bishop&holland

Dallas Fashion Blog

French Macarons

macarons

Ever since we got back from Paris, we’ve been craving our daily macarons.  We were a little nervous to attempt them ourselves, but last Sunday we decided to try our hand at making this perfect little treat.  Here is our take on the best way to make homemade macarons that are almost as good as Ladurée!

Before trying to do these at home, we recommend three essential tools that made this process so much easier and enjoyable:

Also, an essential step to successful macarons is aging your egg whites! Be sure to use two flat baking sheets on top of each other to set your Lékué mold on. Don’t use a sheet with sides or your macarons will run together, as we experienced  first hand on our second batch! We chose the combination of an orange shell with a maple bourbon bacon filling.  It was incredible.  We usually think of a macaron as a sweet, but this was more of a savory macaron and was great with an after dinner drink of whiskey or cognac. We hope this inspires you to tackle making the French macaron yourself!

Cheers,

 

carrot & coconut soup

carrot & coconut soup

It’s Friday… happy weekend! This weekend is a busy one for bishop&holland.  Katherine will be at Neiman Marcus Willow Bend from 2-4 hosting the |Denim Event| with Ashley & Angie.  At about the same time, Jean & Stia will be landing in Southern California for a wedding and quick trip to Palm Springs.  Check Instagram for pictures!

When the air starts turning a bit cooler, we jump at the chance to make soup. Last weekend, we made this soup as a first course for a special birthday dinner we were having at home. It happened that a huge storm came through Dallas that evening, making this Carrot & Coconut Soup the perfect complement to the weather! We started with this recipe from Epicurious, but used all organic ingredients, and added a slice of room temperature goat cheese on top of the warm soup. We topped it off with a drizzle of siracha.  Creamy, warm, and spicy goodness!

Carrot & Coconut Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 pound carrots, peeled, chopped
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 13.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoons Thai-style chili sauce, plus more for serving
  • Fresh cilantro leaves (optional, we didn’t use)

Preparation:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrots and onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring often, until carrots are softened, 15–20 minutes. Stir in broth, coconut milk, and 2 tablespoons chili sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very soft and liquid is slightly reduced, 40–45 minutes.

Let soup cool slightly, then purée in a blender until smooth. Reheat in a clean saucepan; season with salt and pepper.

Divide soup among bowls, drizzle with chili sauce, and top with cilantro.

Serves 4, but easily doubled.

Soup can be made three days ahead. Cool, cover, refrigerate. Rewarm stove top on low heat before serving.

Wine Pairing

Buoncristiani is one of our favorite family-owned wineries in Napa Valley.  For this soup, we chose to pair Bouncristiani Sauvignon Blanc 2012.

Cheers,

london part two

london 2Happy Halloween! What are your plans for the spooky holiday? We plan to hand out candy & possibly dress up!

Today marks the last post from our two-week European adventure.  We ended the trip with a long weekend in London with our family.  Thursday we started out without missing a beat.  We had places to go and very little time left!  Our first stop was taking the tube to Kensington High Street.  Our destination was The Roof Gardens and Babylon Restaurant, which are located one hundred feet above Kensington High Street and are part of Sir Richard Branson’s portfolio.  This hidden treasure is truly spectacular.  While we were visiting, they were setting up for an event and we couldn’t help but think it would be the perfect setting to throw an elaborate party!  Next stop was a pub stop (It had been way too long since the last one.)  We found ourselves at the wonderful Scarsdale Tavern right in the heart of posh Kensington.  Our pub stop ended up being longer than we had planned, as we were caught in the middle of a complete downpour.  No one was complaining though – time for one more round!  After our afternoon break, we hopped on the bus to Harrods.  My goodness, we could have spent days and days at Harrods.  The shopping, the food, the people watching- it was the perfect afternoon.  After Harrods, we took another bus back to Putney where we were greeted with the lovely aroma of Coq au vin, which helped immensely with our post-Paris-blues!

london 2Rooftop Gardens

london 2

london 2Walking in South Kensington

photoPub stop: Scarsdale Tavern

london 2Harrods

On Friday, we realized our trip was almost over.  A few of us decided to head to  the All England Lawn Tennis Club to experience the famous Wimbledon grounds.  The Championships have been held there since 1877.  A few years ago we had the opportunity to be at Wimbledon during The Championships (where we fell in love Rafael Nadal!) and after this visit, we are already plotting a summer trip to the tournament.  After a tour and a stop at Centre Court, we headed to Notting Hill for a delicious lunch on the go from Le Pain Quotidien and an afternoon spent at the Portobello Market.  We loved all the unique vendors and interesting shops.  From Notting Hill, we took the bus to fabulous Sloane Street in Chelsea for some final shopping.  The last place on our list was a visit to Imperial College where a few of us studied abroad for the summer.  Had to grab a Snake Bite at the College pub before our trip ended!  That evening we were treated to yet another wonderful dinner consisting of a very traditional English dish: Fish & Chips.  PC  does the perfect Fish & Chips, complete with English peas. Yum!

london 2 Wimbledon

london 2Centre Court at Wimbledon

london 2Tube to Notting Hill

london 2Portobello Market

london 2Portobello Market

Saturday, our final day in London, was spent relaxing with our family in Putney. We spent a good part of  the day in the kitchen helping to prepare dinner – Spiced Slow-Cooked Lamb Shank. It was nice to be back in the kitchen after so long! We spent the day enjoying each other’s company,  the guys had cigars in the rain in the garden, and even did some pear picking. Two weeks flew by, but between seeing London and spending precious time with our family there, to having the experience of living in Paris for  a week,  we can’t imagine how we could have had more fun!!  On to the next adventure…

london 2 Cigars in the rain

london 2Until next time Flat 1

Cheers,