Tout à Sweet...

The same bonbon shop loaded with caramels, BLEU DANS L'ILE, on the ile St. Louis is also loaded with NOUGAT.

In fact they carry bonbons from all over France - French regional specialties up the WHA-ZOO! Truely, the range of regional goodies in France is astonishing.And more often than not you can't find them outside of their home region!!!

Multi-colored NOUGAT...I couldn't resist taking all these endless pictures of NOUGAT...
There is dark nougat (with Lavender honey) called Noir de Provence.
Almond nougat · Dried cherry nougat glace · Fruit nougat · Fudge nougats · bla bla bla There are no end of variety of NOUGATS and most of them come from
MONTELIMAR, where it was invented so to speak in the end of XVIIème century. Arnaud Soubeyran makes 67 tons of nougat there every year.
But first Olivier de Serre had to bring in Almond trees from Asia to Provence.
Really NOUGAT goes back to the Greeks. Anywhere there was honey and almonds and egg whites around. To make Nougat à l'Ancienne you need:
28% of peeled roasted almonds (at 180 degrees)
20 - 50 % Lavender honey
2% pistachio nuts.
Mix Lavender honey with water and sugar, stir the contents to 130 centigrade, pour the syrup into whipped egg whites, add the almonds together with a little vanilla. Traditionally it's stirred in a copper cauldron (see the arrow). Spread it on to rice paper, cool, cut into squares the next day and Et Voila!
Here is the "regional NOUGAT" I picked up in Cape May. A chunk of hardened marshmallow with severed gum drops embedded. Need I say more...
I must admit as a kid I relished this tooth-destroying sweetie.

But I've moved on to the French stuff! :)

Bleu dans l'Ile..

Over tea with M. at Le Saut du Loup, the conversation turned to the penny candy M. ate as a kid. "CARUMBAR" were a favorite of hers, or so it seemed to me.
 

While waiting to visit Barbara Bleu, I spotted this cobalt blue bonbon shop, BLEU DANS L'ILE. The vitrine said,

'DELICES ET SUCRERIES DES REGIONS DE FRANCE... ET D'AILLEURS'. Translated, delights and sugary sweets of regional France and elsewhere.
 

I asked the owner if she had CARUMBA caramels?

She corrected me, You mean CARAMBAR caramels?

Oui, bien sur! a sort of caramel Tootsie Roll.
 

This shop was packed with all kinds of other caramels.

Vanille, Fleur de Sel, Beurre Sel, Chocolat, Cafe, even in pop form. Oh my.

Blurry picture? Your knees would be shaking too with all this caramel.MAJOR Miam! Years ago I used to attend Lotte Berke Excercise class on 67th street. The entire hour class I fantasized about buying Dalloyau caramels at Bloomingdales and I did too.
 
Regarde/look! Caramel mice. I buy a pack of CARAMBAR and entrust them to Barbara to give to M. She immediately starts munching. Hmph. I have a feeling M. never saw a single Carambar. Please visit the CARAMBAR site for giggles. Or buy CARAMBAR on Amazon! No kidding!

Homage To A French Egg

Cafe Flore's Oeuf A La Coque, Watercolor, 9" x 11 1/2"

Why is it only the French understand so well,
That a plain, simple egg can really be quite swell?

Nothings too good for the French egg.
Diners have been known to beg...
They'd rather eat a French egg than a chicken leg...

Decked out in caviar and truffles,
All that's missing are the white ruffles..

Many a book is proud
To have a French egg grace its cover.

I've heard Parisien crowds shout out loud,
GIVE US THE BOOK with the French egg on it's cover!

Even the finest French cafes
Think nothing of having eggcups on display.
You may well find a French egg at the Musee D'Orsay!

Heavens, even Faberge
Created an array of golden eggs.

Sadly the American egg has been taken down a peg..
No such glories await the American egg.

Oh why is it only the French, who understand so well,
That a plain, simple egg can be filled even with caramel.

* Guest poster Annimouse to the rescue, while I'm under deadline here...

MERCI!

Ode To Caramel...

La Maison du Chocolat's Caramels, 9" x 11 1/2"

Caramels in France are tres belle
For me, they are an easy sell.

Though I can resist, it's hard to qwell,
The urge to merge with a car-a-mel.

On caramels I can endlessly dwell.
And C-A-R-A-M-E-L is not hard to spell.

Cara means dear (in Italian)
And mel:melt, melting, mellow,melifluous...

Life without caramels...

Would be Hell-ow!

Guest blogger today, Ms. Anonymouse, made a request - to write a poem on her favorite sweet, French caramels.

I could not say no...