Chocolate Retreat in Provence

 

I forgot on Monday to mention I’m running off next day (6:00 am /TGV) to Villeneuve les Avignon, In fact I overslept (a first) and woke up at 5:01! Oh la la la la

Somehow I made it to the train, just.🤸‍♂️Villeneuve is a stunning, small, medieval Provencal village you never heard of, just 10 minutes outside Avignon .

I am here for a 5-day chocolate 

And jam retreat. And yes, it is a religious experience. I lost count of the times I died & went to heaven this week.

Darling  Shannon and Wlady Grochowski of La Châtelaine Chocolat Co. of Montana and Burgundy are our celestial guides. “So kind of you to let me come”,😊 Shannon and Wlady (is 100% Parisian btw).

We stayed at heavenly l’Atelier de hotel.My room is much bigger than my Paris chambre de bonne.

My atelier in the Hotel de l’Atelier. 

I am trying hard to remember what croissants look like. Practice makes perfect🥐🥐🥐

Across the street Shannon explains about les herbes de Provence and the famous Provençal garrigue. 

We will infuse our tempered chocolate with thyme, menthe & jasmin Shannon hand-picked herself. 

Such pretty place settings Shannon set out for each of us! 

We attack the chocolate.

We try desperately not to give into dipping into the Valrhona melted chocolate 🍫 with our fingers. Some of us succumb. Oscar Wilde said, “ The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it”.

After much blood, sweat and tears over the melting chocolate

We go back to the hotel’s outdoor garden for an l’apero and grignote/snacks)

Then a strawberry tarte (4 different kinds of berries) Shannon threw together. Oh la la la

Meet Gemma on the team. I am allowed to walk her as much as I want, though she flirts with everyone equally and not as discriminating as she might be.

More croissant studies from day 2, jam-making day!🤸‍♂️ More to come dear PBers. Please share and visit my Etsy shop for lovely Real Paris mail 💌 in your mailbox 📮 

Maman at Sadaharu Aoki Tea Salon

 

Most of the Mom stories have already been told. I’m late to the soirée.

I remember My mom, who liked the high life, once took me for tea at The Palm Court in the Plaza hotel, NYC. 

I was her foil when she wanted to browse the inside seams of haut-couture outfits she could not afford but wanted to copy. Browsing is evidently a genetic trait I got from my mom.

This past weekend I was looking at old Parisbreakfast posts (there are 2,802 to browse through). 

In May, 2006 I visited the tea salon of top pâtissier, Sadaharu Aoki. 

His exquisite, green matcha desserts (his specialty), elegant Bernadeau cups and

The  classic tetsuba teapots looked fun to paint.  

I ordered the matcha mille-feuille with wild strawberry tea. Mom, you taught me well ☺️ But how the H to eat this extravaganza of green tea creme and brittle multi leaves of pastry? Merci deux for syncronisity🙏  

Just at that moment as I was about to plunge in my fork and have it go flying, darling renown pastry author Jill Colonna of Mad About Macaron fame, did a demo on her instagram stories—how to eat a mille-feuille!🙏🤸‍♂️

Ta da! The day was saved. One must cut one’s mille-feuille ‘side-saddle’ Thank you 👏 dearest Jill💋 

Ah the nuances of French daily life. Things your mom may not have taught you (who knew it would be needed? One prefers not to recall what one did à table pre-Jill😳 

By the way I told the 2 kind vendeuses I wanted to set up a still life and paint it later. 

They were helpful finding the correct-sized tea spoon from 3 different sizes. I made a few pencil ✏️  sketches on site as warmups. 

They did giggle a bit☺️ It would have been loverly if my mom could have joined me for tea at Sadaharu Aoki’s tea salon. I know she would have adored it as much as I did. Do give it a try. There are 4 shops in Paris and quite a few in Japan. That’s my late ‘Mom’ story PBers. I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day Sunday. Thanks for stopping by. My watercolors and Paris letters are waiting for you on Etsy 😊 🐻❤️💋

La Cafe fleuris de Paris Map

 Everyone needs an upper from time to time. If you’re planning a trip to Paris, that can be a long-range upper that keeps you up till you return and start planning the next trip to Paris. But what do Parisians do? We’re already here. True we have the most gorgeous sun rises and sun sets(keep scrolling).

And we had the Gobelin Bears to raise our spirits. Everything you want to know about the bears is in the video link🐻

But the floral cafes have worked a special charm making Parisians feel good. 

It seemed a good idea for a Paris map.

Here’s a peek at La Favorite’s menu on rue de Rivoli.

Cafe Cassette did a big makeover 

On 73 rue de Rennes, 75006. 

Even the inside is all flowery. 

The Twickenham on Bd Saint Germain is a new addition to the flower cafe club strewn with Virginia creeper or is it Wisteria?

Besties is a donut bakery, but such a pretty flowery one and they do have chairs and tables out front.

Their donuts are a colorful fantasia best left to those who have not grown up eating hot cinnamon donuts made on the spot (in Grand Central Station, NYC in the year one).

Naturally I thought it would be a snap to draw floral cafes. Ha Ha Ha! Cafes are complicated to draw. On Friday, my 1st attempt did not meet the approval of my copyshop guy, Assa. 

Here’s a good advice from the St. Louis shoe company president I worked for in Italy and Spain, (All shoe companies on the planet have their HQ in St.Louis). He said,”When you show someone a new shoe (or anything) never look at the shoe. Look at their face for their reaction.”

My copyshop guy’s face was a big frown. He knows my artwork over several years. He’s yet to be wrong when he makes a face. 

Back to the drawing board over the weekend. I created my own mini Floral cafe here.

If you’re wondering where I found these adorable crepe paper Sakura cherry blossoms, *BHV has the best party stuff (on the planet)on the second floor with the art supplies. Made by Rico Design in Germany. 

Today Assa was all smiles 😊🤸‍♂️👏🍾 And me too. Good for Mom’s day too in my Etsy shop.

      🌸🌸🌸🌸Cheers Carolg et Bear 🐻 🌸🌸🌸🌸