(This post was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the message still hold true.)
On a visit to NYC the weekend before Christmas, my family and I wandered into an outside market near Macy’s at Time Square. My daughter, Kate, (who has a fascination for things fine and French) asked if I would buy her a macaron. I looked in and saw rows of pastel cookies set against the white backdrop of their makeshift shop. I said “yes” and accompanied her in to make a selection. After selecting 7 cookies, the salesclerk rang me up for $25 and change. I almost said “are you serious?” Instead, I paid with my credit card and asked Kate why the cookies were so damn expensive after we exited the shop. She then proceeded to educate me about french macarons.
Turns out, macarons are one of the hardest cookies to make. The recipe that we read had 26 steps but only a handful of ingredients. Some of the ingredients are the rarest in the world: patience, practice, persistence, willingness to try, and the courage to fail are all required in this recipe. After we returned home to DC, my daughter and I decided to take the cookie challenge; we were going to attempt to bake french macarons. My daughter’s love of cooking had met my love for a challenge. And so, it began.
As of this writing we have made dozens of dozens of macarons, and while I’m not sure that ours will ever come close to the ones we had in NYC that day, we are getting good at making them; refining our technique through practice.
Many people do not know that macarons are the “patient cookie.” The first step in the process is to wait for eggs to get to room temperature. Of the 26 steps, at least half require that you practice your patience and wait. The recipe requires whipping eggs and doing everything slowly and with some degree of precision and finesse. The process from start to finish is 2.5 - 24 hours. The final test after one has completed all 26 steps is to allow the cookies to sit for 24 hours so that the flavors “bloom.” Intense cookie, right?
What I have learned in making these cookies has been invaluable. This is why: The process of baking French Macrons is so long and requires so much patience and commitment in seeing it through, so much delayed gratification, and so much courage that I have increased those skills in my daily life. Every time I make french macarons, I have to be prepared to screw them up. I have to be willing to try and courageous enough to fail and still undertake the challenge.
Honestly, learning to make macarons has made me a better person. It is the practice of process. It is in my view, a metaphor for life. The longer we live, the more patient our years generally make us. Rarely do we see the 100 year old people exhausting themselves with unbridled passion. It is usually their peace and patience, their ability to experience hard times and persist that strikes me most.
If we are patient and persistent and are willing to fail at this or that; if we are willing to fully and wholeheartedly try, we will have a French Macron life: a life of patience, persistence, courage, elegance, value and taste. We will have refined our process and our character.
What values drive your life? Are you practicing patience in some form and refining your process?
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