Three weeks today I will be boarding the first plane on my way to Paris. Am I counting down already? Not really, Christmas has to come first, which is already next week!!

Was my day off, so made macarons, reorganised my luggage a bit, and had a nice chit chat with Sis.

First off, the macarons.
I have been meaning to make these French delicacies, ever since J had sent me her photo of the ones she'd made. Argh, mine went horribly on all steps possible. I didn't want to make a large batch, so divided the ingredient amounts to a half. Good. I only had one egg left, anyway. But then, I found that egg white HAVE to be made stiff with an electric beater, not manually. Plus, I'd added sugar too early, so it didn't even get that stiff in the end. When I added the dry ingredients into the white egg, it was still too dry. Don't know why. I couldn't get the mixture through the icing tube, because it wasn't runny enough. So ended up making little balls by hand then squashing them onto the baking tray. Fine, though, I thought at that moment. In goes the tray into the oven. The baking paper starts burning. Drat! Oh well, just leave it to burn. I'm going to get started on the chocolate filling. When I am getting the butter from the fridge, I somehow manage to take the plate full of salad leaves as well... A quick clean and the leaves into the bin. I splash chocolate onto my top. Oh gosh, really not making me any happier, is it? The batter turn out all right in the end, more like cookies, but sweet and edible... even if the baking paper got stuck a bit.. But Sis for the first time this summer allowed herself to taste some of my (failed) cooking, at least..

Luggage.
I have been kind of living out of my luggage that I'd brought down from Auckland, because it has everything I need for the moment and I will be taking them overseas again in a few months' time. Have to be mindful of the amount of stuff I take, though, so I try to cut down on things from time to time. At the moment things are looking cosy and comfortable, but that's without any of my clothes, and the selections of those I want to take with me is acummulating in my closet by day. I have no idea how I will fit everything in! I will have to make a day of serious packing, soon.