Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Hot Chocolate!



Café de Flore Chocolat Chaud, watercolor on paper, 9" x 11 1/2"

It's that time of year. Not just holiday time, but time to break out the hot chocolate! It's COLD out there!!! I like to drink hot chocolate everyday of the year, but lately it feels more appropriate...

I've never seen chocolat chaud served this way before...but at Le Bonaparte café on rue Jacob, this is how it comes with hot milk ready to mix in.
Obviously it was pretty good! All gone...
Café Le Select at 99, blvd. du Montparnasse, serves a mean cup of chocolate - nice and thick. Couldn't you just dive into this chocolate pool..?
I met up with Chuck for petit déjeuner at his Hotel de L'Abbaye Saint-Germain, before we went off to the Salon du Chocolat. I snagged a little bar of soap, but I would have much prefered to add this cup and saucer to my collection...perfect for still life painting :)
NOT a cup of hot chocolate, but one of my favorite works of surrealist art. Swiss artist, Meret Oppenheim created "Breakfast in Fur" in 1936 when she was just 23. Well it looks warming...
Here's a nice small café off rue Cassette, where you can get that cup of chocolate.

I make my hot chocolate by mixing 2-3 tablespoons of as many brands (French/Swiss preferred natch) as I have on hand into the cup. Sometimes I add 1 teaspoon of cocoa plus some couverture chips. Then add hot milk heated 2 minutes in the microwave, stir et voilà. Bon appetite!

24 comments:

  1. I call dibs on
    the thick cuppa chocolate
    you have posted here!

    The cup with the
    melted chocolate
    swirling around--
    I would have my finger in it before I poured milk!!
    Do you think they would
    kick me out of the cafe
    for such a faux pas?
    I could see your posts in
    Paris travel guides...

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  2. Anonymous6:24 AM

    I LOVE the post today, the curvey lines of the creamer, the cup of melted chocolate underneath!
    The fur cup is a great touch, no pun intended. Very artsy and avant garde

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  3. J'aime beaucoup les cafés parisiens! Et votre dessins et photos aussi!

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  4. Hot chocolate is a must when reading certain books, like anything by Colette and of course, Joanne Harris' "Chocolat." I will have some later today; you've whetted my appetite.

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  5. Haven't visited for awhile, but your photographs continue to delight me. Never disappointed!

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  6. Et voiá!!
    Carol,I knew that some Spanish"addiction"must exist in you life...So here I find it:hot chocolate(in Spanih"chocolate a la taza").For chocolate addicted knowlwdge:It was"invented"in Spain in 1528.The firstway of"eating"chocolate was in its liquid state.It was only in 1615(when Ann,daughter of Spanish king Felipe II,married to Louis XIII of France)when the Spanish habitude of drinking chocolate arrived to France...
    Delicious post(with my adored rue Cassette included)

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  7. drinking my first cup of the day as I read this. . . yummy!

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  8. You are making me lust after a chocolate visit to Paris. Every visit is a gastronmic fantasy!

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  9. this is a warming and yummy post! lovely sketch too...

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  10. Great post! I think I'm going to grab some for myself right now!

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  11. I am so going to Le Bonaparte café when I hit Paris. Oh, oui!

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  12. Anonymous4:22 PM

    O la la!
    My daughter made sweet rolls today, they were perfect with hot chocolate :-)

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  13. !!! Reminds me of Christmas 04 in Paris... Cold, wet, the lights...and walking down narrow rue & into a crowded cafe.. a friend said to me "you must try a hot chocolate". I was jet lagged,(Sydney to Paris non stop.), She looked gorgeous..

    It was surreal.. my head was swimming...I tasted this drink...

    I am sitting in my office this morning and I can taste it again. (and the feelings..)

    Carol! stop this blog! ;o)

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  14. Anonymous7:39 PM

    Delicious post as usual Carol! Would love to share a cuppa with you some day! Thanks for your recipe too, I seem to always make it too thick or too thin...

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  15. Uhhh...have I told you that you have the greatest blog on the planet?

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  16. Ulla you can NEVER make hot chocolate too thick in my book. If the spoon stands up in it, so much the better! Yes, lets share a cup :)

    Pam Thanks sooo much :)

    This was a FUN post to do. When you love something it shows I guess...

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  17. Anonymous10:36 PM

    Once again; touching all bases with today's post!
    In particular; LOVE all those delicate creamy whites in your painting. So much color that still says "WHITE."
    sjerseyboy

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  18. guess what arrived here in Australia?? One of Carols beautiful paintings!

    Susan and Carol HUGE thank you!!

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  19. Your work is fantastic. I love it.

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  20. Anonymous6:54 PM

    Bonjour !
    Thank you for your visit.
    What a lovely surprise for me today : discovery of your blog and your work !
    I 'll be back around here soon.

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  21. Anonymous1:39 PM

    where can we get the french/swiss natch. After having a cup of hot chocolate at La madeline in Dallas I have been hunting for it ever since. Any source in manhattan ?

    Merci

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  22. OMG!! That chocalate chaud looks amazing. Looks like Paris is the city for hot chocolate lovers. Thanks for sharing your recipe.

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  23. Anonymous1:46 PM

    and what about "Parisbreakfasts in fur" in 2007 ? Any patron for the project?

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