5 Reasons to love Paris at Christmas time!

There are many reasons to love Paris during the holiday season!
1. The lights!

2. The windows!

3. The little fair that you may find tucked away in an ancient courtyard!

4. The decorated patisseries!

5. The chocolate!

The list could go on and on ....and on...and on....

And just for fun...and a little more magic...follow the baby panther into a Parisian Hausmannian apartment...all I want for Christmas.....you guess....  a Joyeux Noel to all!

Sweet Shops: the Calissons in Aix-en-Provence

There are recipes for making your own calissons. Really? Why? It's so much easier (and way more fun) to make a little pilgrimage to Aix-en-Provence and taste test your way through the shops that produce those authentic frosted little cookie/cakes in the shape of an almond.

Made from an almost marzipan like mix of candied fruit (usually melons and oranges) along with ground almonds (Aix is famous for its almonds), the sweet consists of three layers: a thin communion-like wafer bottom, the almond plus fruit paste, and then a tiny spoonful of royal icing on top.

A cake decorated with calissons at
the acclaimed pastry shop Riederer

The confectionary's legendary "birth" is one of my favorite parts of the candy: 
Apparently, in 1473, a young woman (in her 20s) was not so happy about the 44-year old provencal "king" (whose first wife had died) and that her dad had set her up to marry. So the king's chef decided to create a candy to sweeten her up at the wedding dinner. That candy was the calisson. (What a chef: he knew the way to a woman's heart.)

The truth is, it's probably more likely (but also more boring), that the calisson coincided with the appearance of the almond to Provence in the 16th century--and the subsequent trade that followed in Aix as its almond production grew.

Today, numerous shops and factories produce the calisson--in all sorts of various flavors and sizes and tastes. There is even a savory cocktail version which I wish now I would have tried.

A few calisson and sweet shops I managed to visit while recently in Aix-en-Provence:
Calissons du Roy Rene: A charming shop on a picturesque street near the town square, this is a great place for sampling: Bins in back are filled with all sorts of non-traditional flavored calissons like lavender and jasmine ( I still liked the traditional flavor best). There is also a small video set up way in back of the shop to show the production of the calisson.
Confiserie Lenoard Parli-La Grande Fabrique: I loved this little gem of a shop and the way they wrapped up each package (no matter how small) of calissons with ribbon. Actually, all the sweet shops seem to take packaging up your purchases prettily!
Patisserie Bechard: Alas, this shop on the beautiful boulevard, Cours Mirabeau, was closed the day I was there--it's considered the oldest pastry shop in the city (opened in 1870) and I was super disappointed. Besides all the classic French pastries and calissons, I really wanted to try their Tarte Tropezienne, a house specialty for which I need to return!
Reiderer: This pastry shop is loaded with outstanding and beautiful creations--and those who have seen Kings of Pastry will understand why. Riederer's pastry chef Phillipe Segond has won the MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) award (we'd say Best Worker in France) which is not exactly easy to achieve.
 

Sweet Stay: Parador Conde de La Gomera

Recently, the St. Paul Pioneer Press published a travel story of mine about Spain's Canary Islands: Beyond the beaches. I wrote about my time on the islands of Tenerife and La Gomera. While I was there, last fall, I stayed at several stunning and beautiful places--in settings that I could have easily settled in for a few weeks! One of the most memorable (who am I kidding? they were all memorable)  was at the parador on La Gomera. Because of word constraints and photo space available, of course there was no way the newspaper could print everything I wanted--but that is the beauty of internet and a blog! The parador on the island is one of the most lovely I've seen--filled with gardens you can stroll through--along with a spectacular swimming pool--and overlooks that seemed out of a movie (one side overlooked San Sebastian and its harbor; the other across to Mount Teide on Tenerife). Whether at sunrise or sunset (I was out at both!) the whole feeling was a mixture of magic and art and nature and timelessness.

The room was simple, spacious, airy and inviting. I loved the high beds and heavy wooden window shutters. At night, the ledge was wide enough for me to sit on, and stare out at the half moon over the Mediterranean. In the morning, I awoke to the lovely sweep of palm leaves rustling...
and the promise of a good cortado--the biggest decision of the morning being whether I sip it in the courtyard or the garden....

Happy Hearts Day

A dream Valentine's Day breakfast! I took this photo last January in Ein Karem, Israel --an upscale Jerusalem suburb--where John the Baptist was born. The morning light in the beautiful Brasserie Ein Karem was gorgeous, bordering on luminous, the croissants were warm and fresh from the oven, and the cappuccino was obviously made with love. Can a picture capture a poem?

See "Glorious Eats in Israel": a story I wrote for the Minneapolis Star Tribune recently on more great food in the Land of Milk and Honey.

Sweet Stay: Hotel la Perouse in Nice, France

It is some ungodly temp (10 below?) here in Minneapolis today. But I am dreaming about
June in Nice, France, and breakfast on my hotel balcony at the beautiful four star boutique  Hotel la Perouse. With views overlooking Nice and the Bay of Angels, the hotel is located within a high-perched building--and filled with the artwork of Sylvie T that I fell in love with before I even left for
the French Riviera. Imagine my surprise to discover her beautiful artwork is framed and featured
throughout the hotel's numerous hallways and walls.

The hotel even has a swimming pool on top of its terrace and a lovely courtyard for dining--with lemon trees surrounding the tables. "We make lemon pies from the lemons," a hotel worker informed me.

My breakfast, which included several pastries (I'm ashamed to admit I ate most all of them) included a flaky wonderful croissant--and I had to almost do battle with the little birds who waited (sometimes

impatiently) nearby my balcony for any flakes that drifted downward and away from my mouth. That morning, I can still recall with extreme clarity:  My "cafe" was strong and dark, the sun was just heating up and the sky blue, blue, blue.  I was headed to the antique market in Old Town Nice. Another day in paradise. That's why we travel: for warm memories that sustain us on the coldest days.