“Kwablo’s Place”
OUR APARTMENT IN HARLEM
Earlier this week, I had a wonderful opportunity to attend and participate in a virtual baking class through Yelp Elite.
Chef Mel, a 2X winner of Chopped, took us through the process of making macarons. Overall, the event was kind of cool, but I admit that the class sometimes was a bit difficult to follow. This had nothing to do with Chef Mel, but because there were 130+ people in the Zoom room. I guess these types of things are better in smaller groups.
Within the first moments of the class, the instructions were kind of intense so I prepared myself a “get it together” cocktail. I was a bit a struggle, even with chef hubby’s help, but I think I was about average compared to the rest of the Yelp Elite party. Why do I have to make everything a competition? When my macarons were finished some people were still on the first step of making the merengue. For the most part, my result looked like actual macarons.
Merengue:
Batter for the shells:
You know that you are done mixing when you can make an “S” or “8” in the batter.
Preparing the shells:
I think that I make the shells too big, and I did deviate from Chef Mel’s recipe by putting some bourbon into the mix. Y’all know that I cannot bake without adding some sort of booze.
Oh gosh, it’s time for the ganache:
The final product . . . kinda
Final Thoughts:
-Overall, the event was very fun even with the somewhat difficult recipe.
-Chef Mel was really nice and a great instructor. Although the event ended around 9 pm, she was willing to hang out to help the folks that were struggling. She even gave folks the option to message her after the event if they were still having trouble with the recipe. You can check out her website where she sells her at-home baking kits (Link: ***).
-The cohost of the event was kinda annoying because he would talk over Chef Mel when she was giving instructions. I think he was supposed to assist her, but it was like he was trying to take over the event. Also, he was trying way too hard to be funny. MAN, just tell us for hold we have to caramelize the sugar and leave it at that.
-Next time, I think that I’ll just buy my macarons instead of making them. It was a lot of work (maybe not that much) and a lot of dirty dishes for 10 macarons.
-Shoot there was something else. Oh well, I guess it was that import
Happy week before Christmas.
Run There, Drink That 
Your baking game is on point sir. I would totally muck it up if its something I’ve never tried before.
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Hey, there were some touch and go moments during this process. 😉
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Very impressive! I don’t think I have the baking skills/confidence to tackle something like that. I’m pretty good at muffins, brownies and I did ok with pies this year but I have yet to even tackle a homemade cake. I agree some things just seem easier to buy though because they’re too much work. Thanks for the tip on the S or 8; I never knew that!
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I think it will be a bit easier to make them the second time around. I was thinking of baking some pub cookies – basically chocolate chip cookies made with a stout, pretzels, and nuts. I might do bacon with the pub cookies, but we’ll see.
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Those sound yummy but I’d leave the nuts out just because I’m not a fan of them in baked goods! I bought a loaf of brioche bread and made some good french toast for bfast yesterday morning and only thought today how I should’ve added my Crown Royal maple to the batter… I’m sure you would’ve thought of doing something like that!
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haha. You did SO good! I’ve only done 1 Yelp elite event I think since ‘rona. It was a takeout / to go Vietnamese place that was just alright. MAN I miss in person things! I think we all get our ’21 badges soon.
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Besides the macaron event, I did one other yelp thing. Actually, it really wasn’t an event, yelp elites received a $50 credit from an expensive sushi joint. Thanks for the ’21 badge reminder, I have few reviews to finish. I have not been writing many reviews beause I have not checked out many new (for me) places. I typically order from the same 8-10 places. Oh well.
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$50!? NY elites are where its at! I’ve only gotten 1 credit like that in the however many years. It was only $40. That’s so awesome! Merry Christmas my friend!
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