A passion for chocolate

Today I went off on a chocolate tour, the second one since I've arrived in Paris. Sadly we visted three chocolatiers that I had already stepped into on the previous tour and the last pâtissier had been unveiled during our Flaneuses macaron tour. Not to worry, I did get to taste some exquisite chocolates and take a few cool choco pictures that I am considering in making into giant wall posters. Might that be taking my love for chocolate a step too far?

Cocoa pods at Maison du chocolat

Ganache covered orange-chocolate delicacy at 10 o'clock in the morning 

The perfect packaging

Zooming in for some pralines

Present for my hubby

Dessert for the kids

Jean-Paul Hevin's stiletto goes for a mere 58 Euros but only fits a size 35

An exotic bonbon hidden in Patrick Roger's chocolate box

To tempting to resist

A treat for myself to take home from Hugo & Victor

Dad's legacy lives on

Every once in a while I have a feeling that life comes full circle. Sunday afternoon I reached for my i-phone to find this photo that my friend from Zurich had sent me.

It was a blow from the past. Growing up I have a strong image of my Dad spending his Sunday mornings in the study reconstructing aircraft carriers and planes that had accompanied him through his Navy career in the 60's. While we kids had to go to church, Dad got to stay at home and play. Assembling, glueing and painting airplane models, it was his passion. I guess it was his way of remembering the good old times. A period in his life when he had made life-long buddies in a culture where he felt totally at home and at ease. It was very far removed from our Swiss life.

My Dad had assembled hundreds of models over the years and when he passed away, we did not know what to do with them. Somehow they got stuck in my friend's attic where years later her boy discovered the old, dusty boxes. And guess what his favourite toys are today? Yep, my Dad's carefully constructed Navy ship and plane models.

My friend expressed her worry that Dad would not appreciate her son's daily set-up of new attack maneuvers across her hallways.

My dear friend, thank you so much for sending me these pictures which conjure up fond childhood memories of my Dad along with tears but I am certain he is smiling down from where ever he is at little Don bringing his treasured models back to life with so much love and passion.

As Admiral George Anderson said in 1961: "The Navy has both a tradition and a future - and we look with pride and confidence in both directions."

My friend is back in town

How to describe the feeling when you meet up with a really good friend who lives many miles away?

The taste is bitter sweet. The moment of that first embrace - which for me ALWAYS is accompanied by tears - is soooo sweet. The German language has an expression for this emotion "richtig warm ums Herz" meaning it warms your heart, however, I feel the English translation never quite captures that exact feeling.

Then follows the happiness of looking into your friend's eyes - smiling, happy eyes - rather than having to squint into the computer via skype.

And then the sadness of realizing this moment will only remain an instant in time. Before I know it she'll be back on the other side of the ocean again.

I am not prone to melancholy but seeing my "old" friends always makes me sentimental. Usually it does not take long for me to fall into a cosy conversation. Over glass of wine (or two) we settle into the living room sofa or hug the kitchen table to catch up on the past months or even years in an hour or two before we get to the juicier bits... either gossip or family affairs!

It does not really matter how much time we have together - a day or a week - it is enough to rekindle the feeling of familiarity that allows us to tease each other and makes us giggle even at tiniest recollections of past shared adventures.

Then comes the feeling of being back on track again with your buddy. She gets you and you get her. We've reconnected, we are good!

A little quick lunch to see her off the day before she departs and eventhough the sadness is back, the feeling is good because we have enkindled our bond and the fire of friendship is burning strong again.

Bon voyage my friend.

Happy Easter from Paris

Easter bunnies with a twist

This Easter, La Grande Epicerie de Paris pays tribute to the kaleidoscope and unveils a collection of delicious creations. Forget the traditional chocolates. They have associated with chocolatier Daniel Mercier to concoct three facetious designed subjects: a rabbit, a fish and a chicken. Adorned with faceted colour highlights, they exude a good mood as well as an eccentric turn on the "old" chocolate Easter bunnies!

So why do the chefs look so worried, I am wondering, while I watch this video.

