A Pierre Hermé 20 Macaron Assortment 

Sometimes, life presents it’s simple, but often hard to reach dreams. Such is my wish to take that trip to Paris on a  whim, still in my 20’s without a plan, and a desire to do, well, nothing. In my mind, Paris seems like the perfect place to do nothing at all, but beautifully.

Knowing my love for all things amazing, my good friend Vanessa Angeles called me immediately upon her arrival from Paris to let me know she had a very perishable treat for me to try, and that I just HAD to get myself to her Wall Street apartment the next day for brunch.

To my surprise, I found Vanessa in her apartment grinding a batch of espresso from the famed Caffè Sant’Eustachio in Rome. “Oh my goodness, I hope I get this right!” exclaimed Vanessa excitedly. “I’ve been dying for you to try this!”

The various coffees available in store and online from the Caffè Sant’Eustachio

Though modest in her barista skills, I do credit Vanessa’s kitchen as being one of my favorite cafes in New York City. “Oh, and I have something else, but you have to wait until everyone gets here!”  Sitting on the kitchen counter was the famous Pierre Herme Initiation Chat box filled with 20 macarons made by the man French Vogue dubbed “The Picasso of Pastry.”

Pierre Herme Initiation Chat “box”

I turned to Vanessa “You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Oh come on, I know how much you appreciate things like this and… why can’t I bring Paris back to you?” Vanessa sipped her espresso “This will have to do, but I attest, no one can can make these like the Romans.” She may have that part right. Its rumored that part of the reason espresso in Rome is unmatched is due the purity of the city’s water .

After Sakura Myers and Vanessa’s friend Elena arrived with guests, we shared a small brunch of crepes and Speculoos spread accompanied by our espresso from Caffè Sant’Eustachio, the time came for us to try our ration of the famed dessert.

Amazingly, the salted caramel confections were everything I had hoped for… and more. I simply can’t recall the last time I ate only a few grams of something so delicious, yet was compelled to complete satisfaction. My two salted caramel Pierre Herme macarons were surprisingly more than enough to not only finish off a wonderful brunch, but also forced me to abstain from eating anything else for the rest of day. This wasn’t because I was trying to keep the wonderful taste of an imported Parisian treasure in my mouth, but I was simply full with delight.

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