I recently read this article on Serious Eats about macaron ice cream sandwiches from Francois Payard Patisserie in NYC. Full stop. I’ll let you ponder that for a moment. Two delightful desserts mashed together into sandwich form … YES.

But alas, NYC is very far away. I pouted for approximately 20 seconds before my resident Expert of the Internet remarked, “This is Tokyo where they love French things so I’m sure they have one here and oh yes, there is a shop in Shibuya.” And then we went to Shibuya and all was right with the world.

We found Tokyo’s version at Pieree Hermé which sells the Miss Gla Gla, their own version of the same thing. It was everything I wanted in raspberry pistachio ice cream sorbet sandwich named Gla Gla.

I went back a few weeks later and the woman ahead of me was taking forever. Understandable that it is difficult to choose just 6 flavors of macarons for your gift box, but I was impatient. She was getting in the way of my Gla Gla. I did some anxious pacing and went by the several other macaron shops nearby including Sadaharu AOKI, the patisserie which sells my favorites. They come in a rainbow of Japanese flavors from wasabi to yuzu to black sesame, in addition to the traditional raspberries, salted caramels, and vanillas. I noticed they sold the macaron bits sans filling in a plastic jug and macaron magic struck me like lightening: I will make my own Gla Gla.

A quick stop into the Euro Mart (not really what it is called, but might as well be) on my way home to pick up gelato and voila! C’est magnifique! They may be ugly, but these little mouth-pops of pistachio gelato and macaron were a victory. Vive la ice cream sandwich!

Admittedly, the second batch was consumed like chips and nacho cheese. My devotion is fickle.