Dreaming of France -- Easter Chocolate

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 we move toward Easter, I thought back to our weeks in France before Easter last year.
In the United States, we see a lot of Easter eggs and bunnies, but in France, the animal choices are wider.
Fish are big for Easter. Maybe it has to do with the fish as the symbol of Christianity.

But they also branch out into other animals, like horses.

And this cartoon rooster is quite a stretch, but I'm sure anyone would be glad to find this in your Easter basket.

And here's a cute kitty too.

No matter the shape of the animal, the chocolate is surely phenomenal. 

Hope you find some delicious chocolate in your Easter basket. 

Spring Break

My spring break from one job is coming to an end, but Grace's spring break begins today.
I picked her up at 8:30 a.m., after a run with my friend Noreen, and we drove through Starbucks for coffee. Then I baked the kouign amann that I had set out last night to rise. We settled on the couch to drink coffee, eat kouign amann and watch House Hunters International in France and Switzerland. We  yelled at the Americans who complained about not having American-sized refrigerators.
I love having Grace home.

I've stocked up on supplies of chocolate and wine, plus asparagus and goat cheese. I hope to really enjoy the week with her.
May all of you experience something as delightful as a daughter returning home for the week.

I Got a Rock

Sending Tucker off to France last week, we all had high hopes for gifts that he would bring back.

He brought me some yummy dark chocolate. Grace got a soft, orange scarf.

Earl got a rock.

"I know this seems lame," he said as he handed Earl the smooth, brown stone, but it came from Omaha Beach.

He showed us a picture he had taken on the beach with the rock in his hand.

Tucker knows that his dad is a history buff and has always wanted to visit the Normandy beaches where the Allies launched an offensive against German-occupied France in World War II. Omaha Beach is one of those beaches. He also took pictures of the inside of the pillboxes, defensive structures the Germans had built to fight against the invasion. The roofs of the pillboxes were scorched from the fighting.
In an attempt to redeem himself for the rock, Tucker also gave us a bottle of wine. He had pictures from the cave that they toured and where he purchased a 10 Euro bottle of wine. He didn't say if he tasted several in an attempt to find the right wine.
We were a little surprised that he was allowed to bring it in to the U.S. since he's under 21, but we didn't question it.
We enjoyed some wine on the front porch last night and it was delicious.

Awash in Chocolate

Do you think it's possible to have too much chocolate?
I know. That question sounds ridiculous even as I say it, but the chocolate lying around my house gives evidence to the contrary.
My husband bought me chocolates for Valentine's Day and I still have a few left.

Then last week, for no reason except that he's romantic and fabulous, he brought home a small box of chocolates when he walked past the chocolate shop on his way home. 

For my birthday yesterday, he traveled to the Godiva shop to pick up some more delicious chocolates.

 And, of course, what sort of birthday cake would I want? Chocolate!

This chocolate bombe, as it's called, comes from Pistacia Vera in German Village Columbus. It is filled with chocolate mousse and the chocolate outside has a definite French chocolate taste to it. 

Having too much chocolate is quite a dilemma. There are only two ways to fix it -- eat it or share it.

I wish you were all close enough to share... but since you aren't...

Dreaming of France -- Pont du Gard

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.
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.
This week I'm sharing with you some photos from our 2002 bicycle trip in Provence.
We rented bikes and they were fabulously sleek. The company delivered them to our hotel in Avignon. We had planned a 40-mile bike ride to Nimes and along the route, we'd see the famous Roman Aqueduct Pont du Gard.

From this angle, it just looks like some magnificent Roman engineering. We got to actually ride our bikes across it.

 

Look at this picture of me and the bikes. We are so small compared to the aqueduct.

The only problem that day, was we didn't pack food to eat during the bike ride. We were still in an American frame of mind and assumed we would stop for whaatever we needed to eat -- you know, at a French 7/11.

Well, those don't appear too often in France. So we rode without food and I got grumpy. 

Here I am, in desparate need of chocolate. We never rode without chocolate again.

We still consider this our best couple vacation ever.  

 

Temptation

Oh, Trader Joe's, why do you tempt me?
I bought this bottle of wine just because of the bottle shape and the lovely golden color.

 

When Tucker walked in from school, he was immediately drawn to the bottle too. "What is this?" he asked.

"Wine,"I said.

"Can I open it?" he asked. Of course, he's too young to drink, but he said he didn't want to taste it, he was just drawn to open it.

There's something definitely alluring about this bottle and the color.

I let him open it and as the cork slipped out it popped. The moscato d'asti apparently has bubbles!

I poured a little bit in a glass to taste it and sealed it. I hope it's still good when Earl gets home tonight. I'd hate to have to drink it all alone. 

As if the tempting wine was not enough, around the next corner at  Trader Joe's, I found these holiday favorites: shortbread cookies covered with chocolate.

Hurry home college kids before I eat them all.

Dreaming of France -- New Meme

I've been looking for a weekly France meme and haven't found a regular one, so I'm going to try it myself on Mondays. Please join in. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to my 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
Maybe we can all satisfy our yearnings for France, until we get there again.

