Paris And The Return of the blog in Feb 2011!

How do you prefer to take things? 

Good news first and then bad news or good news after so it gives you a "oh no" ...."oh that's ok then feeling?". Well I like to do it bad first and then good and seeing as I'm the one typing, that's just the way it'll have to be :p 

The bad news is I won't be able to update the blog often, or even at all perhaps until late Jan/Feb 2011. I canny be certain!

The good news is however that I went to Paris a few weeks back and experienced the most beautiful fresh tantilising flavours! I thought as this may be my final post for 2010 I'd make it an international one ;)

"THE NUN!"

So...back to Paris. Whilst I was there, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the many cute, effortless and fresh bakeries.  I had my two lovely friends with me who treated me to a little selection of 7 or 8 (little meaning their size) delicacies. Saying that, they may have been little but they were so utterly packed with flavour. I could tell what each one was...strawberry and cheesecake, praline, coffee, chocolate- despite not knowing the french for it. These little beauties came in a tent shaped paper bag, served with a smile by the friendly french lady behind the counter. She advised me in french about bread that stays the most fresh as I looked on lost at my friends with an awkward smile like PLEASE TRANSLATE I swear I'll be fluent in french next time I come!

I also had the honour to eat a little fresh brownie style cake, a moulded mountain of rice and chicken...creamy and soft. This was all courtesy of my host, she'd gone to such effort to make a 3 course meal on the first night I got to France.  And what makes good food even better? Great company. Each portion plenty and not excessive. It was so enlightening to be in a country that cared about fresh baked food, to smell it down a street and know YES THAT'S FRESH BREAD. It's one thing I wish, well many things, that the UK had. I'd love a little patisserie shop on every couple of streets- to know that what has just entered your mouth isn't infested with E numbers and preservatives. I'd love to own one, one of those cute little shops.

Although I'd rather own a chocolate shop (like chocolate-the film) and be spinning a plate round telling people what chocolate was best suited to them. A kind of chocolate pharmacist. Someone would come in with a broken heart and I'd put them on a daily dosage of the most intense and unforgiving chocolate until I felt they had gained...not weight no! But a better outlook on life, a kind of distraction from the ups and downs in life.  Or someone would say, "excuse me...do you do milk chocolate or dark chocolate" and I'd say "Do you REALLY know what you want?" And so I'd educate people in the history of chocolate, where it originated from, the importance of the minimum cocoa solids...Oh I can dream!I'd analyse them with a pair of spectacles I didn't really need (I've always wanted to do that) and have a tilted head. A sort of pharmacy/counselling + chocolate service. And ofcourse on their way out I'd tell them to confide in God above everything  :o) And if they said they didn't believe in God, I'd hand them a piece of chocolate and say..."when you eat this, think about what you just said" and as if by a blessing, the skies would part and they'd be giving thanks <3