Here’s what’s been happening:

The past few weeks (months!) have been dotted with birthdays, notably my father-in-law’s, and my brother-in-law’s. I’m usually the go-to person to make the cakes for such occasions but, not only have I had my hands full with the business, I had an emergency situation about a week ago with an inoperable oven. The weekend was fast approaching, the repair man was not available, and the macarons were not being made!

I had to think fast, so I enlisted the help of my mother-in-law’s convection oven. I packed up all my equipment (macarons are a high-maintenance dessert and require more accessories than a baby) and blew into my mother-in-law’s kitchen like a tornado. Every inch of counter space was soon covered with mixers, pans, piping bags, spatulas, mixing bowls, almond flour, and sugar and the place was filled with the sounds of culinary phenomenon (although I don’t think that’s quite the terminology used by those who were not yet awake that morning).

I soon discovered the decided benefits of being displaced. My grandparents-in-law were visiting for the month so Halmonee (that’s the korean word for grandmother) became my volunteer kitchen assistant. She washed dishes, stacked macarons, helped keep up kitchen morale, and all the while we never exchanged a word of english. But it hardly mattered because we were bonding though baking and I was grateful for her company.

It all went off faultlessly and I was able to complete the weeks’ work and even make a couple little treats for the birthday boys.

Meanwhile, I’ve been having a great time on Saturdays at the market. You’ll notice I’ve made a couple changes to the website in terms of ordering macarons and the flavours that are available. These changes are born of what I’ve learned from you while selling at the market. The new gift boxes (one with 9 macarons, and one with 12), were received with enthusiasm the day I introduced them and I was encouraged to make them available from now on. I’ve also posted a menu of year-round flavours on the Order page and created a Flavour Calendar to show which specialty flavours will be featured each month.

And, although macarons may be my specialty, I’ve introduced a new item for sale: old fashioned cookie mixes. Pre-measured ingredients all contained in a beautiful glass jar complete with baking instructions. I’m still developing different combinations of flavours, but white chocolate butterscotch cookies and jewel cookies were on sale last weekend at the market.

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by one Gabriela Delworth, a product designer and creativity connoisseur,  who tried my macarons and has written about them here. She has a fascination with all things Marie-Antoinette and so  my display of macarons at the market caught her attention. Thank you Gabriela!

Here’s what’s coming up:

This coming Saturday is Halloween and I love any occasion that calls for a new flavour of macaron. I’ll be featuring Cassis (blackcurrant) macarons alongside my popular pumpkin macarons. I’d also like to include a coconut macaron but I’m anticipating the misunderstandings when I try to explain that these are not coconut macaroons (“Ceci n’est pas une pipe”).

The following weekend, Saturday November 7th, will mark the 205th anniversary of the St. Lawrence Market. To celebrate, each vendor is featuring an item on sale for $1.75 or $11.75.  I, too, will be featuring a $1.75 package of macarons so don’t miss the opportunity to buy them aplenty.

While Christmas may not be the foremost thought in your mind just yet, it has been sneaking into my planning frequently of late. Specifically, I have been asked by the Kimberley Seldon Design Group to build and decorate this years’ gingerbread house being donated to the Habitat for Humanity Gingerbread house build and I’m thrilled to accept the challenge. The houses will be auctioned off in December along with several other custom creations. You can also participate in the build by signing up here. No hammers necessary. Watch for more information about the KSDG/Lemon Tree house in the next month.

And now I think I’ll kick off some Christmas baking so I can bring you some festive photographs in preparation for the season. It’s the most wonderful time of the year (soon).