Impérial chocolat au Château de Fontainebleau

 

Chocolate-covered madeleines are so hard to paint 🎨 

Yesterday I went to opening day of Imperial Chocolat 🍫 

La Saga des Grands Magasins, Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine

 

Yesterday I ran 🏃‍♀️ to see a new exhibit, The Department Stores. 

For ‘retail therapy’ at la Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine at Trocadero, as a distraction…

Salon du Chocolat 2

 

I returned to the Salon du chocolat this morning (9:55 at opening time).

Mainly because I ate 😋 all the samples I collected to give my copyshop guy from opening night.

Imperial Chocolat Fontainebleau

 

Another CHOCOLATE SALON! Can you handle it?

The IMPERIAL CHOCOLAT always takes place in November headed by top patissiere & chocolatier Frederic Cassel.

To Trouville-sur-mer

 I left the house at 6:02 Two of my 3 alarms ⏰ went off at 5:00 am 👏

I am on Metro ligne 7 at 6:14 am

I ❤️ Charlotte Puckette et Coco Jobard

A valentine to Charlotte Puckette and Coco Jobard!

On Thursday morning Charlotte lets me tag along to Little India in the 10th. They are celebrating Valentines with pizazz.

Bangles of mad colors

Match the exotic greens at Cash and Carry 11-15 rue Cail 75010

A small store front reveals a huge emporium of endless goodies.

Always on the lookout for new cooking tools, Charlotte tests a spice grinder. I'm feeling lost, like I've fallen down the rabbit hole upside down.

Still I manage to walk out with a haul of 2 pounds of Australian almonds, 1 pound of preserved ginger from Thailand, star aniseed (which Charlotte says is good to throw in Chicken bone broth - her recipe is up here), turmeric powder. 

I see a man hacking open fresh coconuts for two Indian women and rush off to fetch one. I misread the price thinking each is 3,80. The two woman come over to tell me the coconuts are just 1,50 for THREE. Still I only get one hacked in half. How will I ever get through one coconut in a week?

By now we're starving and traipse down the opposite end of rue Cail to Krishna Bhavan, given the seal of approval by Patricia Wells.

Why does one always order more than you can possible eat in Indian restaurants? 

By the time we leave every seat is taken and others are waiting in line.

The same afternoon I'm off to 37, rue des Martyrs to meet Coco at the new boutique, Mesdemoiselles Madeleines

Just madeleines. Minis, classic all with French girls names.

Flavored and

Wearing little hats full of crème.

In 4 flavors - framboise, citron, chocolat, caramel au beurre sale.

We dissect a caramel madeleine.

And swoon. Steve is the owner of this new shop.

Afterwards Coco takes Bear for a coffee.

Bear falls instantly in love with a rue des Martyrs polar bear.

Happy Valentines Charlotte, Coco and all PBers!

♥ ♥ ♥

Boissier Madeleines

 1st thing in New York, just for old times sake, Bear wolfed down all the madeleines he'd brought back from Paris as a gift for someone else.

 Madeleines from Boissier in the 16th.
 

 Bear was hoping to get tea at elegant Boissier.
 

 But comme d'habitude he was too late.
 

 But that didn't stop him buying up the store
 

 As much as possible
 

 c'est la vie
 

 Meanwhile back on the homefront, Bear got the bright idea to make cornbread madeleines with a few tiny changes naturalement like using orange juice and zest instead of milk with a dash of ginger etc.
 

 Malheureusement the first batch were too big

 And left in the oven too, too long!
 

 The second batch came out parfait! Baked in just 10 minutes no longer.
 

 Bear is going out for Thanksgiving

 And since Bear doesn't much care for jalepenos in his cornbread, he's bringing his own wrapped in the empty Boissier package. What do you think? Should Bear try to fool Viv and her 9 cats?

 Boissier does have one of the prettiest shopping bags in town so it's worth a try non?

Next trip Bear won't be late for tea at Maison Boissier.

184, avenue Victor Hugo

75016
 

Thin for Paris

 Do you try to get thin for Paris or wherever you're headed on a trip?

 Usually I have a 3-month window to yo-yo, procrastinate, dream without actually doing it. This time I just have 2 weeks to move mountains. Not happening.

 I don't like feeling like a hippo in Paris. I did see lots of them on book jackets, sculpture in front of musee d'Orsay, on this doormat where I'm staying - a constant reminder, ahem.

 It's not as if Paris cares a hoot whether we're thin. Though it would be nice to think we could wolf down lots more pastries knowing they would do less damage

 Last trip was the 1st one where I didn't gain any weight. I changed some eating habits thanks to The Power of Habit combined with Bringing Up Bebe.

 I ate fruit compote instead of pastries. Fr Girl had a fit when she heard I was buying it,

'It's so easy to make!

How could you do that?'

There are tons of compote recipes at Clotilde's Chocolate and Zucchini.

 The Power of Habit tells you how to replace a troubling habit with a new more beneficial habit if you set up the cue-reward-routine.

 I found I could resist the siren call of meringues,
 

 If there was compote de pomme nearby. There often is in Parisian patisseries.

 I could be satisfied with no afternoon sugar lows in the process.

 Page 64 of Pamela's book spells it out regarding my baking traumas.

'All this (weekend) baking doesn't just yield lots of cakes. It also teaches kids how to control themselves. With its orderly measuring and sequencing of ingredients, baking is the perfect lesson in patience. So is the fact that French families don't devour the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven, as I would. They typically bake in the morning or early afternoon, then wait and eat the cake or muffins as a gouter(pronounced goo-tay)-the French afternoon snack'.
 

 I had a chance to test this out. Someone suggested putting the leftover madeleine batter in the pan and FREEZING IT! Then simply defrost and put in the oven 8-10 minutes.

 The 2nd batch of madeleines came out better than the 1st batch. But how NOT to eat them in one fell swoop?

 Illustration by Katy Couprie

How to space them out, eating ONE-a-day at afternoon snacktime/gouter and not feel deprived? After all, 'French kids snack only once a day' says Karen Le Billon.

I found I could do it!  Big Merci to Power of Habits + Bringing Up Bebe. I now have a tin full of madeleines waiting for gouter time.

That was before Ooh La La Confectionary sent us a box of candies from CapeTown yesterday. The delish calissons are gone. I ate all 12 of them in one fell swoop. The best laid plans of 'bears' and men oft go astray.

*update: Sat afternoon I made a 'betise'. In a weak moment I downed THREE madeleines, then fell into a comatose sleep. We will not even discuss the delicious nougat from S.Africa :(