See how the team of La Grande Epicerie's visual identity (yes, this team does exist) lift the veil on the secrets of this very limited edition of chocolate exquisiteness.

A boy's week in Paris...

What do you do when you have a thirteen year old boy to visit for a week and your son's at school? Well, Auntie Glamour has lined up a programme the poor boy will never ever forget. He was trying to keep up with himself after Day 2. But being the charmingly well-educated Latino my childhood friend's son is, he took it in strides.

After having survived the flight from Madrid to Paris (he is terribly scared of flying) he landed only to be told he'll be whizzed up to the top of the Arc de Triomph the next morning. Don't worry about your vertigo, you'll really enjoy it. And so he did.

We went from visiting the Parisian sewers underground, to conquering a glittering Tour Eiffel at night.
He visted the Notre Dame, the Sainte Chapelle and St. Sulpice, although not all in one day!

We ventured from La Maison de la Chine to the Jardin de Luxembourg. A Chagall exhibit we could not miss out on, a trendy sushi lunch and a tour of the best Macaron patisseries in town for "Le Jour du Macaron" were all part of the programme.

In his free time he was off playing football with Expat boy (after school) beneath the Eiffel Tower and attended a suprisingly brilliant talent show at the Marie du XVI arrondissement.

Oh, did I forget to mention the TWO bus tours we took across Paris? Given that it was 2°C and raining that day, we did not need to fight for our seats in the front row on the upper deck of the double decker bus!!! Listening to Edith Piaf triumphantly singing "Paris pleur de joie" over the earphones while getting soaked did make me wonder if we were overdoing it?!?

Poor boy was so tired after having received a decent dose of Parisian pomp and splendeur, he slept like a baby the night before he had to fly back home ... despite his fear of flying.

Ask him what he liked best and he'll answer: "Climbing up to the top of the Tour Eiffel conquering my own fear of heights." You are a star my boy!

A picturesque view of the Louvre

Freezing inside the Sainte Chapelle

The Sainte Chapelle is not a site that has ever caught my attention other than for the enormous queue in front of the building of justice every time I drive past.

Today I took to opportunity to join Paris Walks once again for an extenisive tour inside and out of the Sainte Chapelle which included skipping the entire queue. Again our guide Cerise demonstrated her extraordinary knowedge of history, architecture and art by explaining the distribution of the weight throughout the chapel. We discovered the iron grid that held together the beautiful stained windows and the signifcance of the symbols inside the church, witness not only to Louis IX's presence but of his dominant mother Blanche de Castille.

I really would have liked to meet that woman along with Katarina de Medici and Maria Stuart, Queen of Scotland. Would make quite a tea party, don't you think?

The "Holy Chapel", located in the courtyard of the Royal Palace on the Île de la Cité, was built to house Louis IX's collection of relics of Christ, which included the Crown of Thorns, the Image of Edessa and some thirty other items.

The bottom third of the chapel was impressive for it's strong colouring of blue, red and gold. The top two thirds of Sainte Chapelle is renowned for its richly hued stained-glass windows, comprising 600 square meters in area. Fifteen huge mid-13th century windows fill the nave and apse, while a large rose window with flamboyant tracery dominates the western wall. Two-thirds of the pieces are original works, representing the finest examples of 12th century craftsmanship. Reds and blues are the dominant colors, in contrast with the 15th century western rose window. In these panes the full biblical story of humanity is recounted.

And that is where our lovely guide lost me. We had been standing outside for 45 minutes admiring the architecture, followed by 30 minutes below ground. When we finally entered the Upper Chapel, the reaction was: "WOW!"

But the cold inside the glass chapel was just too much to stomach. I have been fighting cold weather for over three months now ... and I have had it! 2ºC inside a church is more than I can handle. So after a further 20 minutes I quietly said goodbye and eclipsed out of the Rayonnant Style of Gothic architecture and headed straight to the BHV for some retail therapy.

Stuck in the metro ...

