Wednesday, July 30, 2014

White Out

White Daisy Crochet Top/Chicwish (seen here)
White Shell/Esprit
Izabella Pumps/Nine West (last seen here)

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Summer Breeze

Yellow Tee/Target
Navy Floral Pleated Skirt/Jason Wu for Target (seen here)
Striped Moto Jacket/Forever 21 (seen here)
Juilet Tortoise Heels/J.Crew

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Daisy

White Shell/Esprit
High Waisted Shorts in Bold Stripe/ASOS (seen here)
Jennifer Pumps/Nine West (seen here)

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Fancy Things: A Little Paris in DC

A friend and I visited Paris a couple of years ago and in turn became obsessed with macarons. Our biggest regret was not eating them with every meal. With that in mind we went on a hunt to find the best macarons in DC and luckily for us we had a lot to choose from.

Hans Pedr' Kaffe 
1781 Florida Ave NW
Price: $1.85 each
Flavors tried: Raspberry, Pistachio
Raspberry - Filling not great, just preserves, very sweet. Cookie is pretty good, could be more airy, a little chewy.
Pistachio - Pretty sweet filling, not enough nut flavor. Cookie has a good consistency.
Verdict: If you are really jonesing for a macaron and can't get to Georgetown, give this place a try. Otherwise skip it, the macarons were definitely very average.

Macaron Bee 
1669 Wisconsin Ave NW
Price: $1.90 each
Flavors tried: Chocolate Lavender, Almond, Fleur de Sel
Chocolate Lavender - Overall flavor really disappointing. Didn't taste like chocolate or lavender., just tastes sweet. Filling is very firm, cookie dry. 
Almond - Tiny pieces of chopped almond on the cookie. Very almondly and very flavorful. Good consistency. Sweet, but not too sweet. Soft and not too chewy. Tastes like marzipan. One of our favorites of the day.
Fleur de Sel - Buttery soft caramel filling. Good balance of flavor, chewy cookie and a nice hit of salt. in one word: perfection. Another favorite of the day.
Verdict: This is the closest we came to Parisian macarons. I could eat the Fleur de Sel ones all day, every day. Definitely give this place a try, it was our favorite of the day.

Patisserie Poupon
645 Wisconsin Ave NW
Price: $.85 each 
Flavors tried: Coconut Passionfruit, Passionfruit, Cassis, Pistachio 
Coconut Passionfruit - Weird consistency, hollow cookies, didn't taste like coconut or passionfruit. Mostly tasted like pineapple.
Passionfruit - Tastes just like the coconut passionfruit, but slightly better consistency. Very tart and very little filling.
Cassis - Taste much more like a sandwich cookie than a macaron. Extremely sweet filling, ok texture and very sweet cookie as well.
Pistachio - "Taste like ice cream, not in a good way," said one taster. Not flavorful and probably the worst macaron we tried all day.
Verdict: Worst macarons of the day. I really hesitate to even call them macarons. I guess we should have know by how cheap they were, you get what you pay for. Would not come back here for macarons.

Olivia Macaron 
3222 M St NW
Price: $2 each
Flavors tried: Lavender, Raspberry, Salted Caramel, Coffee, Almond, Pistachio
Lavender - Very strong and super herby. Decent texture.
Raspberry - Not very flavorful, good texture.
Salted Caramel - Good flavor, not as salty as Macaron Bee. Not as good in general.
Coffee - Kind of hard, cold, tastes like it was chilled. Larger than others. Not a strong coffee flavor and pretty sweet.
Almond - Ratio of cookie to filling good. Almondy, but not as strong as Macaron Bee. Cookie is airy, sweet and has a good chewy crust. Filling is good and the color is very pretty.
Pistachio - Very nutty taste, not too sweet. Buttery and cookie airy with a nice crust. One of our favorites of the day.
Verdict: Definitely has potential. Not as good as Macaron Bee, but would come back here to try some of their seasonal flavors and to eat their Almond macarons.

Sweet Lobby
404 8th St SE
Price: $1.80 each
Flavors tried: Walnut Olive Oil Pecarino,  Fig Balsamic, Hazelnut Praline
Walnut Olive Oil Pecarino - Didn't taste like anything, filling very creamy, could be chewier. Not savory at all and no flavor of cheese. The one upside is that the golden flecks made it very pretty.
Fig Balsamic - Tastes like biting into a fig. Very sweet. Could be chewier, but good balsamic afternote.
Hazelnut Praline - More praline taste than hazelnut. No salty taste at all. All the flavors just too much together. Cookie consistency off.
Verdict: This was probably the biggest disappointment of the day. Based on reviews, we had really high hopes for Sweet Lobby, but they definitely did not deliver. I would say these macarons were average at best and lacking in any real flavor. Would suggest skipping this spot.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Blue Crush

JOA Zip Back Striped Crop Top/Akira (also available here)
JOA Striped Midi Skirt with Pockets/Akira (also available here and here)
Izabela Pumps/Nine West