Chocolate 🍫 Christmas 🎄

 

Yesterday was my ‘get out of jail free’ day

After mailing 📮 out the Croissant 🥐 letters,

Fu Castello, Pierre Hermé Infiniment Chocolat, Louis Fouquet, Laduree, Angiolo

 

New places open up every day in Paris. Who can keep up?

This past week by chance I fell into a few. Yesterday I past a green door with an unusual name, Fu Castello.

Inside Pierre Hermé 72, rue Bonaparte, 75006

 

Usually the Pierre Hermé patisserie on 72, rue Bonaparte, 75006 is super elegant.

This past St.Valentin’s the shop’s decor went completely OTT (over the top). So wild and crazy I couldn’t believe my eyes. A gesture to cheer us all up? ❤️🌹💋

Jour du Macaron 2012

 20 mars, Jour du Macaron.

Bear is the first one to show up at Pierre Herme Opera!

 Personne/nobody...

10:00am the key is in the lock...Ta-Da!

 Bear bones up on  Pierre Herme macaron flavors.

 What to choose?

Caramel..passion fruit...carrote/orange/canelle...infiniment chocolat...peche/abricot/safron...Americano pamplemousse...infiniment jasmin...figue + foie gras...vinaigre+balsamique...MON DIEU!

 A twirling macaron tree entices. Outside a sign for the new movie on Marie Antoinette, Les Adieu A La Reine opens today (a must-see)

 Enfin Jill Colonna/Mad About Macarons shows up.

 You give a donation  to Autistes sans frontieres and

 You get a macaron/Un don, Un macaron.

 Let the trick or treating macarons begin. We're off and running. Next to Galeries Lafayette sous sol Pierre Herme for another macaron.

 *New Alert! Angelina has opened a branch on premiere etage at Galeries Lafayette! woo woo

 Pierre Herme/Galeries Lafayette premiere etage is not so crazy-busy as Bear was expecting based on last year. But it's Tuesday, not Dimanche, so Parisians are working or l'ecole. Dommage..

 Clever Jill suggests we take the walkway through to Galeries Lafayette Gourmand for more macaron hunting.

 At Sadaharu Aoki counter we get another mac each. I fall victim to a silly pink macaron keychain. Jill already has hundreds of these so does not succumb.

 Nearby at the Jean-Paul Hevin stand they are giving away THREE MACARONS for one donation! woo woo

 I suggest we hop on #8 Metro to Ecole Militaire to J-P Hevin's La Motte Picquet shop. We're greedy.

 Back on Metro Ligne #1 to Concord to J-P Hevin's 231 St. Honore shop.

 Doodly-doodly-do.

Bear is happy as a clam.

We race on to nearby Pierre Herme 4,rue Cambon for another. Jill has to go home. Her real life is calling. I carry on trick or treating.

 Off to Pierre Herme 72, rue Bonaparte for a Mogador macaron MIAM! Bear and I made a few more hits on the macaron route till exhaustion did us in. BTW we did not eat a single macaron. Good things come to those who wait.

 The Pierre Herme map.

Total haul macarons=approx. 18.

I ate a few at gouter/4:30 yesterday.

Bear's delicious Jour du Marcaron 2012 haul. 
Writing this post caused me to eat macarons. The poster on the wall was a gift-with-purchase edition limité des Macarons Pierre Herme Paris I couldn't resist. I will redecorate at home with the new macaron poster.

MERCI JOUR DU MACARON 2012!
xoxoBear

Croissants!

Last Friday Merisi asked me to bring on the croissants 🥐 And I served up Paul Bocuse. So today you get croissants.

This pile of golden, perfect croissant pur beurre 🧈 are fromCADOR Patisserie.

Again Dalloyau's lovely croissant. Now I spy a lone almond sitting on top. Was it indeed an almond croissant peut-etre?

The arms-out-straight croissant from AU CHAI DE L'ABBAYE.The controversey of "the arms" has been resolved by both Kris and Jen .

In addition, Kris says,
Crescent-shaped croissants (hence their name) are croissants ordinaires, and you can eat them with butter.
AND you don't cut it open or slice it or anything,
No, you take a bite. Then you slap a bit of butter (I prefer "doux" or unsalted) on the bit where you've bitten,

Watercolor croissant 🥐 

And then you eat that, and so on.
The straight ones are croissants au beurre,

Petit Dejeuner at cafe Saint Regis letter 💌

Don't add butter 🧈 to them.
Just dunk them in your chocolat chaud, or cafe au lait. Are you confused?No need.
Any reasonably good cafe will serve the arms-out pur beurre croissant.
As well as some very nice Normandie beurre,
if you must put butter 🧈 on your already buttery croissant.

Les Deux Magot Paris letter

This half-eaten one is from Cafe Deux Magots.
Oh and don't forget to listen for the correct "CRUNCH" of your croissant.
They even discuss this at length in the new film, RATATOUILLE! Again Francois Simon and the Figaro testing team are out there helping us to find Paris' BEST CROISSANT
And PIERRE HERMÉ is the winner 🏆 This man can do no wrong.

I’m Carol Gillott, an artist living in Paris. Every month I send out beautifully illustrated letters that capture the true Parisian experience. 

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Thanks for reading PB ❤️

☕️ If you’d like to support my work, you can buy me a KO-FI here  ☕️  ❤️ Thank you so much! 

This is my morning croissant 🥐

Just an imprint on a plastic placemat from China

Found in the $.99 cent store!
I shall wait for October in Paris to take a bite of the REAL thing👏