Macaroons, but not as we know them

Before I get into it, how good was the latest incarnation of Sherlock Holmes on Sunday? If you have not watched it yet, get yourself to BBC iPlayer toot sweet.

I consider myself to be quite the sherlock aficionado. At the tender age of 10 I was enthralled by the Jeremy Brett series and had the "Return" book of stories with the tv tie-in cover. At the age of 11 for my school prize I asked for and got a copy of the complete sherlock holmes. All in one volume which made my little arms hurt when reading it repeatedly from cover to cover in bed. Later I listened to audio readings of the stories (free vintage ones here), read parodies (Donald Thomas is very good) and even visited the 221B tourist attraction at Baker Street. I loved the Silk Stocking one-off that Rupert Everett made and still love the WW2 films with Basil Rathbone and the perfect Nigel Bruce as Watson.

In fact they are my main go-to film when I'm ill and in need of succour. And I watched not only the recent bromance with Robert Downey Jr but also the mockbuster where SH fought dinosaurs and people, that was loyalty as that is one bad mofo of a film. And so with all this behind me I was quite excited and mildly apprehensive about Sunday. The apprehension was mostly to do with the casting of Martin Freeman who I had always judged to have only one acting face which he used repeatedly in both Hitch Hikers Guide and The Office. But...within minutes of it starting I could sit back and could have relaxed had it not been for the tense pace of the first episode. It was a clever variation of A Study in Scarlet and bodes very well for the other two in the series. Fingers crossed they make more.

Anyway, Macaroons. My colleague is an excellent cook and had brought some in. Under my expert questioning technique she gave up the recipe and I got some. Sadly I am not an excellent cook. I added too much water. Then I overcooked the first batch.

Meh.

I am not deterred though, and anyway...Pooch still ate them. Macaroons are Pooch's achilles heel. But in case anyone else is going to give it a go (it's a packet for gods sake - you don't need to be delia) just remember the dough should be thick enough to pipe rather than splashing about in the bowl, so add the water gradually.

Om nom nom nom.