I started a book called The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand. What could be better than a book about France and chocolate? I don't usually read romance, and I didn't even realize that it was. I just saw the photo of the Eiffel Tower and the word chocolate and snapped it up. The beginning was a little off putting, but the descriptions of Paris and of chocolate are making me hungry and giving me wanderlust to visit France again.
Here's a snippet:

In the shop, an elegant blonde whose every movement spoke of wealth and privilege was buying a box of his chocolates, unable to resist biting into one before she left the shop. He could see her through the glass window that allowed visitors a glimpse of the way artisan chocolate was made. He saw her perfect teeth sink into the thumbnail-sized chocolate and knew exactly the way the shell yielded with a delicate resistance, the way the ganache inside melted on her tongue, the pleasure that ran through her body.

Hope you'll join in so I can dream of France with you. Put your name and Url in Mister Linky below. Then leave a comment.

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?

Sugar Sculptures and Wedding Cakes

Last night, we watched a documentary called Kings of Pastries. The film followed a competition for master pastry makers in France. The official title is Meilleur Ouvriers de France (MOF) and apparently the competition can be done for various crafstmen. This one was the ultimate reality movie.

Sixteen bakers were in the finals, which was a 3-day competition that included making a sugar sculpture, a wedding cake and various pastries that are scrutinized, dissected and tasted by men who have previously won this award. The winners get a special red, white and blue collar. How serious is the award? Apparently, in France, if anyone who has not won the competition wears a collar like the winners, he can be arrested.
I say "man" and "he" throughout this review, because I saw no indication that women were in this competition at all. I may have been misled by the film footage, so forgive me if there were actually women who had won the prize or who were competing.
The film began with Jacquy, who is French but who runs a pastry school in Chicago. The film follows him as he prepares for the 3-day competition. It also checks in on two other bakers preparing for the competition.
One of the most amazing things about the film was watching the bakers work with sugar. They pulled it and mixed the colors to make stripes. They kept stretching it until it looked like satiny ribbon and they curled it into edible bows.

(Photos are from the movie.)

I enjoyed the documentary, but was a little disappointed that (spoiler alert. Don't keep reading if you are going to see the movie) the film didn't follow someone who actually won. More than one person can win. All 16 of the finalists could have been awarded MOF. But they weren't.
Toward the end, one man's magnificent sugar sculpture collapsed and shattered. The man turned away in defeat. The other men came to him. They patted and hugged him. They encouraged him to continue.
Then the head of the competition made the announcement of the winners, his face contorted in disappointment that not all the men had won. He took a deep breath, his eyes rolled back in his head as tears dripped down his face, "And that is the end of my list," he announced in despair.
The main character had not won. The movie didn't really explain why he didn't win, what kinds of mistakes he made. When the head of the contest was interviewed, he sighed that Jacquy had been the top competitor in the competition before the finals. Perhaps he had too many opinions from other winners and that clouded his own creations, the head of the contest said. And that was the only clue as to why Jacquy did not win.
Hmmph. I gave a little snort of derision. Even Toddlers and Tiaras picks the winners to follow most of the time. Somehow, it's easier to be happy for the winner when you've invested time in him throughout the movie.
P.S. -- Don't tell anyone that I watch Toddlers and Tiaras. That'll be our little secret.

Easter with Teenagers

I remember when they were little and the excitement built as we moved toward Easter. We'd color eggs and I'd plan the jump ropes and slinkies that I'd hide in their Easter baskets so they wouldn't get overloaded on chocolate. Sigh...
I mailed Grace an Easter box last week and I was left home with 15 and 17-year-old boys. Would they even want Easter baskets? They would never turn down candy.
"Are you still going to hide Easter baskets?" Tucker asked in the week before Easter. His eyes looked hopeful.
"Well...not me, but the Easter bunny will," I told him.
We talked about it the night before and decided the boys needed to get up around 8:30 so they could find their Easter baskets then get ready for church.
Tucker got up and took a shower. A shower? Before Easter baskets? See, what kind of excitement is that?
Spencer finally got up about 10 til 9 and stumbled around until he found his basket then collapsed on the couch.

Tucker "didn't feel well" which curiously is how he feels most Sundays when we insist he accompany us to church. Easter was no different. He was angling to stay home even before he began looking for his basket.
This is one of those "if looks could kill" given by a teenager and caught on camera. It practically makes me a wildlife photographer -- catching the native species in its natural, aggravated state.
After mass, we went to my sister-in-law's house to play with baby Caroline who was dressed in a floaty Easter dress but who had not tasted chocolate that day. Ah. The innocence.
The only problem was that I took the picture with my phone and she kept tilting her head around to see the picture before I had finished taking it.
After a good meal, the boys interacted with their aunts, uncles and older married cousins. They carried on farily decent teenage conversations with adults and were in much better spirits when we returned home.
Hope your Easter was joyous, or at least you didn't have surly teens.