It was bound to happen one day! Well today it did! Expat girl and I got stuck in the metro. The tube does stop from time to time but these little incidents usually take up to three minutes max. Last night we were watching the sun set from inside a motionless metro carriage for one and a half hours. I counted myself lucky since we got stranded on the tiny little straight of underground that actually goes above ground and has quite a spectacular view onto the Eiffel Tour. I had always wanted to take a picture from this angle, today would be my day.

The conductor kept on telling us to "patienter quelques minutes". Well, while the minutes turned into hours, no one budged. All these yelling, loud, complaining Parisians ... where had they gone? Not ONE person complained. They didn't even start talking to eachother, something that would have happend immediately had we been stuck in Italy or Spain. I was flabbergasted. One by one they started pulling out their moblie phones to delay their appointments or let their loved ones know that they would be late for dinner.

Guess what, I had some homework to do myself and got cracking on cutting my paper dolls. Yes, I just happened to have a pair of scissors with me! I am sure the French thought I was mad but 90 minutes later I had much of my task done for the upcoming International Day at school.

When the BRIGADE DE SAPEURS-POMPIERS DE PARIS finally arrived one door of each wagon was opened. I was given a hand by a dark and handsome looking fireman and we all climbed down a little chicken ladder one by one. Expat girl at this point thought this was the coolest adventure she had ever had in Paris. Walking along the metro railtracks in the dark!

As we neared the closest metro station and climbed upon the railway platform I felt sad for the people I saw streaming out of the tunnel of the opposite direction. I was very grateful for having taken the latter metro - which was mainly thanks to having stopped and chatted with a friend of mine to catch up. Thanks Madame La Nageuse!

What bugs me the most? We will never know what WAS wrong with the metro! Ahh, Paris c'est Paris!

A charitable Jour du Macaron

March 20th is the day of the Macaron. Strangely enough it has been poorly advertised. Considering what a big flagship this little confection has become for Paris, I am surprised they are not trying to make more business out of it.

Some top pastry chefs, however, have decided to join forces for a noble action. Today, the pâtissiers of “Relais Desserts” welcomed their clients to indulge in the tasty treat while supporting a worthy cause. The principle? "A macaron for a donation." In exchange of tasting a macaroon,  we were invited to make a donation to the association “Overcoming cystic fibrosis”. If ever I needed an excuse to go on another Macaron tour, this was it. So I decided to get mobilized for this generous and delicious day.

Armed with a map of participating stores I set off in the 15th arrondissment. Sadaharu Aoki, a Japanese patissier, is one of my favourite in town. I love the combination of the delicate Japanese presentation with French patisserie. Yazu and Framboise were the elected flavours to start off with.

Moving on swiftly, I got slighty sidetracked by the whiff of jamon and entered L'épicerie du Pere Claude, a meat-lover’s paradise in the 15th – a beau monde address that’s a favorite of former French president Jacques Chirac as I am told – for good traditional French cooking. 20 mintues later I walked out with a big shopping bag filled with goodies... and they weren't macarons!

Next stop is the couture chocolate of Jean-Paul Hévin. The staff seemed generally happy to see us. I am wondering at this point if we are the only dedicated macaron lovers? Our choice fell upon Mango Coriander and Jardin Secret (vanille, rose, and clou de girofle). I discovered that the masterpiece of this chocolate expert is Cinderella’s right slipper! A 9,9 cm stilleto size 35 cm from a model by Rodolphe Menudier, to bite into for a mere 58 €. This is man to my liking!!! Chocolate and shoes in one ... I could not imagine anything better!

Christophe Roussel's boutique in the 7th arrondissment sadly had not been informed about the campaign for "Overcoming cystic fibrosis" eventough their address was on the list. Next please!

After a quick sushi lunch - just to keep those tastebuds flexible - we headed to the king of macarons and organizer of the charity campaign Pierre Hermé. We were not disappointed. Another hearty welcome followed by 15 minutes of deciding which macaron to choose. What a tough life?! Crème Brûlée and Mogador (Milk chocolate and Passion fruit) was the verdict!

I am now sitting at my desk feeling quite contempt having endulged in a delicacy I rarely treat myself to while supporting a charity, notably one that helps children afflicted by a rare diseases.

Have a sweet day!