Aerolatte...frothed milk awesomeness!

I am absolutely obsessed with frothed milk.  I have a Breville espresso machine which makes great froth but since I've been using the Keurig more, I don't want to turn it on just to froth my milk.  I have been using an inexpensive hand held wand-type frother that I bought on eBay and it works well but when I saw how quick the Aerolatte froths (thanks YouTube) I had to have one.  I decided on the stainless steel version with stand from Amazon.com.   I am in love!  It makes easy work of my other new love, So Delicious Barista Style Coconut Milk Creamer.

Macarons!

Last week, my friend, Erika, and I went to a local farmer's market where I went especially to buy macarons from Sweets 507.  I had never had a macaron before but was so intrigued by them.  I wasn't disappointed at all.  These macarons were fantastic!  They were a box of 4 for $5 or two boxes for $9.  I bought a box of caramel filled and an assorted box containing one caramel, one raspberry, one pina colada, and one tropical hibiscus filled.  While the homemade caramel filling was delicious, the assorted box was exciting.  I polished both boxes off in two days and had dreams of macarons every night after that.  As usual, I checked YouTube for a tutorial and found many to chose from.  I chose this one but looked at a couple more as research.  I also have the current issue of Tea Time magazine which happens to have macarons on the cover and a recipe inside.  Most recipes I found have measurements in volume but the recipe I chose uses weight as the measurement. 

Macarons

3 egg whites, aged in fridge 3 days
180 g powdered sugar
100 g almond flour (Bob's Red Mill)

I filled with cream cheese frosting and jam or cream cheese frosting and Nutella.

Please follow the video for instructions.

I'm really excited because I was led to believe these cookies were hard to make.  They were not. 

Afternoon tea @ English's Quintessentially British

Today my friend, Stephanie, and I went to English's Quintessentially British Gastro Pub at Town Square here in Las Vegas.  I just recently found out that they serve an afternoon tea service and we wanted to try it.  We both decided on the cream tea for $20 pp.  It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside on the terrace.  She ordered a blackberry black tea and I ordered the tropical green tea.  Right away I spotted a problem.  The tea was served loose in the pot with strainers on the side.  It continued to steep and eventually both of us were left with bitter tea by our second cup.  Our favorite savory was the cheddar cheese with branston pickle.  Our least favorite was the egg sandwich.  The scones and strawberry jam were very good and the whipped cream was so delicious that we agreed we could have eaten it right out of the cup.  Unfortunately, after two pots of tea, extra sandwiches, and two scones, I didn't have room for the sweets.   We were the only ones at the pub having the tea.  All of the other patrons were having beer and the regular pub menu, which, judging from the scents wafting our way, must have been scrumptious!  I can't wait to share this with the other girls!

After tea, Steph and I hit the Teavana store.  I really wasn't expecting to buy anything but because it is my birthday month I treated myself to this Russian inspired infuser mug.  Years ago, I fell in love with the Cobalt Net pattern from the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, Russia but it is out of my price range at $80 per cup and saucer set.  This infuser mug was only $21.95!  Of course, what good is a new tea cup without new tea?  A customer ahead of my bought some of this Cococaramel Sea Salt herbal tea and when the tin was opened, it smelled so good!  I usually don't like Rooibos but I am willing to try this one.  It has bits of chocolate, caramel, and sea salt.  How can that be bad?

Thanks for a great day, Steph!