It took a lot of bites of the sweeter things of life in Paris to complete France Revisited’s November 2013 Magical Pastry Issue.
Though you’ll find some fine addresses in the four pastry-related articles of this issue, I didn’t set out to draw up a list of the best or newest pastry shops in Paris or the city’s most famous pastry chefs, but rather to explore various aspects of la dolce vita:
– A Paris Cupcake Diary, Featuring Macaroons, Too,
– ANZAC Biscuits, a Memorial Taste of War from the Battlefields of the Somme,
– Paris Street Talk: Gastronomy, Pastries and Wine on Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire and
– Angelina at 110 Pursues the Sweet Life in Paris and Beyond.
Along the way I got slightly sidetracked in Fast Food Improves on France’s Fast Train, but there’s a cup of hot chocolate there as well.
As if all that weren’t entrancing enough, I joined journalist Corinne LaBalme to visit a new boutique hotel with a magic theme, where we saw ourselves in some bathroom fun-house mirrors, met the enchanting decorator and fell under the spell of the card-trickery of the magician receptionist. Corinne then took out her magic pencil to write a hotel review, while I went off to visit Paris’s Magic Museum to add a brief P.S. to her text.
I’m somewhat saddened to see this Magical Pastry Issue end, but nevertheless ready to improve my diet. Not right away though, because my new-found credibility as a cupcake expert in Paris has landed me a chair at the judging table of Cupcake Camp Paris, which takes place on Sunday afternoon Nov. 24, with proceeds going to Make-a-Wish France. Cupcake Camp Paris may not get the mass attention and local investment of Batkid in San Francisco, but we take our moments of happiness where we can get them.
You can grab some informative happiness right now by reading the Magical Pastry Issue. Don’t overdo it though. Savor these articles like I have pastries over the past few weeks, one or two a day, with long walks in Paris in between. How sweet it is!
See here for information about how to join on a culinary and wine adventure in the spirit of France Revisited.