Ladurée : the original macaron

Now, on va faire un petit anachronisme [we're going to make a small anachronism] to revisit day I went to the Musée Rodin and the Musé d'Orsay. Why? Because looking at all that impressionist and post-impressionist art helped us work up an appetite, and since we weren't too far from St-Germain-des-Prés (where I tasted my first-ever Ladurée macaron in 2009), I suggested we try and find it (since we didn't have the address).

With S.'s uncanny sense of direction and the help of an obliging newspaper kiosk man, we found it: Ladurée, founded 1862, the creator of the original double-decker, ganache-filled macaron cookie.

(You aren't allowed to take photos inside, so this was the best I could do)

E., S., and I moseyed on inside and drooled over the glass cases of pastries for a while before finally reaching a decision and ordering from the quaintly dressed employees (they look like 19th century maids, complete with aprons and chignons). E. opted for Divin, S. chose a St.-Honoré Pistachio Griotte, and carefully selected three small macarons: orange blossom, lemon thyme, and strawberry mint. At 1euro60 each, they're what the French would call a petit péché mignon (cute little sin).

We sat on the steps of the nearby church, took a reverent breath, and dug in. S.'s St.-Honoré was as delicious as it looked...

...and the logistics of eating it (let alone sharing it) without a knife or fork were quite hilarious:

Look at my three little beauties...

S. and I both agreed that the orange blossom didn't really taste like anything in particular, although it wasn't bad. The strawberry mint had sounded gimicky to me at first, but I was surprised by how refreshing and summery the combination turned out to be. However, it was lemon thyme [left, below] that won the award that day - I love the way thyme, which is generally used in savory dishes, can pop in to desserts to add sophistication (basil also does this quite well, as Princeton's The Bent Spoon showed this off quite well this summer with its Lime Purple Basil sorbet).

But guess what, friends! Ladurée has since added a single-origin Malagasy chocolate macaron to its already-impressive lineup. Guess I'll just have to go back...