did this French piece of puffery become so entrenched in our cheesecake-eating, ice-cream- swilling dessert culture? It seems as if the macaron snuck up on us, and cast a very long shadow on our culinary landscape. So here's a look at some of the masters.

First up is the inventor of the modern macaron, Ladurée, located in Paris, where again, according to Wikipedia, 15,000 of these babies are sold everyday. There is also a shop in Tokyo which, in the name of research, I'll be hitting up in February.

These are the creations of Sadaharu Aoki, a Parisian-trained Japanese patissier, whose matcha opera cake has received huge accolades. I have actually had these before, and the flavour of the ganache is quite intense.

The mighty ispahan

Pierre Hermé's signature creation, the ispahan, is a concotion of rosewater flavoured meringue cookies sandwiching lychee cream and fresh raspberries. Again, I have had the pleasure of tasting this, and the tartness and texture of the raspberries really offsets the sweetness and floral scents in the cookies.
And lastly, our home-grown hero, Adriano Zumbo - who had a macaron bonanza on his birthday this year, making 60 different flavours including cheeseburger, maple syrup, bacon and pancake (that was one flavour), black truffle and beer 'n' peanuts. Alas, I was not able to attend the event, but a more detailed catalogue of the flavours are here, at Grab Your Fork.

So, will the macaron be here to stay in 2010? Only time will tell...

Vegetarians. Dandies. Meggings.

Recently, around the world, we have felt the reverberations of a resurgence of the gentleman, at least in sartorial form. After the intense popularity of 'Mad Men', normal men are starting to wander the streets with bowties and skinny ties, and lo and behold, well-cut suits!

More importantly, men are becoming more conscious of details, of fit. Not that men were not unaware of their appearance - but it used to emphasise other aspects of the male. Comfort, and sometimes, an insouciant indifference to personal hygiene.

For a far more eloquent discussion on the topic in the New York Times.

But the days of baggy Bermuda shorts and sweat-stained t-shirts are over! Women (and gay men) rejoice!

Image courtesy of Close Up and Private

The narrowness of the lapels and the tie makes a man look taller and straighter than he is. And the harkening to vintage fabrics means better quality, and a broader colour pallette for menswear, which has frequently died a slow death from boredom. The addition of accessories, such as scarves, pocket squares, glasses, alternative neckwear (bowties, ascot, Mr. Preston?), has really given men a wealth of choice to individualise. And isn't that the broader trend in fashion, and in almost everything else? In a world where economies of scale and convenience has forced a faster pace of homogenisation, we're all looking for something that will make us stand out. But not too much.

My own lovely friend (please note the espadrilles and cuffs)

On the other end of the scale, we have 'vegetarian males', a social phenomenon in Japan where young men prefer to do housework and raise children, rather than the more stereotypically male roles of bread-winning. And some of these men wear skirts. And meggings. Which are leggings. For men.

Is this shift in the male-female paradigm a backlash from the feminism movement from the 1970s? Personally, leggings are a bit too much - just because I don't think women should be wearing them without anything over them either, unless in a ballet class. But if it means more confident, well-dressed men, then please sir, may I have some more?

Mea culpa. Now how do you say that in Chinese?

Sorry. Really can't seem to get my act together. I had exams and then was in a blogger-censored place (China). But that's really no excuse. Just perennial laziness.

I discovered something while in China though, that I never realised.

It's actually quite beautiful.

My attempt at being artistic.

West Lake, Hangzhou.

If you look past the smog and the spitting people.

Something I knew from before, though, was that food was awesome and cheap.


These dumplings are a must-have in Shanghai. I'll just go out and say that they are probably the best fried dumplings in the world. These are '生煎包'(shengjianbao), which means they are fried from their raw state, not steamed prior. They are a cousin of xiaolongbao, those of Dintaifung fame, but better - because they're fried! Still retaining a hot burst of meaty soup on the first bite, but with the contrasting texture of the crispy pan-fried bottom and the silky non-fried top of the dumpling, with the juicy meat fragrant with ginger. Perfect brunch at only 4.5RMB (approx 75cAUD for 4)!

High-tea, Chinese style.

A tradition of Hangzhou, an area about 4 hours drive from Shanghai, is tea. Although not confined to the afternoon, tea consists of Dragon Well tea grown locally, accompanied with a never-ending stream of snacks, usually nuts and candied fruits. We also had lotus soup, a subtle floral but thickly gelatinous gloop, which was surprisingly soothing.

Shanghai was also uber-trendy. Amazing shops, from super-brands (all the ones you could think of, including the whole LVMH family and some I had never heard of). There's even a Super Brand Mall. Also - pop-up stores are really popping up everywhere. Here's the Vitamin Water store. Where you got -free- vitamin water!

Pretty awesome, huh? And I promise I won't stay away so long this time.