We've been to a new museum and many new stores. Marc has been going to special movie premieres, where often the director and cast are present. We've both been trying to take different photos than we have in the past.
But my favorite form of discovery has come in the form of the book on chocolate in Paris I bought recently. It tells where to find the best chocolates, as well as the best chocolate pastries and ice creams. Obviously I don't have the time (or money!) to try them all, but I jotted down several to check out, and I have been to a few, with varying success.
This was a big success: a boutique called Richart. Everything was so beautiful that I had a hard time deciding what to try. I was the only person in the shop at the time, so the woman working there had time to answer all of my questions. She even gave me 4 samples: mango/passionfruit, ripe tomato/basil, lime, and raspberry. They were all absolutely delicious, so I figured I couldn't go too far wrong. They have different selections of chocolates intended to be eaten: 1) before a meal, 2) after a meal, 3) anytime of day, or 4) before bed. I ended up buying:
a bar of dark chocolate with sesame seeds -- so unusual (I loved, Max liked it, Marc wasn't really into it) I'm disappointed that these photos didn't turn out well, because the packaging was beautiful!
the anytime of day selection, which includes: Venezuelan cocoa beans in ganache, caramel coulis, raspberry ganache, mango/passionfruit ganache, orange coulis, bergamot ganache, green tea ganache, ylang-ylang ganache, and curry praline. My least favorite was the green tea. My favorite was the curry! This was an adventure in chocolate, and I hope to have time for more...
15 comments:
Hurray for trying new things! I have a bad habit of sticking only with what I know and love. Even though we get out of the house daily, we seem to do the same things. When we go to the local museum I tend towards the same exhibits, etc. When we go out to eat I order the same "safe" things. . . but I think I'd be all about trying new chocolates! Yum!Once when my parents went to Belgium they brought me home some chocoalate and no other chocolate has ever compared!
Curry?? Tomato/Basil?? I'm not so sure about those. I like my chocolate straight up, or with mint or caramel. I'm a simple girl, not very adventurous when it comes to food!
I love the presentation as well, I might have a hard time actually eating it just because they look so cool all packaged up.
This is awesome. I have had some interesting chocolates and love the idea of there being different chocolates for different times of the day. That is four doses of chocolate in one day and I could live with that.
Beauty. I love stepping beyond the known to try something new...and those flavors would be tasting entertainment worth the price, I'm sure. Curry intrigues me.
Chocolate for different times of the day. How great is that. I am amazed at all the different types of chocolate. I guess during my times in Paris I concentrated on trying to eat every different kind of pastry that I neglected the chocolatiers.
I would think that I asked the initial question because I would like to think I am adventerous, but oft times find myself going to the same places, looking at the same things and eating the same foods. I am very conscious of it and want to be more adventerous. I am glad you are discovering more about Paris - chocolate is the best place to start. May I make one HUGE suggestion? Go back to the Sacre Couer and discover the cool/artsy part of Montmartre. When you look at the Sacre Cour at the top, follow the path to the left. I promise, you will like what you discover. My folks were just there a few weeks ago and commented on how much they enjoyed that area. It will be something new!
Michelle, I am such an intermittent blogger these days, and one of the first things I do when I get online is check your site - I am loving all of your posts! And catching up on a few of them in a row is heaven.
I am fairly sure I stayed in your neighborhood, at Hotel de la Tulipe, not right on Rue Cler but close! Ah, so great!
I love the idea of such a specialty book, narrow Paris down by the important stuff - chocolate! I'll bet you'll see - and have seen - many things while exploring locations from this book!
Thanks for your mini-essays - keep it up!
This chocolate book sounds so good. Your chocolate excursions and purchases sounds even better! I wish I could try some of these too!
My brother went through this chocolate experimenting phase last fall and my favorite was the chocolate with red pepper in it. I think the curry would be my favorite too and the green tea not so much. What a fun find.
how fun to be exploring paris through chocolate! :) i would be in heaven!
I love curry..I wonder if I would love curry chocolate?? Those chocolates look SO GOOD.
Hello, i am a french mother who has find you blog thank to lelly with her STP challenge. Trying all the things i don't know is what i love to do. I hope you will enjoy your travel in my country. To bad i didn't live closer to Paris, i would have come to say you hello.
I have never heard of such flavors (and can't even imagine them) - once again my lack of culture shines brightly.
This is so lost on me. I'm either boring or a purist or just too American to appreciate such funky chocolates. Sesame seeds in chocolate?
oh michelle- WONDERFUL!!!!
i love this post and i am surely going to keep it on my list when i make my trip. yummy!
at my chocolate tasting in the fall we had curry and we also had wasabi chocolate. very interesting, isn't it??
love that you are trying new things!
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