Georgia On My Mind

I think everyone here was feeling a bit homesick this week, so some of us decided to go try out the American diner that's down the street from us for some comfort food.

This place is called Breakfast in America...it's covered in American flags and all the staff is either American or British. It was amazing to be able to say more than one sentence to them without having to stop and translate in your head. I'd been craving a Caesar salad ever since I stepped off the plane, and every time I found a "salade caesar" in a cafe, it was some weird version of it that I couldn't recognize. I mean, seriously, Caesar salad without garlic and romaine lettuce?

I got a Caesar salad and a chocolate milkshake, which was so good. I don't even drink milkshakes in America. It just seemed like the appropriate thing to do here, and yes, it definitely was. The whipped cream always tastes a bit off though. Must be the unpasteurized milk....

Unfortunately, the salad was way too overdressed and the lettuce (again, not romaine) was a bit wilted. But at least it kind of reminded me of a legitimate Caesar. Needless to say, its #1 on my list of things to make when I get back. That, and carrot cake.

Yesterday, my trusty sidekick Grace (I told her I need to come up with a cool nickname for her for this blog) and I went on a mission to find A L'Étoile d'Or candy shop. The best candy shop in all of Paris, according to David Leibovitz whose blog about food in Paris has become my tour guide. It took forever to get there because we kept getting lost and walking in circles. Thanks, Google Maps. We finally made it though, and we walk in to see there is only one lady working the cash register. I was so disappointed because I had read that the best part of the candy shop is the owner, Denise Acabo, who is the nicest woman in Paris (proof: she uses the "tu" form when speaking instead of the formal "vous". Definitely a laid back woman.) Plus I was all sweaty from the walk and the sales lady was making me self conscious because she kept staring at me.

But then! The door to the backroom opens and there's Denise Acabo! Imagine this little woman with long pigtail braids that just rushes over to you and starts joking and laughing all while speaking French a mile a minute. I tried to keep up...but I feel like all I kept saying was "Je veux acheter tout vos magasin" ("I want to buy your entire store"). She liked that. ;-)

I had come on a mission for two things: chocolate by Bernachon, and salted butter caramels by Henri du Roux. We were both lucky and unlucky though...luckily, we had gone to the store that day because she was closing it for two months that night! And unluckily, she was basically trying to get rid of everything in the store, so her selection was a little more sparse than usual. 

I did see some of the caramels though, but there was only one package of like 5 or 6 left, so I bought those and also some ginger caramels and a lime caramel that tasted like key lime pie. So good.

Then there was the table of Bernachon chocolates with its "Do not touch" sign displayed prominently. Denise Acabo is the only candy seller in Paris that is allowed to sell these chocolates. Bernachon is a chocolate maker in Lyon, and is the only chocolate maker in the world that makes his own chocolate from scratch. As in, he starts with beans and ends up with the bar that you eat. Usually, chocolate makers have to buy their base chocolate from suppliers. 

I just realized that I haven't tasted any of it yet since I bought it. Most of it I got gift wrapped to take home as presents, but I bought the only white chocolate bar they had for myself. Ok hang on I'm going to try it.

......

Hmm....ok, so it's definitely not sit-there-and-eat-a-whole-bar-of-it chocolate. It's way too rich for that. One piece is plenty. It also doesn't taste like any white chocolate I've ever had...probably because white chocolate in stores is only cocoa butter, but REAL white chocolate has cacao in it, just very little. It tasted a little nutty, and I'm looking at the package now and it says it has almonds in the ingredients list. It's not what I was expecting. But still, better than any chocolate I've ever had! I bought the milk chocolate with coffee, dark chocolate with coffee, and "creole" which is like rum raisin. I'll have to try them all when I give them to people as presents!

So at this point, after getting the caramels and the chocolates that I came for, I start to realize that Denise Acabo is the greatest salesperson in the world because shes just so nice that you want to make her happy and buy everything in her store. Let's just say I bought way more than I should have.

One of the things I got though were some liquor chocolates. She described them as Grand Marnier flavored and rum flavored etc etc, so I thought it was just going to be chocolate with flavoring. Nope. I took a bite of one in the street and oops, it's filled with a shot of liquor! The chocolate was basically a hollow shell with liquor inside. It was still a pretty delicious combination, though I'm a little scared to try the other ones...

I tried one of the salted butter caramels on the way home...let's just say it was mindblowing. Literally the best thing I've ever eaten. 

Oh, and just as Grace and I are discussing with each other how  we each just spent 80euro on CANDY, the radio in the shop starts playing Georgia On My Mind. If THAT's not a sign, I don't know what is!