Happy Saturday y'all! And hooray! for a glorious 3 day weekend! I hope you all have stellar plans for the weekend, even if it is just lounging around in your living room, wrapped up in a blanket like me. I just completed my first week of work at my new job.... and I am pooped. So I'm going to try to relax as much as I can this weekend. Reuben and I might go on an Oakland Beer adventure tomorrow (have you started following @beermeatsbread yet? ya should) and I might make a roast chicken. Might. I'm pretty content with keeping my physical energy usage to a minimum this weekend. 

I'm just going to talk about my first week of work for a very hot second. Overall, it was pretty good. This past week I went through waves of emotions. I was excited, nervous, frustrated, confused, hopeful, and briefly sad. If you know me as a real human and not just someone on instagram who posts pictures of eggs, you'll know that I'm a hyper sensitive and sentimental person. I feel all emotions 110%, which can be really exhausting. For the most part, I mainly felt excited and confused. Everyone at my new jobs has been sweet and try to make me feel included, which is awesome. Isn't everyone confused during their first week somewhere? Like, how do you print? Where are the spoons? Where is the pencil sharpener? How do you make the lights brighter in the bathroom? How do you use GODDAMN AUTOCAD?! That last one probably doesn't relate to most of you, unless you work in architecture or interior design. Autocad is a program you use to draft up drawings (floor plans, elevations, etc). There are Autocad people and there are Revit people. I am a Revit person and I wanted to slap my computer screen about 50 times this week because I was forced to relearn Autocad.... argh. I AM NOT DEFINED BY THE PROGRAMS I USE. Anyways, I think I'm slowly adjusting to this new work environment and it will be good for me in the long run. So far, there has been about a billion pasties in our kitchen and we had a BBQ during lunch yesterday, so I'm good for now : ) 

In a couple weeks I think I'll feel comfortable enough to bring in my baking leftovers. I've been sending them to Reuben's office while I've been without an office and coworkers. He brought in these Matcha Coconut Macaroons the other week because I was having a hard time not eating all of them. If you think matcha and black sesame is a matcha made in heaven, then let me introduce you to matcha and condensed milk. They are so beautifully matched. Matcha powder on its own is pretty bitter and really needs a creamy and sweet medium to really showcase the flavor, which makes it a likely swipe right for condensed milk. I want to experiment more with condensed milk. My mom would ways drizzle it on our pancakes, waffles, and toast growing up and it was perfection.

These macaroons only take about 30 mins from start to finish AND they are gluten free. Win win, guys! When I'm a mom and dominating the snack day game, I'll be making these all the time.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find 30 minutes to squeeze in these addicting Matcha Coconut Macaroons!

Matcha Coconut Macaroons

24 - 1.5" Macaroons

Steps :

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, stir together condensed milk, egg white, vanilla, salt, and match powder until combined. Gradually add in shredded coconut and stir until evenly combined.

3. With a cookie scoop (I have a medium 1.5 Tbsp size) or spoon, drop macaroons on baking tray about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake cookies for 18-22 minutes until they get golden brown on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool on baking tray for a minute, then transfer to cooling rack.

5. Enjoy!

Materials :

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 large egg white

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp matcha powder

3 1/2 cups shredded coconut - about an 8 oz bag