oui oui, Paris!

Salut!

I recently returned from Paris with the extra bag bursting at the seams with chocolate, caramels, macaroons, cats tongues, violet pastels and all sorts of other yummy delights which have now dwindled to little multicolored crumbs in pretty boxes as I put on the Sofia Coppola version of Marie Antoinette in all its delicious Versailles-y glory to extend the memory of my sweet treats.




Pastries in America have become these big monstrosities, weighed down by sugar and thick glazes, although I have been known to scarf down Pain au Chocolats with very little discernment. It takes me a while to warm up to the idea of pastries, because I've had few exceptional ones, but they're not hard to find in Paris, where everything is beautiful, dainty and always just right.


This lovely was a violet cream puff with violet icing and a crystallized violet. So many violets! So delicious.


This was on another trip to Laduree. Their set lunch is the best deal – 2 or 3 course meal where you can pick any dessert you want. I picked the cassis sorbet and violet ice cream with an equal amount of Chantilly cream on top.

Then we did a market tour near the Bastille which stopped first at a little Patisserie called Ble Sucre (wheat, sugar) which had won the honor of making the best croissant in Paris. It was so exquisite that I ate it before I photographed it.

Besides croissants, it is the birthplace of these delightful creations:




apricot danish, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate eclair

Then, on a a last minute trip back, to run errands (picking up cheeses and chocolates) I had to do the impossible and pick between a tart tartin that i'd had my heart set on for 3 days and the rhubarb rouge (rhubarb has a special place in my stomach), and was ultimately swayed by the pink knotted rose marshmallow.



Oh sugary bliss.