La Maison du Chocolat - Chocolat Chaud

La Maison du Chocolat macarons, original watercolor, 9" x 11"

Yesterday I had a great French hot chocolate.

Maybe the best New York has on offer.

DEFINETELY the best!
La Maison du Chocolat chocolat chaud, original watercolor, 9" x 11"

And the macarons come directly from France!

All this at La Maison du Chocolat on Madison Avenue and 78th street. I'm showing the facade so Jeanette, Mistress of Longears' Manor can easily find it when she comes to New York from Kansas in May :)
Inside a golden glow eminates from the French chocolates evidently...
You can buy their fabulous hot chocolate in 2 different strengths. I went for the intense Tamanaco.

La Maison's macarons arrive weekly from Paris.
The piece de resistance is of course La Maison's deeply chocolatey bonbons.
And there are detailed chocolate maps to help you choose.
A very Frenchie thing is to get just a "bouchee" or a mouthful of chocolate. It's a snack the size of your palm. Aren't you only supposed to eat things the size of your palm to maintain your perfect weight?
All gone.

No work involved in this research :)
BONNE JOURNEE!

Aquarelle

I got an email yesterday signed: Greetings from sunny Hamburg.

And I wrote back: Greetings from rainy New York

I wrote that all day and I'll probably do the same today :(

I thought it was time for a bit of cheering up for us rainy day people. I daily passed the AQUARELLE fleurist on rue de buci enroute to the Metro or where ever.

Their beautiful bouquets never failed to cheer and the weather was mostly rainy and damp there too. They are all appropriately sitting on pedestal, as well they deserve to!

 Lots of my favorite color combo: RED + GREEN

 Some quite exotic..

Are there real greeny roses? You can not go wrong with deep red roses just like Bordeaux wine. They are cleverly wrapped in their own water container. You can sign on to get their 1-2 times weekly cheery emails of fresh flowers. Everyone in raincoats!A flower of a different sort for those of you who require some breakfast sustanence- From La Bonbonniere De Buci Paris and just accross the street...
BONNE JOURNEE

Angelina a Emporter

 Angelina, original watercolor

Anne Corrons of MesVitrines NYC said...Le Mont Blanc, j'adore! The problem with Angelina is that I can't go because it's always too crowed to find a place at the right hour for tea time. We should suggest they come here! Bonne idea Anne. Yes, please do come to New York Angelina! But should there be a line when you go, and there are lines everywhere in Paris for everything, you could always get something to take away or a emporter.Mont Blanc at Angelina, original watercolor

Angelina has a lovely pastry counter just to the left of the entrance that quite a few people miss altogether.

Just as many choices and you can linger and browse (and take pictures discretely...)There's coffee to take away.And Angelina's famous hot chocolate is for sale, though it tastes not a bit like what's served onsite in my opinion...ahem.Here's an unusual looking religieuse.
The menu describes it thusly:
RELIGIEUSE PISTACHE - Pate a choux recouberte de crumble vanille, creme legere a la pistache, compotee de groseille = chou pastry with chocolate crumble, unctuous chocolate cream, chocolate fondant.The SAORI, Le cheese cake Japonais - cheese cake au cream cheese, sable croustillant ciron vert, coquille croquante au chocolat blanc, guimauve a la fraise = lime cheese cake, strawberry sweet jelly, cream cheese, lime, crackly(?) sable, crackly white chocolate, strawberry marshmallow. The OLYMPE - biscuit macaron a la violette cristallisee, gelee de fraise et de fraimboise, creme mousseline a la violette, framboises fraiches = macaron biscuit with candied violet, strawberry and raspberry sweet jelly, violet cream, freah raspberries.
Aren't these descriptions divine?Of course Angelina has big macs - looking here a bit like hamburgers...

And very nice mini macs.
So there are other options if the line is prohibitively long at Angelinas. And the Tuilleries gardens are just accross the street. You could easily take your booty and munch leisurely amidst the lovely gardens - dejeuner sur l'herbe so to speak.
Another option I'm considering - apply for a job behind Angelina's pastry counter. So I can get up close and personal with each and every pastry. YUM!

Will anyone out there please give me a reference?

 

Angelina Mont Blanc

Angelina's Mont Blanc, original watercolor, 9" x 11"

There have been many requests for Angelina watercolors and this is just a toe in the water. I promise!

I visited Angelina 3 times in 2 weeks. I would have stopped in my last day but my breakfast companion wasn't in the mood

I'd always thought, when people talk about the legendary Mont Blanc at Angelina they were talking about this pile of whipped cream. WRONG!

THIS is the Mont Blanc.

Not that it looks like the famous snow-topped mountain to me.
Not that anyone asked.

The Mont Blanc is a meringue base piled with extrusions of chestnut purée and filled with whipped cream.

Coco Chanel, Marcel Proust & Karl Lagerfeld all have in common a great love for Angelina's hot chocolate. And the Mont Blanc served at the Parisian pastry shop since it opened in 1903.

Of course there are other desserts you can order.

Many others.

By all means go upstairs to the ladies room so you can look down over the balcony and shoot

All those desserts and whatever else comes into view.

A quick shot of the salon de the.

The window seat is what I always yearn for but you must arrive early to catch one of these. Angelina opens for breakfast at 8 AM 7 days a week. Little Bear got to come along and have his own cup of the famous hot chocolate!

To be cont.

New York Tulips

Tulips and Tea, original watercolor

Where are NEW YORK'S TULIPS?
 

Yesterday I made a concerted effort. I turned my back on chocolate and pastries.  I turned my back on all the NY kids licking drippy ice cream cones YUM

NEW YORK TULIPS? Where are YOU!?
I found plenty I'm pleased to say.
OK so they are not as refined as their Viennese blog pals.

New York tulips have to be tough, hardy, resilient, competitive.
Much more is required than just standing around looking beautiful.
Live and learn :)

These are my new Spring tulips. Oh and a new yellow bird is onboard too.
One thing I found PLENTY of that I bet Vienna is lacking...
FRENCH RIBBON. Don't they remind you of Spring tulips? On West 38th Street I found way more French ribbon than I could lay my hands on in Paris and I looked EVERYWHERE!