learning to sew and french macarons
Soozs had a fantastic post last week about learning to sew. Among other things, she talks about how frustrating it is, but how with every mistake you make you are learning how to do something and how not to do something. I remember screaming at the sewing machine when I first learned how to sew and there are still moments when I find myself swearing at the machine, or the fabric, or myself. Learning anything is frustrating as hell (just ask my 4 year old) but I think sewing has taught me to be patient with myself. So yesterday, when I was trying to make french macarons and failing miserably I went back to her post and read it again.
I used to make these cookies a lot when I worked in a bakery, but I had a professional oven and vats of ingredients and a huuuge dishwasher at my disposal. I have none of that here. My oven is very old and very crappy. These cookies are ridiculously delicate and difficult to make–they even have their own verb in french that describes the way you mix the batter. So my day was spent failing (and eating my failures–sugar high! sugar high!). But thanks to Soozs’ pep talk, I ended up with a few good batches.
And after a few more failures I now have a lovely platter of french macarons to take to a baby shower tonight.
Do go over to Soozs’ blog and read her post on learning to sew, even if you learned a long time ago. And if you’ve joined the Kid Clothes Challenge (and yay there are so many of you already!) or are thinking about it jump over to this post about sewing for your kids on Indietutes because it’s pretty good too. Now I’m going to see if there are any failures for me to snack on.
