Culinary Adventures

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

The largest chocolate show on earth, Salon de Chocolate, was in town recently and of course I couldn’t wait to go, but for other reasons than downing as much chocolate as I want.   It is one of the most wildly popular and wickedly delicious shows put on earth to glorify chocolate in all forms! …

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Tis The Season For Seasonal Affective Disorder And Good Excuse For Pastry

The parched brown and orange  leaves  caught up in the crisp wind are slowing drifting down to  scattered wrinkly patches  on the sidewalks.   Raining colours of autumn may be beautiful to the eye, but to me and many others around the globe it can signal the onset of dreary clouds of seasonal affective disorder, …

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My Special Birthday Celebration Weekend

My birthday celebration has been a whirlwind celebration of three straight days full of merriment, spectacular sights, good food, laughter and even wonderful omens!  Birthdays should always be celebrated in a big way, with as much flare, style and adventure as you can put together.           Friday my official birth day, …

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Irresistible Istanbul

The ferry ride across the Bosphorus, in the blistering hot sun, provided my first view of the magnificent Hagia Sophia slowly becoming more visible, as the ferry slowed to dock in Eminonu, the old city’s port.  Newly arrived, I felt suddenly  plunged into a kaleidoscope of colorful  sights, smells, and sounds that might as well been 100 …

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Easter Chocolates and Cherry Trees

  Easter chocolates and cherry trees have little in common, except that they both appear in the spring.  Nevertheless, in the past week, I have had long and fruitful walks discovering both again. The first one was a 14 kilometer walk through three of the prettiest parks south of Paris in the suburbs of Sceaux, …

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The Ultimate Parisian Wine and Food Salons

Too much of too much can be a  good thing now and then!   If the ultimate wine show wasn’t enough to take me on full blast, then comes the Saveur’s ultimate gourmet food show.   Neck to neck weekends with these two monumental dazzlers is a guarantee to be either enthralled, broke or both! …

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Poulet de Bresse and My Fabulous Chestnut Cake

I ended up having this insatiable craving to have dressing this past weekend, despite the fact that I had not planned on having a traditional Thanksgiving meal. For me, the feast is not totally translatable here, without the rest of my family, and besides I was busy with the ultimate wine salon.   But by …

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Chocolate Celebration in Paris!

Chocoholics were in chocolate heaven this weekend at the  Salon de Chocolate, an annual affaire that is hugely popular here.    A chocolate extravaganza and orgy all wrapped into one spectacular show that delivered on its promise to dazzle. And dazzle it did!  As soon as I walked in, the aroma of chocolate engulfed me, …

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A Hospital Vineyard and Other Delights

You gotta love the French when it comes to pleasures of all kind, be it wine, art, food and love!    Not your everyday experience to find a working vineyard in a Parisian hospital, but Paris is known for her little surprising secrets! Hopital Bretonneau, up in Montmartre, has been growing grapes since 2001, with …

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Best Baguette in Paris Contest

I have written before about the seriousness Parisians maintain about their beloved baguette.  The city of Paris puts on a contest each year to find the best baguette each year. Contests such as these may uncover some of the city’s talented bakers, who in the past were not known. It can not be described as …

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My Nightly Celebrations

As the daytime draws to an end and the impending shadows of the evening slowly give way to dusk, the energy changes within me to a quieter one of expectation and celebration.   I know that in an hour or so, I will partake of an immense pleasure of eating some my beautifully prepared foods …

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My Weekend With Piglets, Cows, Nudes and my Luscious Walnut Tart

Some weekends in Paris, there is just too much to see and do!  The Salon d’Agriculture is definitely one of my favorites salons and then this Sunday was free museum day.  I look forward to this huge and most popular salon every year, where the country comes to Paris.! There you will find the most …

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