Dreaming of France -- Goodies

Thank you for joining this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.

As I looked through some pictures we took in France, I came upon this one.

Most people would not have taken a picture of the KitKat bar, but my husband and I did, because it reminded us of a fond memory when we visited France in 1998 with the children, ages 6, 4 and 2. 

We had been traveling around France for a few weeks, along the Atlantic coast, to the Mediterranean and to the Alps. We even ventured over to Salzburg, Austria before returning to EuroDisney. That's what they called it then before it became Disneyland Paris. 

Finally, we arrived in Paris on a Sunday morning. Luckily, traffic isn't especially bad on Sunday mornings, so we dropped the car at the rental place with only a few wrong turns. We found ourselves a few blocks past the Arc de Triomphe. And the first thing we spotted was a bakery. So I took the kids inside and let them choose a pastry. 

Tucker chose a pain sucre, a sweet roll with large pieces of sugar on top. Grace got a caramel eclair, long and slender with a stretch of caramel along the top and delicate cream inside. 

As for Spencer, he stood looking in all the glass cases before he chose a KitKat bar. Yes, exactly like he could have gotten at home. 

Here they are a few minutes later posing with their father in front of the Arc de Triomphe. Notice that Grace and Tucker are still holding their pastries. Spencer's KitKat bar was long since eaten.

Now at 22, Spencer assures me he would not pick a KitKat bar again. He has worked in some pretty fancy restaurants, and I think he's more aware of what good food is. 

Thanks so much for playing along with Dreaming of France. I really appreciate your participation and I hope you'll leave a comment plus visit each other's blogs.

Spring Break Last Year Versus This Year

Apparently, according to Facebook, one year ago today, we were in Marseille and had no idea it was St. Patrick's Day. Wait. I do remember a few bars in Aix had rowdy celebrations on St. Patrick's Day. We did not partake in the Irish celebration because we were busy enjoying French culture.

This is the view as we exited the train station to a cloudy Marseille. In the center of the picture, far off, you can see Notre Dame de la Garde, the cathedral that hovers over the harbor. 

Here's the harbor, known as Vieux Port, and you can again see the cathedral above.

Yesterday, I edited the section of Paris Runaway that takes place in Marseilles, so it was definitely on my mind. 

This year, since I'm in Ohio, I spent today getting a skin check by the dermatologist. There's the Irish celebration with my pale skin and freckles.

Then I stopped by Mozart's bakery for a mocha and a cream cheese plunder pastry while I read.

Then a final stop for a manicure.

It's not France, but I can't complain on one of my few remaining days of Spring Break. 

Bakery Excursion in Columbus

Just because we aren't in France doesn't mean we can't enjoy some delicious pastries.
Earl and I had a day off simultaneously, so after a 7-mile run this morning, we drove down to German Village to Pistacia Vera, a bakery that sometimes seems French.

Earl and I decided to have breakfast, splitting a chocolate croissant and an oranche brioche. Both had terrific flavors, although the bread seemed a little denser than I would have found in France.

I had a mocha to go with my morning bread, and the chocolate in the mocha tasted so rich and dark; it wiped out a lot of the sweetness, but fulfilled me in another way.

We bought a box of pastries to go. A chocolate bombe, which has chocolate mousse under the shell, a creme brulee eclair, that has a hard shell on top, and a traditional eclair for Grace after she comes home from work.
At the last minute, we also ordered a raspberry truffle torte too. No picture of that.
Sometimes, we need to treat ourselves, even though we aren't in France yet.
Good thing I ran 7 miles, cause I've eaten enough calories to make up for it today.
I can't wait to move to France and be close enough to a bakery, a patisserie for French treats that are much less expensive than these.

Dreaming of France -- Traveling by Train

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it

Almost everyone headed to France, and other places too, land in Paris at Charles de Gaulle airport. If  you're going on to other places in France or in Europe, you may take the long trek from the air terminals to the train station. They're all connected.
We pulled our wheeled suitcases behind us and weaved around groups of people who stood still, wondering which way to go to find a taxi. The same walk will take people to the local trains that ferry them into the heart of Paris.
When we traveled with the kids, we caught a bus that took us to the train terminal. Now, it's just easier to walk.
Once we got there, we saw this list of trains leaving Paris.

The trains from Paris go everywhere!
We had an hour or so before our train to Aix en Provence left, so we headed up to a local boulangerie, which is right there in the train station.

This is a chain now, and the food doesn't compare to what you might get at a local boulangerie anywhere in Paris or smaller cities around France. But to us weary travelers, what an opportunity to settle down and enjoy a few pastries.

This is a chausson pommes -- apples folded under that lovely sugary crust.

And this is a tart sucre. A sugar tart. 

And these pastries say welcome to France. I wonder how long it will be before I get to try these kinds of pastries again. 

Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. Please leave a comment and visit each other's blogs, too, so you can get your fix of France dreams.

Writing Idiosyncracies

I've given myself a deadline to finish my latest novel in May.
I have a two-week break from my daytime teaching job, so I figure that I have no excuse. Even if I take time to workout in the morning and keep the house running with cooking, laundry and cleaning, I should have plenty of time to write.
If I don't buckle down and write, then I need to find a full-time job and stop calling myself a writer.

One of my most prolific and happy times as a writer was when I would go to Caribou Coffee to write.
Since Caribou Coffee closed, I haven't regularly settled on a place to write, other than at home.
Home is full of distractions, my children come and go. They ask for help with things or wonder if I have time to make them coffee before they run out to work or class.
The cats beg for attention; the pile of laundry demands equal devotion. A dust bunny blowing across the floor hints at other tasks that need doing.

At Caribou, which closed in 2012, I'd listen to music, sip my mocha and write.
The coffee shop had high ceilings with duct work visible. Wood or concrete floors and cozy nooks, along with warm lighting all made Caribou a welcoming place to work.
Often, if I was there in the morning, I'd buy a pastry. It had a cream cheese filling and the pastry was flaky with large granules of sugar on top. Yum.
Just recently, I brought home some pastries from the grocery store. The inside was cherry, but the outside was that flaky crust with large granules of sugar. Just like the pastry that inspired me at Caribou.
Suddenly, I knew that if I could eat one of those pastries in the morning, I could write!
That first day, I put away the remaining pastries so one would be there in the morning for my writing.
When Spencer came in from a friend's house that night, I heard the cabinet doors opening and closing as he searched for his post-midnight snack.
The next morning, no pastries remained.
So I went for a run then, still sweaty, went to the grocery and bought a box of four more pastries.
As I ate one, I wrote.
Things were going well; I figured I'd follow the same plan the next morning. But when I got home from work that night, the pastries were gone again.
This morning before I went to the gym, I stopped at the grocery and bought another box of pastries, so that when I got home, I could do some writing. Since Spencer is still in bed (almost noon) the pastries remained, and I was able to eat one and made some good progress on my writing again.
Once Spencer is out of the house (he's going back to college for summer classes next week), I'm sure I'll be able to to keep pastries here and write each morning.
I may gain 20 pounds, but dammit I'm going to finish that book by the end of May.  

Saturday Snapshot -- Food

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.

This is one of those weeks where paying for college leaves me, and the men in my family, eating noodles all week. That made me want to include a photo of something yummier to eat.
Here's a picture of some kind of chocolate twist pastry that Grace had in France last fall. I can almost taste it. Can you?